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British Airways is to invest more than £25million on a new fleet of 550 airport vehicles as part of its move to
London Heathrow's Terminal 5 in March 2008.
The new vehicles will replace older models and will help the airline to reduce its ground emissions at Heathrow and improve its punctuality
performance.
The fleet contains around 15 different vehicle types including baggage tractors, loading equipment, passenger buses and cargo tugs.
Customers will particularly benefit from the 38 strong new fleet of Citaro passenger buses made by DaimlerChrysler.
The 12m long Citaro meets the very highest Euro 5 standard in environmental performance and is currently
one of the 'greenest' buses used by any airline at Heathrow.
The Euro 5 standards represent a further 43% reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions over Euro 4 standards.
The first bus, which are planned to carry 45 passengers, was delivered
last week and will go into service in early June once drivers have undergone a full training programme. The remaining 37 buses will be delivered in the coming weeks.
Geoff Want, director of ground operations for British Airways,
said, "Terminal 5 is a once in a life opportunity for the airline and the new ground
equipment fleet will be critical to the overall success of the move.
"We are looking forward to retiring many of our oldest vehicles in the next few months which has a triple benefit of reducing emissions,
improving customer experience and also giving staff better working conditions."
As part of the bus replacement programme and the operational changes within Terminal 5 the number of buses used by British Airways at
Heathrow will also reduce by more than 50% by 2010.
The overall number of ground equipment vehicles required will also reduce by just under 40% from 1300 in 2007 to just under 800 in 2010.
More than 300 of the new vehicles will be fitted with telematics, which utilises satellite navigation technology. This will enable the vehicle
condition to be remotely monitored and will help to ensure an improved maintenance regime. It will also help in understanding the location of
vehicles around the airport.
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