Heathrow Flightline

[wiltshirebloke]

As part of the recent £1.7m Zero Emission Award by Surrey County Council, White Bus will soon be another operator using the common Flightline livery used by other operators running services into Heathrow Airport.

According to the latest news release :

Simon Rowland, CEO of White Bus said, “We are incredibly excited about our new electric vehicle fleet coming later this year. Not only is White Bus providing greener, cleaner vehicles, but also giving our passengers the additional comfort of quieter vehicles. Our 446 and 555 will be the first routes to use the new Yutong E10s, and they will be branded in the green Flightline livery as part of other service improvements in partnership with Surrey County Council and Heathrow. Our thanks to DfT and Surrey County Council for their support in helping White Bus make the transition to a greener future.”

Other operators using the brand include

• Carousel Buses running from High Wycombe thru Beaconsfield and Uxbridge
• Thames Valley Buses running from Bracknell thru Windsor and Slough
• Newbury & District running from Basingstoke, Camberley and Bagshot

I guess that these services receive funding or support from the airport to use the common branding, and that First don't participate as their RailAir services are primarily run from their railway station locations and is more of a legacy brand.

 

[greenline712]

Flightline, of course, was originally a Green Line brand name for services from London to Gatwick (777) and Heathrow (767) Airports.
That was back in LCBS days ... where the intellectual property of the name ended up is not clear ... possibly with Green Line Travel, which eventually became Arriva??

 

[fgwrich]

Flightline, of course, was originally a Green Line brand name for services from London to Gatwick (777) and Heathrow (767) Airports.
That was back in LCBS days ... where the intellectual property of the name ended up is not clear ... possibly with Green Line Travel, which eventually became Arriva??

I thought the Flightline brand had been resurrected by Reading Buses after Arriva stopped licensing the Green Line brand to them, and subsequently resulting in the London Line & Green Line brands?

 

[wiltshirebloke]

I thought the Flightline brand had been resurrected by Reading Buses after Arriva stopped licensing the Green Line brand to them, and subsequently resulting in the London Line & Green Line brands?

Yes, Originally Reading took the Flightline brand when the GreenLine brand expired when they took over from First, But then Carousel started applying it to their 102 service, and the others followed later, so presumed there must be some mutual agreement over the name ?

 

[Goldfish62]

Yes, Originally Reading took the Flightline brand when the GreenLine brand expired when they took over from First, But then Carousel started applying it to their 102 service, and the others followed later, so presumed their must be some mutual agreement over the name ?

It's essentially now a Heathrow brand, with the airport providing funding for the services.

 

[MCR247]

I don’t know the specifics of the routes but I’m surprised an about an airport bus using Yutong E10s - they’re not the biggest and assuming they’ll be fitted with luggage racks they can’t expect the services to be that busy?

 

[Goldfish62]

I don’t know the specifics of the routes but I’m surprised an about an airport bus using Yutong E10s - they’re not the biggest and assuming they’ll be fitted with luggage racks they can’t expect the services to be that busy?

Both routes currently use similar-size E200s and Volvo B8s.

 

[markymark2000]

Is all of the Flightline stuff not a recipe for confusion? We will have at least 4 different operators using Flightline liveries, each one with their own tickets and no multi operator ticketing. It's not the simplest thing for passengers.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Searching the Intellectual Property Office database for "Flightline", it shows that trademark number UK00004073642 was registered in 2024 by Best Impressions (Ray Stenning's design company). A previous trademark registration, number UK00001285772 that was registered by National Express in 1986, expired in 2017.

 

[greenline712]

Is all of the Flightline stuff not a recipe for confusion? We will have at least 4 different operators using Flightline liveries, each one with their own tickets and no multi operator ticketing. It's not the simplest thing for passengers.

I'm not sure there is any real confusion, though. Flightline is a name for bus links to Heathrow. A multi-operator ticket is not really relevant ... is there likely to be any passenger who might wish to travel from Basingstoke / Camberley to High Wycombe, for example?
The market is more local ... how many incoming tourists to LHR will be looking for travel outward? Pretty few, I'd say.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I'm not sure there is any real confusion, though. Flightline is a name for bus links to Heathrow. A multi-operator ticket is not really relevant ... is there likely to be any passenger who might wish to travel from Basingstoke / Camberley to High Wycombe, for example?
The market is more local ... how many incoming tourists to LHR will be looking for travel outward? Pretty few, I'd say.

Exactly my thoughts. As it is very much people travelling to Heathrow, there's not likely to be any sort of connecting/multi leg journeys.

