The carrier turned to heavy duty mobile column lifts, manufactured by Stertil-Koni, to assist with the removal of towbarless pushback vehicles from a flatbed truck, simplifying and speeding up the process, as well as saving Southwest money.
Allen Brown of Southwest Airlines commented: "We used to have a crane meet the equipment for off-loading, now we use the lifts instead. The Stertil-Koni lifts are awesome."
The Stertil-Koni EARTHLIFT is the model selected by the airline, which also happens to be the industry's first hydraulic green mobile column lifting system. In addition to featuring components that are 98% recyclable in the construction of the columns, the EARTHLIFT uses a closed hydraulic system that contains bio-degradable oil and the batteries are 100% recyclable. Not only this, the device boasts the Active Energy Retrieval System (AERS), allowing operators 35% more lifting cycles at maximum lifting load, meaning users achieve up to 45 or 50 lifting cycles without recharging.
