- Stansted Airport Tops the List: Most expensive drop-off fee at £7 for 15 minutes
- Over a Third of UK Airports Increase Fees: 8 out of 21 airports raise or impose drop-off charges
- Record-High Costs for Motorists: Brace for increased fees at airports across the country
Stansted Airport’s £7 15-minute drop-off fee makes it the most expensive.
Over a third of UK airports have raised holiday-goer drop-off fees.
Eight of 21 RAC-analyzed airports have increased or imposed drop-off fees since August 2022.
Motorists should “brace themselves” for record-high costs.
Southampton Airport raised its 20-minute cost from £4 to £6 and Belfast International Airport from £1 to £3.
Stansted Airport’s £7 15-minute drop-off fee remains the highest this year.
Aberdeen, Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds Bradford, and Liverpool John Lennon airports each added £1, but London’s Heathrow froze the price at £5 with no time limit.
Only Cardiff, Inverness, and London City offer free drop-offs outside terminals.
RAC head of roads strategy Nicholas Lyes claimed the annual spike in airport fees has become a “ritual” and that individuals are increasingly forced to ask friends and relatives to drop them off owing to railway strike action.
“Being dropped off at the airport by car is the only reliable way to make their flight on time,” he claimed.
“Drivers tempted to drop loved ones on the roads inside the airport should beware as many enforce no-stopping areas with cameras which could lead to hefty penalty charges.”
Many airports offer free drop-offs at mid- or long-stay car parks, which are farther from terminals but connected by buses.