 

[WibbleWobble]

It's just like the Skyline branding for Manchester Airport that was used by Arriva, Stagecoach and Trent Barton - common branding but no multi-operator ticketing (apart from System One). It still lives on today as the sub-brand for the 199 High Peak route.

 

[Edvid]

By chance I just discovered the Flightline network now has its own site, launched shortly after this thread was created.

Flightline | Quick convenient links to Heathrow Airport from High Wycombe, Bracknell, Windsor, Slough, Basingstoke and more...

Flightline

www.flightlines.co.uk

 

[busesrusuk]

Don't forget the 757 was originally branded as Flighthline to. IIRC it was the first of the Green Line airport services to gain such branding:

Green Line TL4 Jul82

Buckingham Palace Road, Jul 1982.

www.flickr.com

It was carried over to the double decker Olympian coaches to:

London Country LRC14

Victoria Station

www.flickr.com

 

[Edvid]

Found pictures of a Flightline-liveried E10 & B8RLE on the Friends of Buses and Coaches Facebook group.

Friends of Buses and Coaches | anyone know were this is going or what company | Facebook

anyone know were this is going or what company?

www.facebook.com

Войдите на Facebook

Войдите на Facebook, чтобы общаться с друзьями, родственниками и знакомыми.

www.facebook.com

 

[Fletcj10]

Searching the Intellectual Property Office database for "Flightline", it shows that trademark number UK00004073642 was registered in 2024 by Best Impressions (Ray Stenning's design company). A previous trademark registration, number UK00001285772 that was registered by National Express in 1986, expired in 2017.

That's fantastic! always wonder who "owned the brand" so does that mean that best impression own the Flightline name/brand? and allow Heathrow to use it for its services such as 102/703 etc? On the point of that i assume he also own the livery that is also used on London Line? personally with the expansion of FL services would it make sense for RB to repaint its LL buses into a different livery?

 

[Goldfish62]

That's fantastic! always wonder who "owned the brand" so does that mean that best impression own the Flightline name/brand? and allow Heathrow to use it for its services such as 102/703 etc? On the point of that i assume he also own the livery that is also used on London Line? personally with the expansion of FL services would it make sense for RB to repaint its LL buses into a different livery?

Best Impressions only holds the rights to the Flightline name, not Londonline as well.

Presumably it's been done in this quite unusual manner so that the name can be used by multiple operators, but only in a controlled manner in line with Heathrow requirements.

 

[Fletcj10]

Best Impressions only holds the rights to the Flightline name, not Londonline as well.

Presumably it's been done in this quite unusual manner so that the name can be used by multiple operators, but only in a controlled manner in line with Heathrow requirements.

Ah right i see, thank you

 

[Statto]

Yes, Originally Reading took the Flightline brand when the GreenLine brand expired when they took over from First, But then Carousel started applying it to their 102 service, and the others followed later, so presumed there must be some mutual agreement over the name ?

I found that situation quite amusing, Arriva wanted a fee for using the GreenLine branding (not sure whether it was more than what Arriva charged First), as Arriva own the brand, but Reading stuck 2 fingers at them & said no, & came up with other branding, talk about cutting your nose off & all that.

 

[Goldfish62]

I found that situation quite amusing, Arriva wanted a fee for using the GreenLine branding (not sure whether it was more than what Arriva charged First), as Arriva own the brand, but Reading stuck 2 fingers at them & said no, & came up with other branding, talk about cutting your nose off & all that.

Meanwhile Arriva have gone on to effectively destroy the Green Line brand.

 

[Flange Squeal]

I found that situation quite amusing, Arriva wanted a fee for using the GreenLine branding (not sure whether it was more than what Arriva charged First), as Arriva own the brand, but Reading stuck 2 fingers at them & said no, & came up with other branding, talk about cutting your nose off & all that.

And in the process brought back two brand names from days gone by (Flightline had been used on coach services to Heathrow in the past, and The London Line had featured on coaches and deckers between Reading and London), all in a green livery that would relate to users of the more recent use of the Greenline name at the time of the more recent rebrands.

 

[Statto]

Speaking of London Line, wasn't that once used for a short lived coach route between London & Birmingham that was jointly operated by West Midlands Travel & London Transport, compeating with National Express?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Speaking of London Line, wasn't that once used for a short lived coach route between London & Birmingham that was jointly operated by West Midlands Travel & London Transport, compeating with National Express?

That was London Liner

 

[busesrusuk]

Yes, London Liner using extremely smart MCW Metroliners, WMPTE were blue and LT's were red. The operation didn't last very long despite the obvious significant investment:

WMPTE C901JOF

Grosvenor Place, Victoria

www.flickr.com

London Coaches ML2

Wilton Road, Victoria

www.flickr.com