National Express Increases Number of Coach Seats to Stansted Airport

Friday 27 July 2007

National Express, Britain's number one coach company, has received the first six of its new fleet of longer high capacity coaches, which will take to the road at Stansted Airport at 11am today.

With 61 seats, 12 more than the standard National Express coach, the tri-axle vehicles are designed to travel on high frequency routes such as the Stansted Airport to London services operating up to every 10 minutes, 24-hours a day. Six vehicles are being rolled out in the first phase of the launch, with 20 expected to be on the road by September 2007. 2000 extra seats will be available everyday when the roll-out is complete.

Fitted with leather reclining seats, air-conditioning and modern washroom facilities, the coaches are fully accessible and have a bespoke lift for people travelling in a wheelchair. The first of their kind to be manufactured by Caetano, the vehicles have a rear-steering tag axle for greater manoeuvrability and also feature environmentally-friendly Euro IV engines with exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) technology.

Paul Bunting, Chief Executive, National Express said: "We are committed to continually improving the service we offer to our customers and these new vehicles further upgrade our fleet to make it accessible to all.

"Coaches are one of the most environmentally friendly ways to travel and consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of using public transport. We want to ensure we are well positioned to cater for that demand and, as a leading provider of travel services, we are committed to sustainable and responsible travel by providing our customers with the latest vehicles on the market."

National Express, the official travel supplier to Wembley Stadium and the official supporter to the England Team, have liveried the coaches with the FA's England Team logo and the Wembley Stadium logo, to show support for our national team and national stadium.

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

High-resolution images of the new vehicles are available on request.
National Express operates 152 journeys a day to London Golders Green, Victoria and Stratford 24 hrs a day
120 drivers run the 42-coach operation
Using the measure of carbon emissions on a per passenger kilometre basis (gCO2/pass.km), with data that have been calculated independently by the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management, a National Express coach produces 29 gCO2/pass.km and our trains 52 gCO2/pass.km. The average figure for a diesel car is 108gCO2/pass.km and short-haul flights are typically 150gCO2/pass.km (Source DfT 2006 and DEFRA)
As Britain's No 1 coach operator, National Express also operates a high frequency service to all major UK airports. With a record number of passengers choosing to travel with National Express, the company continues to invest in high specification vehicles and state-of-art customer facilities. The division employs over 1,500 people