Motor insurance company RAC has revealed that over two-thirds of the UK’s busiest airports have introduced or hiked passenger drop-off charges since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic. We take a closer look at passenger drop-off fees and discuss why airports have raised them.
Most UK airports have raised drop-off fees
A report by insurance provider RAC shows that airport drop-off fees across the UK have risen considerably since the beginning of the pandemic, with 16 of the UK’s 22 busiest airports either introducing or raising their fees in the last three years.
Stansted Airport charges the steepest fee at £7 for 15 minutes, up from £4 for 20 minutes in 2019. Close behind is Manchester Airport, which now charges £5 for five minutes compared to £3 before the pandemic. Other airports charging £5 for drop-offs include London Heathrow and London Gatwick, which both introduced the fee last year, along with Luton, Bristol, Leeds Bradford, Southend and East Midlands.
Nicholas Lyes, the RAC’s head of roads policy, said,
“Anyone dropping a loved one off at the terminal this summer will be stunned by some of these sky-high kiss and drop charges. And for those using the UK’s two busiest airports, the luxury of free drop-offs outside the terminal building has been replaced by some pretty high fees. Minute for minute and pound for pound, some of these charges could almost be as high as the airfare itself.”
Only three airports offer free drop-offs
In the RAC analysis, just three of the 22 airports have yet to introduce passenger drop-off fees – London City, Belfast City and Cardiff. In terms of the airports that do charge, only Birmingham and Belfast International have frozen their fees since 2019 at £3 for 15 minutes and £1 for 10 minutes respectively.
Nicholas Lyes added,
“Drop-off charges were meant to encourage travellers to use public transport to get to the airport, but with strikes impacting the rail network this summer and public transport options being limited at some airports, people will understandably seek more reliable ways to get to the terminal and that usually means asking a friend or relative to give them a lift. The increase in drop-off fees, combined with high fuel prices, means taking loved-ones to the airport this summer is more expensive than ever.”
Three Scottish airports – Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow – have doubled their fees to £4 since the COVID pandemic began, while Bristol Airport hiked its charge from £1 to £5.
Why have fees gone up?
According to the RAC, fees have shot up as airlines scramble to recoup losses made during the pandemic. However, airports claim that drop-off fees can encourage passengers to seek out alternative means of transport, such as public transport, to reduce congestion and emissions.
A Stansted Airport spokesperson said,
“[Charges] make an important contribution to encouraging alternative, more sustainable transport options and reducing congestion on the airport and surrounding roads.”
Most UK airports impose steep penalties on drivers who do not pay the drop-off charge or exceed their time allowance. For example, failing to pay at Heathrow will lead to an £80 fine, while Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester charge £25 for overstays.
A spokesperson for the Airport Operators Association added,
“Airports that operate drop-off charges directly outside the terminal do so for a number of different reasons, including to manage congestion in capacity-restricted areas and to limit the environmental and air quality impacts of ‘kiss and fly’ journeys.”
Source: simpleflying.com