Aircoach is an

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

-based

subsidiary company A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company (law), company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company ...

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

services from

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

Greystones Greystones () is a coastal town and seaside resort in County Wicklow, Ireland. It lies on Ireland's east coast, south of Bray, County Wicklow, Bray and south of Dublin city centre and has a population of 18,140 (2016). The town is bordered ...

, Bray,

Southside Dublin The Southside ( ga, Taobh Ó Dheas) is the part of Dublin city that lies south of the River Liffey. It is an informal but commonly used term. In comparison to the city's Northside, it has historically been regarded as wealthier and more priv ...

and

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Dublin Airport Dublin Airport (Irish language, Irish: ''Aerfort Bhaile Átha Cliath'') is an international airport serving Dublin, Ireland. It is operated by DAA (Irish company), DAA (formerly Dublin Airport Authority). The airport is located in Collinsto ...

. It also operates contracted bus services for airport car parks and other private hire contracts in the Dublin area. The company will expand it's reach to service Belfast International Airport and Derry / Londonderry from January 2023 following the purchase of fellow transport company Airporter.

History

Aircoach was formed in 1999 by John O'Sullivan, a former

Bus Éireann Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Ireland, with the exception of Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subsidia ...

employee. O'Sullivan sold 90% of the company to

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Leinster Rugby Leinster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Laighean) is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland and the most successful Irish team domestically. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby ...

Team and the Football Association of Ireland.

Former Services

The first Aircoach route, the 701 Ballsbridge to Dublin Airport, was suspended after 14 years of operation in April 2013. Many of the stops on this service continue to be served by the 700 Leopardstown route, with the stops unique to the Ballsbridge service being amalgamated into the 702 Greystones and 703 Killiney/Dalkey routes. A service from Ballinteer to Dublin Airport ran from April 2011 until December 2012, whilst the company also previously ran stopping commuter services to Belfast (2004-2010), Cork (2004-2012) and

Portlaoise Portlaoise ( ), or Port Laoise (), is the county town of County Laois, Ireland. It is located in the Midland Region, Ireland, South Midlands in the province of Leinster. The 2016 census shows that the town's population increased by 9.5% to 22,050 ...

(2004-2006) to/from Dublin City and Dublin Airport. The Phoenix Park shuttle ran from May 2008 until January 2010 using

East Lancs Myllennium The East Lancs Myllennium was a type of single-decker bus body manufactured by East Lancashire Coachbuilders on DAF SB220, Dennis Dart SLF, MAN 14.220 and Scania OmniTown chassis. It was designed in 1999 as a bus for Millennium Dome routes M ...

buses which were powered by LPG.

Fleet

The company operates a fleet of 52

Plaxton Panther The Plaxton Paragon and Plaxton Panther are closely related designs of coach bodywork built by Plaxton in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, since 1999,Millar, Alan (2007) ''Bus & Coach Recognition'' : Ian Allan Ltd., and still in producti ...

bodied

Volvo B11R The Volvo B11R is a 10.8-litre engined coach chassis available as both two- and tri-axle from Volvo since 2011. It was introduced as the second of the Volvo BXXR series, replacing the rest of the B12B range in 2011, and later its fellow BXXR pl ...

coaches built between 2014 and 2020 for its scheduled coach services and 2 Volvo Jonckheere JHV coaches. The coaches are a mixture of 49 seaters with toilets or 53 seaters without toilets. The Dublin Airport car park shuttle uses 11 articulated

Mercedes-Benz Citaro The Mercedes-Benz Citaro is a single-decker, rigid or articulated bus manufactured by Mercedes-Benz/ EvoBus. Introduced in 1997, the Citaro is available in a range of configurations, and is in widespread use throughout Europe and parts of Asia ...

buses, with two 2006

Wright Eclipse The Wright Eclipse is a low-floor single-deck bus body that was built by Wrightbus between 1999 and 2019. The second-generation Eclipse 2 was launched in 2008, followed by the third-generation Eclipse 3 in 2015. The Eclipse, and its sister desi ...

s bodied

Volvo B7RLE The Volvo B7RLE is a low-entry single-deck bus chassis manufactured by Volvo. It was superseded by the Volvo B8RLE in 2013. Specifications The Volvo B7RLE is similar to its predecessor, the B10BLE. In essence the B7RLE is the front section of t ...

s, one 2013

Wright StreetLite The Wright StreetLite is a low-floor midibus introduced by Wrightbus in 2010. It was originally available in only one body style (wheel forward) before the door forward and StreetLite Max variants were introduced in 2011 and 2012 respectively. ...

and three

Plaxton Centro The Plaxton Centro was a Low-entry bus, low entry single-decker bus bodywork designed by Bluebird Vehicles and manufactured by Plaxton.List of bus operators of the United Kingdom :''This list is an alphabetically ordered index of current and past operators. For a structured list of current operators, see List of current bus operators of the United Kingdom'' This is a list of bus and coach operators of the United King ...

References

External links

Aircoach Homepage
{{FirstGroup Bus companies of the Republic of Ireland Bus operators in Northern Ireland FirstGroup companies Transport companies established in 1999 Transport in Ireland 1999 establishments in Ireland