First Glasgow Limited Alexander Dennis Enviro 400MMC
A Flyer of an Airport Express Shuttle linking the city…..a potted history of the Glasgow Airport Express bus…
Glasgow Airport, at the western side of city, is set in a former naval air station at Abbotsinch. It’s actually closer to Paisley than Glasgow but it was determined that Glasgow’s original airport, the nearby Renfrew Airport was too small for a city such as Glasgow and the growing market for air travel. So in May 1966 the new Glasgow Airport opened and Renfrew closed. Most of what was Renfrew Airport now sits under the M8 motorway and a housing scheme alongside it.
It didn't take long for business to boom, with over 1 million customers recorded by December 1966. 1973 marked the next major development as the runway was extended to cater for larger jets. In 1975, the British Airports Authority (BAA) purchased the airport from Glasgow Corporation and began immediate development, expanding the terminal building with a £2 million extension and raising the capacity to 3.5 million by 1986.
Expansion continued during the late 1980s with a £55 million expansion, increasing the terminal size by 70% to now cater for 6 million passengers a year.
Another major change took place in 1990 as Prestwick airport lost its monopoly on transatlantic flights and many airlines could move across to Glasgow's runway. By 1994 building work was completed and international traffic was able to move to the newly developed pier with 7 air bridges and able to handle any aircraft.
Both international and domestic passenger numbers continued to rise steadily, helped by the increased number of gates, remote parking areas and expansion from low coast operators.
In 1996, Glasgow Airport was announced as the fourth busiest airport in the whole of the UK with 5.5 million annual passengers! Following Heathrow with an eye-watering 56 million, Gatwick and then Manchester.
There have been on-going debates about building a rail link from the airport outside Paisley, directly into Glasgow Central Station to improve your passenger journey. 2002 saw The Scottish Executive - now the Scottish Government- announce. that there was going to be a rail link built. The plan was to have a functional rail system finished in 2012 but in 2009 this plan was cancelled, with the money set aside for this reallocated to cover the grossly obscene overspend on the Edinburgh Trams, something that has rankled in Scotland’s largest city ever since. Indeed Glasgow is probably one of the UK’s largest airports without a direct rail link.
This has meant that buses and coaches are the main public transport options. The airport sat in Western SMT’s area of operations and so it generally provided links. With the opening of the M8 Motorway, it made access to the Airport incredibly easy from road and it saw Western also link in services from its various locations it served.
Following the creation of Scottish Citylink in the early 1980s, it saw an extension of the Glasgow-Edinburgh service to Glasgow Airport, with alternate journeys extending to Greenock. That situation then remained for a number of years but with Glasgow Airport growing in the 1990s, a dedicated airport service was launched just between the City Centre and Airport. This was run by Tayside Travel Services using two Optare Vectra MAN 11.190 midibuses in Citylink livery. The buses actually were based in Perth and so they ran in to Glasgow everyday, which is a fair bit of dead running. Another slightly odd feature of buses, which were painted in standard Citylink livery, was that they carried no branding and the buses themselves had no route number blinds. They only had destination displays. They were, however, very smart little buses and were possibly the only such Vectras running in Scotland at the time. Sadly when British Bus bought over Tayside Travel Services a few years later, it closed the company down and the buses moved down south.
The next major company to run the service was Clydeside Buses. Initially it used various Dennis Dart, some were of the SLF variety. They were painted in white livery with blue and red stripes with Glasgow Airport Link branding and carried Scottish Citylink fleet names. Occasionally a standard Clydeside Buses liveried vehicle would appear on the service and if you wonder what that was like there’s an EFE model bus of a Plaxton Pointer/Dennis Dart on the service. Although if you were a tourist arriving into Glasgow Airport you’d hardly be impressed by a boggo-standard Dart with no luggage accommodation.
This set-up remained until 1999 when the Darts were replaced by some rather unusual DAF SB220/Plaxton Prestige buses. These buses were built specifically for the service and they were unusual in that they were powered by Liquified Petroleum Gas, a fuel that was gaining some traction as it was viewed to be cleaner than regular diesel. Initially they ran in all over white with Scottish Citylink fleet names and Glasgow Airport Link decals. They later wore all adverts for the various airlines that run from the airport.
However these buses proved somewhat problematic and unreliable. After a few years they were replaced by Arriva Scotland West - as Clydeside had became - by collection of various standard buses, mainly Dennis Dart SLFs again, which at least were repainted in current Citylink livery. They were either Plaxton Pointer bodied or Alexander ALX200s, from Arriva’s fleet and some carried private registrations to hide their age. Again they were pretty standard buses and Corgi produced a model of one in its Original Omnibus range.
