The airline said last week it would begin a two-year trial in May through a partnership with GMO AI & Robotics.

Tasks in the trial include aircraft towing, baggage and cargo loading and unloading, as well as cabin cleaning. The humanoid robots are expected to be deployed progressively across Haneda Airport during the two-year trial period.

According to reports by Asia Business Daily and CNBC, the trial uses Unitree Robotics’s Unitree G1 humanoid robot and UBTech Robotics’s Walker E model, both developed by Chinese firms.

A humanoid robot works at Haneda Airport, Tokyo, Japan. Photo courtesy of Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines said the trial marks Japan’s first use of humanoid robots in airport operations and comes as the country’s aviation industry faces a "serious challenge" from ground-handling labor shortages.

The shortage has been driven by a rise in inbound tourism and Japan’s shrinking working-age population, according to Channel News Asia.

The airline said it hopes the experiment will "verify the potential for humanoid robots to achieve labor savings and workload reduction in ground handling operations."

The move reflects a broader trend of Japanese companies adopting Chinese-made robots to help address the country’s declining workforce, the South China Morning Post reported.

Tokyo-based AI startup Zeals launched a trial in March using Unitree’s G1 robot at the University of Tsukuba Hospital in Ibaraki Prefecture, eastern Japan.

According to a Nikkei Asia report in April, the robot was used to guide patients to locations including the hospital’s blood lab.

Separately, UBTech last month signed a deal with Honda’s China trading subsidiary to explore the use of its humanoid robots in industrial manufacturing, logistics and warehousing.