{"id":44409,"date":"2026-07-23T00:23:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T04:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/2026\/07\/23\/airport-drop-off-fees-up-by-a-third-here-are-the-priciest\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T00:23:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T04:23:16","slug":"airport-drop-off-fees-up-by-a-third-here-are-the-priciest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/2026\/07\/23\/airport-drop-off-fees-up-by-a-third-here-are-the-priciest\/","title":{"rendered":"Airport drop-off fees up by a third – here are the priciest"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Drop-off fees at the UK’s major airports have risen by a third on average since last summer, new analysis has found.<\/b><\/p>\n

The RAC looked at the cost of pulling up at the closest point to terminals at the 20 busiest airports – 16 had put up their fees since last year.<\/p>\n

Two London airports, Gatwick and Stansted, topped the price table at \u00a310. <\/p>\n

Trade body Airports UK said free drop-offs were available and fees were part of airports’ business models and climate change objectives.<\/b><\/p>\n

London Gatwick’s is the highest “farewell fee”, charging \u00a310 for 10 minutes on the forecourt outside either of its terminals. At Stansted, \u00a310 buys a more generous 15 minutes, at “Express Set Down” outside departures.<\/p>\n

London City Airport, which only started making people pay this year, is the most expensive on a per-minute basis. Its \u00a38 charge for five minutes works out at \u00a31.60 per minute.<\/p>\n

In contrast, none of the top 10 airports in the EU charge for drop-offs, according to RAC research.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Gatwick’s price hike comes as the airport tries to get more people arriving by trains and buses.<\/p>\n

When the Transport Secretary approved the airport’s plans for a second runway, one of the requirements was to have 54% of passengers using public transport.<\/p>\n

Heathrow may also have to act to try and put people off driving to get a third runway.<\/p>\n

A London Gatwick spokesperson said drop-off\u202fcharges were aimed at disincentivising ‘kiss and fly’ trips and data indicated it was “influencing passengers to seek alternative options”.<\/p>\n

The airport links to 120 train stations across London and the South East, with eight local bus routes running 24\/7, they said.<\/p>\n

Passengers can still be\u202fdropped off for free at long-stay car parks, with a free shuttle bus to the terminal and Blue Badge holders\u202fare\u202fexempt from the charge, they said.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Airports UK said where drop off fees are charged they are “necessary to manage congestion, and the traffic and air pollution concerns of our local communities, as well as our climate change objectives”. <\/p>\n

“These are issues that airports are mandated to manage by the government and local authorities,” they said.<\/p>\n

But Clive Wratten, CEO of the Business Travel Association, said fees were adding to businesses’ costs.<\/p>\n

“First it was environmental [reasons]. Then congestion management. Then funding new routes. Now apparently it is about offsetting tax rises,” he said. <\/p>\n

“The goalposts have moved so many times now that the credibility of any justification has long since gone.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drop-off fees at the UK’s major airports have risen by a third on average since last summer, new analysis has found. The RAC looked at the cost of pulling up at the closest point to terminals at the 20 busiest airports – 16 had put up their fees since last year. Two London airports, Gatwick […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,21,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-market","category-news","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}