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The name AIR is an acronym for the design
of the ride. AIR stands for Aerial Inversion Ride, which pretty
much sums up what the coaster is.
The name was announced by John Wardley in
May 2001. All the other coaster projects have gone by the
SW naming convention described below.
Alton Towers have been using the SW ( Secret Weapon ) codenames
since the early nineties.
When Tussauds took over the running of the
park in the early nineties they, along with designer John
Wardley began looking at building and designing a new rollercoaster.
The coaster was manufactured by Arrow, and was their Pipeline
Coaster. This ride design was codenamed SW1.
Problems with the design meant it was abandoned,
and the team looked at another, smaller version of the Arrow
Pipeline. This design was named SW2.
Similar problems arose, and again the Arrow
coaster was abandoned.
It was then, that B & M were approached.
They had a new coaster in the U.S.A., which inverted the riders
below the track. Work began on designing a new inverted coaster
for Alton Towers. The coaster was codenamed SW3. In 1994,
SW3 opened to the public as Nemesis.
Work then began on looking for another coaster
to take the name of SW4. What was a Worlds First ride for
Alton Towers turned out to become Oblivion, a B & M Dive
Machine.
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