Glasgow Flyer

The original bus service to Glasgow Airport was route 905, which was operated by Fairline Coaches under contract to Scottish Citylink, and ran a similar route. Arriva also ran extra buses on this route. All buses were in the Scottish Citylink yellow and blue colours, although the timetable stated buses in Fairline's livery may be used on the service at times. In February 2007, the 905 was re-launched with increased frequency and a new livery.

The Glasgow Flyer was announced on 1 June 2007, with a start date of 9 July, and subsequently route 905 was withdrawn. Fairline Coaches instead started a competing independently run service, Glasgow Airport Link, using route number 905. In July 2008, Fairline Coaches sold its Glasgow City Centre - Glasgow Airport route 905 to First Glasgow; this service no longer runs.

In late 2009, two of the vehicles used on the service were painted in Arriva's standard livery, to be used on other routes, mainly the X23 run in competition with McGill's Bus Services. In January 2010 the service ceased to be operated under contract to BAA as the tender was awarded to First Glasgow to continue the BAA branded airport express service under the new name Glasgow Shuttle. However, Arriva continued to operate the Glasgow Flyer in competition with the official provider without BAA support, albeit with a revised livery.

In 2011, Arriva announced the Glasgow Flyer would terminate service on 31 July 2011, citing a lack of access to the Public Transport Zone at Glasgow International Airport.

Vehicles used

Arriva invested £1.5 million on 11 new buses for the service. The vehicles are Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipses, in a lime green, black and white livery. Each vehicle emits 13% less carbon emissions than the previous buses used on the service. They were expected in service in November 2007, but the first was launched on 4 December 2007 at Glasgow Airport. Between the new buses arriving and service starting, a fleet of Plaxton Centros was used, alongside conventional Arriva buses with branding for the service. The Centros were then put on to standard Arriva routes. An Optare MetroRider had been painted into the Glasgow Flyer livery for staff transport duties.

Service features

The service operated at 24-hour service, 7 days a week and all year, with prices lower than the equivalent taxi fare. The service ran every 10 minutes at daytime.