A NEW fleet of airline coaches costing £4.5m was preparing for take-off yesterday at Oxford Bus Company.

Following the biggest investment in coaches in the company’s history, there are 18 new coaches for the Airline service to Gatwick and Heathrow.

There is more legroom, wider seats and adjustable-height seatbelts to cater for all sizes.

The vehicles are also equipped with wi-fi and charging points between seats, which means passengers don’t have to lean across each other to plug in laptops or phone chargers.

Finance and commercial director Helen Fowweather said: “We thought it would be appropriate to ask our tallest employee, 6ft six-inch Michael McCulloch. to perform the launch ceremony.

“Many coaches have 53 seats on board but we’ve reduced the number of seats to 44 and increased the legroom.”

The first five of the coaches have now been delivered and will be on the road from Sunday, December 18, with all 18 in use by the start of the new year.