This continued until 2007. At that point, Glasgow Airport decided to rejig what buses could and couldn’t access the airport. Bear in mind, the Airport sits on private land so the Airport could regulate this. So in effect the Airport was a tendering authority and would grant a contract to give the winner best access to the Airport. The new service would have prime position in front of the Airport as well as advertising inside the Airport highlighting the service. Other buses which used the Airport could still access it but were pushed further away and to a less attractive position, a situation which continues to this day.
At this point, I should mention that there was already competition for the express to the Airport. The most consistent competitor was Fairline Coaches which ran a service competing with Citylink. It ran using minibuses and was so successful it was later accommodated into the Citylink service on a combined timetable. Originally it ran Mercedes-Benz minibuses but later upgraded to Optare Solos running in a blue and white scheme. When it was coordinated with Scottish Citylink’s services run by Arriva, the buses repainted into a pseudo-Citylink scheme.
Another was New Concept Coaches which was an offshoot of Glasgow based independent Caledonian Buses. Initially run with Dennis Dart SLFs and the odd Mercedes-Benz minibus. iIt was later ‘upgraded’ using some very unusual TransBus Enviro 300s. I say unusual as these buses were the first such buses of the type to enter service anywhere and were with Truroian Coaches for the park and ride on The Eden Project in Cornwall. They featured very distinctive bright yellow interiors and dark green seats. They’d been replaced by articulated buses on the Eden service and so had been sold off. They ran for around a year before the service stopped.
In 2007, the contract for the Airport service was awarded to Arriva Scotland West. It bought a batch of high specification Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse Urbans. They featured luggage racks, upgraded seating, wi-fi and it ran 24-hours. It was branded as the Glasgow Flyer. This gave Arriva a monopoly on the Airport as Citylink withdrew from providing the service, apart from some services to Argyll, which call in at the Airport on their way there and back. The Flyer buses were mainly white but featured lime green and black relief.
In 2010 the contract was awarded to First Glasgow. First received a batch of high specification Alexander Dennis Enviro 300s - its first of the type - to use featuring a similar specification to the Flyer but also aircon. Arriva bravely tried to keep the Flyer going but was beaten by First’s better terminus at the airport. These were the first of many such Enviros for First Glasgow and they featured original purple and aquamarine style interiors, albeit with leather seating. They were in a blue and silver livery and branded as Glasgow Shuttle.
In 2015, these Enviro 300s were replaced by a batch of Enviro 200MMCs. Again these were high specification buses and the service was also extended to run 24-hours. A similar bus was added in 2017 to cope with an increase in frequency. They wore a purple based livery and it was rebranded as Glasgow Airport Express.
In 2019, a batch of Alexander Dennis Enviro 400City double deckers were bought. These buses, the most expensive diesel buses ever bought for First Glasgow, featured luggage racks, airline style seating, tables, skylights, fast wi-fi, USB and wireless charging and monitors showing flight information. They rival anything at any other bus company up and down the UK. They’re the only such buses in the fleet as all First Glasgow’s other buses of the type are standard models, either the original Enviro 400 model or the later Enviro 400MMC.
The pandemic saw some of these buses reallocated to normal First Glasgow services and some were repainted into standard fleet livery. Glasgow Airport was still open of course but at a vastly reduced flight level. Although oddly Glasgow was one of the UK’s busiest airports at the time as it has a number of what could be described as ‘socially essential’ flights to Scotland’s islands. But passenger numbers were almost non-existent at the time. They were reallocated as they’re expensive buses and you don’t want them sitting about gathering dust. They tended to be used on express services to places like Kirkintilloch and Cumbernauld, to minimise the risks of them being vandalised.
As air travel recovered, the service was stepped back up but it took to 2023 for the service to go back to 24-hour operation and for all the Airport buses to move back.
These buses have continued to be used on the service to date, such as 33110 (SK19EOX) seen here. Based on current timelines, these buses must be due for replacement shortly - as to what will replace them who knows as nothing has been announced formally. However First did trial an BYD/Enviro 400EV demonstration bus on the service last year so it was obviously thinking along those lines. Whether an EV would have the range for a service that demands excessive motorway running -something EV’s aren’t great at - is open to question. But as electric buses get better, we may see their introduction. Of course you could introduce overhead charging at the Airport or at the bus station to top up the batteries and give the bus a boost. Also you’ve got to think McGill’s - as Arriva SW’s successor- may want to win the service back. It’s a very lucrative service after all. Possibly Stagecoach too with its Glasgow operations. We’ll need to see.
