Lothian Buses: airport fleet

English: The fleet of specially branded buses used by Lothian Buses on their flagship airport express route 100, from Waverley Bridge to Edinburgh Airport. The first dedicated buses were coach seated Olympian/RH double-deckers, painted in a blue and white livery, branded Airline 100. Since the introduction of low-floor buses, the brand name was altered to Airline, and the fleet has consisted of brand new high specification buses, renewed every few years.

Trident / President edit

The first type of low-floor bus used for the newly created Airlink branded service were from the Dennis Trident / Plaxton President batches. Tridents were delivered at various times, later ones replacing earlier ones, as listed below. After Airlink use, all Tridents were subsequently repainted and transferred to the main fleet.

Five from the V-reg batch (1999) - 541-545
Four from the W-reg batch (2000) - 546-549
Five from the 51-reg batch (2001) - 601-605
Six from the 52-reg batch (2002) - 645, 652-656 (656 renumbered 634 in 2004)
Five (all) of the 53-reg batch (2003) - 657-661 (renumbered 629-633 in 2004)
Five from the 04-reg batch (2004) - 662-666 (666 renumbered 628 in 2008, post Airlink)

fleetnumbers & registrations

V-reg batch

No. 541 (V541 ESC)
No. 542 (V542 ESC)
No. 543 (V543 ESC)
No. 544 (V544 ESC)
No. 545 (V545 ESC)

W-reg batch

No. 546 (W546 RSG)
No. 547 (W547 RSG)
No. 548 (W548 RSG)
No. 549 (W549 RSG)

51-reg batch

No. 601 (SN51 AXF)
No. 602 (SN51 AXG)
No. 603 (SN51 AXH)
No. 604 (SN51 AXJ)
No. 605 (SN51 AXK)

52-reg batch

No. 645 (SK52 OHD)
No. 652 (SK52 OHO)
No. 653 (SK52 OHP)
No. 654 (SK52 OHR)
No. 655 (SK52 OHS)
No. 656 (SK52 OHT) - renumbered 634 in 2004

53-reg batch (all)

No. 657 (SN53 AVU) - renumbered 629 in 2004
No. 658 (SN53 AVV) - renumbered 630 in 2004
No. 659 (SN53 AVW) - renumbered 631 in 2004
No. 660 (SN53 AVX) - renumbered 632 in 2004
No. 661 (SN53 AVZ) - renumbered 633 in 2004

04-reg batch

No. 662 (SN04 AAE)
No. 663 (SN04 AAF)
No. 664 (SN04 AAJ)
No. 665 (SN04 AAK)
No. 666 (SN04 AAU) - renumbered 628 in 2008, post Airlink

OmniCity edit

The Tridents were subsequently replaced by the Scania OmniCity fleet, delivered in two batches, five in Summer 2006 (06-reg), then a further ten in Autumn 2007 (57 reg). After Airlink use, all OmniCitys were subsequently repainted and transferred to the main fleet.

B9TL / Eclipse Gemini 2 edit

The OmniCity's were replaced by the fourteen 10-registered Volvo B9TL / Wrightbus Eclipse Gemini 2 batch, delivered in March 2010. This saw a refreshing of the livery to a lighter blue, but retaining the Airlink brand. Two buses (937/8) have since been repainted for use in the Lothian Country Buses fleet.

B5TL / Gemini 3 edit

On 1 July 2015, twelve new buses of the 15-registered B5TL / Gemini 3 batch entered service, wearing yet another version of Airlink livery, relieved with gold.