Optare Leeds bus manufacturer Optare has made a further move into the market for airport ‘airside’ transfer buses with the sale of Tempo to its local airport, Leeds-Bradford International.

The Tempo has been specifically designed for its role of moving passengers from the terminal building to one of four new remote aircraft stands now nearing completion for the busy summer holiday season. It joins an Excel to a similar internal layout and supplied to the airport in 2003.

Taking a 12 metre long single-door Tempo body as the base, Optare placed a second wide twin-leaf door on the nearside midway down the bus and a third facing this on the offside. Along with Tempo’s low step height of just 333 mms (13 inches) – down to 245 mm (9.7 inches) when kneeling - this enables the fast and safe entry and exit of up to 76 passengers, which is about half the number a standard Boeing 737 aircraft carries. The bus has only 15 fixed and 12-tip-up seats leaving plenty of floor space for standing passengers.

David Edwards, Engineering Facilities Manager at the airport, said that the Tempo was chosen following a thorough evaluation of the market and on the basis of the good performance of the Excel.

“We want to share the success of Leeds Bradford International with local companies,” he said. “And when our continuing expansion required an additional airside transfer bus we researched the market thoroughly and were pleased that we were able to find a very suitable product in the Tempo made by Optare in Leeds.

“We were then able to work with them to develop a specification that exactly meets our needs. This also provided Optare with the opportunity to gain a further foothold in this market sector and the new vehicle is already attracting interest from other airport operators.”

At 180 kw (242 bhp) from its Mercedes-Benz OM906La engine, the Tempo has got plenty of power to cope with its heavy loads. The use of an Allison T310R automatic transmission and full air suspension ensures a smooth ride, which is particularly important when carrying large numbers of standing passengers.

Leeds Bradford International Airport is one of the fastest growing in the UK. Last year almost three million people passed through its terminal to take scheduled or chartered flights with the nine airlines and 42 tour operators that now use the airport. These fly direct to 65 destinations as far afield as the Caribbean and Iceland, with operator BMI recently adding Copenhagen and Lille to the growing list.

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