First Glasgow Limited Alexander Dennis Enviro 400MMC
A Flyer of an Airport Express Shuttle linking the city…..a potted history of the Glasgow Airport Express bus…
Glasgow Airport, at the western side of city, is set in a former naval air station at Abbotsinch. It’s actually closer to Paisley than Glasgow but it was determined that Glasgow’s original airport, the nearby Renfrew Airport was too small for a city such as Glasgow and the growing market for air travel. So in May 1966 the new Glasgow Airport opened and Renfrew closed. Most of what was Renfrew Airport now sits under the M8 motorway and a housing scheme alongside it.
It didn't take long for business to boom, with over 1 million customers recorded by December 1966. 1973 marked the next major development as the runway was extended to cater for larger jets. In 1975, the British Airports Authority (BAA) purchased the airport from Glasgow Corporation and began immediate development, expanding the terminal building with a £2 million extension and raising the capacity to 3.5 million by 1986.
Expansion continued during the late 1980s with a £55 million expansion, increasing the terminal size by 70% to now cater for 6 million passengers a year.
Another major change took place in 1990 as Prestwick airport lost its monopoly on transatlantic flights and many airlines could move across to Glasgow's runway. By 1994 building work was completed and international traffic was able to move to the newly developed pier with 7 air bridges and able to handle any aircraft.
Both international and domestic passenger numbers continued to rise steadily, helped by the increased number of gates, remote parking areas and expansion from low coast operators.
In 1996, Glasgow Airport was announced as the fourth busiest airport in the whole of the UK with 5.5 million annual passengers! Following Heathrow with an eye-watering 56 million, Gatwick and then Manchester.
There have been on-going debates about building a rail link from the airport outside Paisley, directly into Glasgow Central Station to improve your passenger journey. 2002 saw The Scottish Executive - now the Scottish Government- announce. that there was going to be a rail link built. The plan was to have a functional rail system finished in 2012 but in 2009 this plan was cancelled, with the money set aside for this reallocated to cover the grossly obscene overspend on the Edinburgh Trams, something that has rankled in Scotland’s largest city ever since. Indeed Glasgow is probably one of the UK’s largest airports without a direct rail link.
This has meant that buses and coaches are the main public transport options. The airport sat in Western SMT’s area of operations and so it generally provided links. With the opening of the M8 Motorway, it made access to the Airport incredibly easy from road and it saw Western also link in services from its various locations it served.
Following the creation of Scottish Citylink in the early 1980s, it saw an extension of the Glasgow-Edinburgh service to Glasgow Airport, with alternate journeys extending to Greenock. That situation then remained for a number of years but with Glasgow Airport growing in the 1990s, a dedicated airport service was launched just between the City Centre and Airport. This was run by Tayside Travel Services using two Optare Vectra MAN 11.190 midibuses in Citylink livery. The buses actually were based in Perth and so they ran in to Glasgow everyday, which is a fair bit of dead running. Another slightly odd feature of buses, which were painted in standard Citylink livery, was that they carried no branding and the buses themselves had no route number blinds. They only had destination displays. They were, however, very smart little buses and were possibly the only such Vectras running in Scotland at the time. Sadly when British Bus bought over Tayside Travel Services a few years later, it closed the company down and the buses moved down south.
The next major company to run the service was Clydeside Buses. Initially it used various Dennis Dart, some were of the SLF variety. They were painted in white livery with blue and red stripes with Glasgow Airport Link branding and carried Scottish Citylink fleet names. Occasionally a standard Clydeside Buses liveried vehicle would appear on the service and if you wonder what that was like there’s an EFE model bus of a Plaxton Pointer/Dennis Dart on the service. Although if you were a tourist arriving into Glasgow Airport you’d hardly be impressed by a boggo-standard Dart with no luggage accommodation.
This set-up remained until 1999 when the Darts were replaced by some rather unusual DAF SB220/Plaxton Prestige buses. These buses were built specifically for the service and they were unusual in that they were powered by Liquified Petroleum Gas, a fuel that was gaining some traction as it was viewed to be cleaner than regular diesel. Initially they ran in all over white with Scottish Citylink fleet names and Glasgow Airport Link decals. They later wore all adverts for the various airlines that run from the airport.
However these buses proved somewhat problematic and unreliable. After a few years they were replaced by Arriva Scotland West - as Clydeside had became - by collection of various standard buses, mainly Dennis Dart SLFs again, which at least were repainted in current Citylink livery. They were either Plaxton Pointer bodied or Alexander ALX200s, from Arriva’s fleet and some carried private registrations to hide their age. Again they were pretty standard buses and Corgi produced a model of one in its Original Omnibus range.
