Japan’s well-known but overworked baggage handlers at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport are set to get some robotic assistance, though their new teammates will require regular charging breaks.

Japan Airlines plans to begin a trial of humanoid robots from early May, with the aim of eventually using them permanently to help ease the country’s persistent labour shortages.

The Chinese-made robots will be used to transport passenger luggage and cargo on the tarmac at Haneda Airport, which handles more than 60 million travellers annually.

Japan Airlines and its partner, GMO Internet Group, say the pilot programme, running until 2028, could reduce pressure on human workers as inbound tourism rises and staffing shortages worsen.

Japan Airlines and GMO Internet Group say they hope the experiment—set to run until 2028—will ease pressure on staff as inbound tourism rises and labour shortages are expected to worsen.

During a media demonstration this week, a 130cm-tall robot built by Hangzhou-based Unitree was shown cautiously pushing cargo onto a conveyor belt beside a JAL passenger aircraft and even waving at an unseen colleague.

Japan Airlines ground services president Yoshiteru Suzuki said that deploying robots for physically demanding tasks would “inevitably reduce the burden on workers and provide significant benefits to employees.”

More than 7 million people visited Japan in the first two months of 2026, according to the Japan National Tourism Organisation.

This follows a record 42.7 million arrivals last year, despite a decline in visitors from China linked to a diplomatic dispute between Tokyo and Beijing.

Looking ahead, one estimate suggests Japan will need over 6.5 million foreign workers by 2040 to meet its economic growth targets, as the domestic workforce continues to shrink.

While the country’s foreign population has increased sharply in recent years, the government is facing growing political pressure to tighten immigration policies.