Airport Drop Off Charges: Where They Stand In 2026
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There was a time when pulling up outside a terminal to drop someone off cost nothing. In 2019, six of the UK’s twenty busiest airports were still free. As of 2026, not one of them is. London City, the last holdout, started charging on 1 January 2026.
The RAC surveys these fees every summer. Its July 2026 study of the twenty busiest UK airports found sixteen had raised their drop-off charge in the past year, pushing the average up by about a third to roughly £7 — the highest on record.
Source: RAC, July 2026.
What The Main Airports Charge
- Gatwick — £10 for 10 minutes (up from £7 in January 2026)
- Stansted — £10 for 15 minutes
- Edinburgh — £8.50 for 10 minutes
- Bristol — £8.50 for 10 minutes
- London City — £8 for 5 minutes
- Leeds Bradford — £8 for 10 minutes
- Bournemouth — £8 for 30 minutes
- Heathrow — £7 per entry, no fixed time limit, billed by number plate
- Southampton — £7 for 20 minutes
- Liverpool John Lennon — £6 for 10 minutes
- Manchester — £5.50 for 5 minutes, rising steeply after that
- East Midlands — £5 for 15 minutes
- Belfast City — £4 for 10 minutes, the cheapest of the twenty
Correcting an old claim. Earlier versions of this article said Heathrow and Gatwick did not charge for drop-offs. That has not been true for some years — Heathrow introduced its charge in November 2021 and Gatwick now has the most expensive drop-off in the country. If you last did the airport run a few years ago, assume the rules have changed.
Watch The Time Limit, Not Just The Fee
The headline price hides the real trap, which is how little time it buys. London City gives you five minutes for £8. Manchester gives you five for £5.50, and overstaying in its express pick-up area carries a £60 charge. Gatwick’s £10 buys ten minutes.
That is fine for a drop-off, where you control the timing. It is close to useless for a pick-up, where you do not. Flights land late, bags take an age and security queues are unpredictable, so anyone waiting for an arrival ends up either circling or paying short-stay parking rates — Birmingham, for instance, charges around £12 for up to an hour in its ordinary short-stay car parks, and considerably more in the dedicated drop-off zone.
The Free Alternative Most Airports Have
Almost every major UK airport now runs a free or nearly-free waiting area away from the terminal, usually in the long-stay car park with a shuttle bus. Very few advertise it prominently.
- Gatwick and Luton — long stay free for up to 2 hours, shuttle to terminal
- Bristol, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Leeds Bradford — one hour free in a designated waiting or mid-stay area
- Newcastle — 90 minutes free in the waiting zone on Callerton Parkway
- East Midlands — 60 minutes free in long stay
- Heathrow — free drop-off from the Park & Ride car parks with a free terminal bus
- Liverpool — 20 minutes free at Drop Off 2, about ten minutes’ walk out
- Edinburgh — free long stay area, roughly a ten-minute walk
- Birmingham — up to 10 minutes free, five to ten minutes’ walk from the terminal
- Cardiff — up to 20 minutes free in Car Park 2
- Belfast International — 15 minutes free in long stay; Belfast City — 10 minutes free
Check the exact free period before you rely on it, because overstaying is where these car parks make their money.
Why Airports Do It, And Whether Anyone Will Stop Them
Airports say forecourt charges manage congestion and emissions outside terminals. The counter- argument is straightforward: none of the ten busiest airports in the EU charges for a kiss-and-fly drop-off, and they manage.
The RAC’s Rod Dennis put it plainly — it is disappointing to see so many airports charging so much for what most people regard as a simple act of kindness, and if free, convenient drop-off zones work at other international airports, it is fair to ask why not here.
There has been some political interest, with a peer reported to be pushing for a review of the charges through the Civil Aviation Bill currently before the Lords. Nothing has been passed, and there is no regulator investigation into these fees.
The practical advice hasn’t changed. Look up what your airport charges before you set off, and find its free waiting area on the map while you are there. For a pick-up especially, ten minutes in the long stay car park costs nothing and saves the circling.