This continued until 2007. At that point, Glasgow Airport decided to rejig what buses could and couldn’t access the airport. Bear in mind, the Airport sits on private land so the Airport could regulate this. So in effect the Airport was a tendering authority and would grant a contract to give the winner best access to the Airport. The new service would have prime position in front of the Airport as well as advertising inside the Airport highlighting the service. Other buses which used the Airport could still access it but were pushed further away and to a less attractive position, a situation which continues to this day.
At this point, I should mention that there was already competition for the express to the Airport. The most consistent competitor was Fairline Coaches which ran a service competing with Citylink. It ran using minibuses and was so successful it was later accommodated into the Citylink service on a combined timetable. Originally it ran Mercedes-Benz minibuses but later upgraded to Optare Solos running in a blue and white scheme. When it was coordinated with Scottish Citylink’s services run by Arriva, the buses repainted into a pseudo-Citylink scheme.
Another was New Concept Coaches which was an offshoot of Glasgow based independent Caledonian Buses. Initially run with Dennis Dart SLFs and the odd Mercedes-Benz minibus. iIt was later ‘upgraded’ using some very unusual TransBus Enviro 300s. I say unusual as these buses were the first such buses of the type to enter service anywhere and were with Truroian Coaches for the park and ride on The Eden Project in Cornwall. They featured very distinctive bright yellow interiors and dark green seats. They’d been replaced by articulated buses on the Eden service and so had been sold off. They ran for around a year before the service stopped.
In 2007, the contract for the Airport service was awarded to Arriva Scotland West. It bought a batch of high specification Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse Urbans. They featured luggage racks, upgraded seating, wi-fi and it ran 24-hours. It was branded as the Glasgow Flyer. This gave Arriva a monopoly on the Airport as Citylink withdrew from providing the service, apart from some services to Argyll, which call in at the Airport on their way there and back. The Flyer buses were mainly white but featured lime green and black relief.
In 2010 the contract was awarded to First Glasgow. First received a batch of high specification Alexander Dennis Enviro 300s - its first of the type - to use featuring a similar specification to the Flyer but also aircon. Arriva bravely tried to keep the Flyer going but was beaten by First’s better terminus at the airport. These were the first of many such Enviros for First Glasgow and they featured original purple and aquamarine style interiors, albeit with leather seating. They were in a blue and silver livery and branded as Glasgow Shuttle.
In 2015, these Enviro 300s were replaced by a batch of Enviro 200MMCs. Again these were high specification buses and the service was also extended to run 24-hours. A similar bus was added in 2017 to cope with an increase in frequency. They wore a purple based livery and it was rebranded as Glasgow Airport Express.
In 2019, a batch of Alexander Dennis Enviro 400City double deckers were bought. These buses, the most expensive diesel buses ever bought for First Glasgow, featured luggage racks, airline style seating, tables, skylights, fast wi-fi, USB and wireless charging and monitors showing flight information. They rival anything at any other bus company up and down the UK. They’re the only such buses in the fleet as all First Glasgow’s other buses of the type are standard models, either the original Enviro 400 model or the later Enviro 400MMC.
The pandemic saw some of these buses reallocated to normal First Glasgow services and some were repainted into standard fleet livery. Glasgow Airport was still open of course but at a vastly reduced flight level. Although oddly Glasgow was one of the UK’s busiest airports at the time as it has a number of what could be described as ‘socially essential’ flights to Scotland’s islands. But passenger numbers were almost non-existent at the time. They were reallocated as they’re expensive buses and you don’t want them sitting about gathering dust. They tended to be used on express services to places like Kirkintilloch and Cumbernauld, to minimise the risks of them being vandalised.
As air travel recovered, the service was stepped back up but it took to 2023 for the service to go back to 24-hour operation and for all the Airport buses to move back.
These buses have continued to be used on the service to date, such as 33110 (SK19EOX) seen here. Based on current timelines, these buses must be due for replacement shortly - as to what will replace them who knows as nothing has been announced formally. However First did trial an BYD/Enviro 400EV demonstration bus on the service last year so it was obviously thinking along those lines. Whether an EV would have the range for a service that demands excessive motorway running -something EV’s aren’t great at - is open to question. But as electric buses get better, we may see their introduction. Of course you could introduce overhead charging at the Airport or at the bus station to top up the batteries and give the bus a boost. Also you’ve got to think McGill’s - as Arriva SW’s successor- may want to win the service back. It’s a very lucrative service after all. Possibly Stagecoach too with its Glasgow operations. We’ll need to see.