Gatwick & City now most expensive UK airports to drop off passengers: Here’s how much it costs elsehwere
January 6, 2026
It used to be one of the simplest parts of flying. You pulled up outside the terminal, unloaded bags and passengers, and drove away, often without paying a penny or worrying about the clock.
Fast forward a few years, and this once stress-free experience has become quite the opposite. Once you have entered the set down zone, you have precious few minutes to hurry your cargo out of your vehicle, conscious that should the maximum time limit be breached, even more exorbitant charges will apply.
From today, London City Airport has become the most expensive airport in the UK for passenger drop-offs when measured by cost per minute, charging drivers £8 for just five minutes outside the terminal. The change pushes LCY ahead of every other UK airport on a per-minute basis and highlights just how aggressively forecourt parking charges have risen across the country.
At the same time, London Gatwick has introduced a £10 charge for ten minutes of drop-off parking, making it the most expensive airport in the UK in absolute terms. Together, the increases underline how sharply the cost of simply setting someone down at an airport has escalated in recent years.
Top 10 most expensive drop-off zones at UK airports
With charges rising as of today, two London airports have risen to the top of the most expensive airport drop-off list. However, these are not the only places where you’ll need to be careful where you park.
UK airport drop-off charges (2026)
| Rank (per minute) | Airport | Drop-off charge | Time allowed | Cost per minute |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | London City (LCY) | £8 | 5 minutes | £1.60 |
| 2= | London Gatwick (LGW) | £10 | 10 minutes | £1.00 |
| 2= | Manchester (MAN) | £5 | 5 minutes | £1.00 |
| 4 | Bristol (BRS) | £8.50 | 10 minutes | £0.85 |
| 5 | Southend (SEN) | £8 | 10 minutes | £0.80 |
| 6= | London Heathrow (LHR) | £7 | 10 minutes | £0.70 |
| 6= | London Luton (LTN) | £7 | 10 minutes | £0.70 |
| 6= | Leeds Bradford (LBA) | £7 | 10 minutes | £0.70 |
| 9 | Liverpool John Lennon (LPL) | £6 | 10 minutes | £0.60 |
| 10 | London Stansted (STN) | £7 | 15 minutes | £0.46 |
| — | East Midlands (EMA) | £5 | 15 minutes | £0.33 |
| — | Teesside (MME) | £2.50 | 10 minutes | £0.25 |
| — | Norwich (NWI) | £6 | 30 minutes | £0.20 |
| — | Birmingham (BHX) | £0 | 10 minutes | Free |
| — | Newquay (NQY) | £0 | 10 minutes | Free |
Airports are ranked by cost per minute to allow comparison across different charging structures.
London City Airport (LCY)
Coming top of the list is London City Airport in the heart of London’s Docklands area. Coming relatively late to the process of charging for the use of its drop-off zone (the airport only started charging on 6 January 2026), the airport is charging £8 for up to five minutes, then £1 per minute, with a maximum stay of 10 minutes.
This makes a visit to the drop-off zone at LCY cost £1.60 per minute, the highest of any UK airport by some considerable margin.
London Gatwick Airport (LGW)
From 6 January 2026, London Gatwick, along with Manchester Airport (MAN, will become the UK’s second-most expensive airport for dropping off passengers. On that date, charges at Gatwick will rise by £3 and will become £10 for 10 minutes of parking, making it £1 per minute. These charges apply to both the airport’s North and South terminals.
Manchester Airport (MAN)
At Manchester Airport in the north of England, charges for 2026 now match those at Gatwick but for a far more restricted period. The airport charges £5 for five minutes at terminals one, two and three, making it also £1 per minute in these zones.
Bristol Airport (BRS)
With a recent price rise, Bristol Airport has become the fourth most expensive airport for dropping off passengers in the country. The airport now charges £8.50 for ten minutes of parking, equating to £0.85 per minute.
Southend Airport (SEN)
Surprisingly high on the list for a small regional airport with fewer passengers annually, Southend Airport is currently charging £8 for up to ten minutes in its drop-off zone (£0.80 per minute), while the airport’s short stay car park costs £45 for one to two hours!
While the airport has seen passenger numbers increase with the establishment of an easyJet base in 2025, such numbers are likely to remain difficult for passengers to swallow.
London Heathrow Airport (LHR)
For the UK’s leading airport to come sixth on this list will come as a surprise to many, but Heathrow Airport still manages to pull in the pounds for the act of simply dropping off passengers at its four terminals.
The airport charges £7 for ten minutes outside each of its terminals, making it £0.70 per minute of parking.
London Luton Airport (LTN)
Matching London Heathrow Airport, London Luton charges £7 for ten minutes of drop-off parking outside its terminal, making it £0.70 per minute. Luton is particularly well-served by public transport, however, making rail, bus and coach travel viable alternatives to paying this charge.
Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA)
Next on the list is Leeds Bradford Airport in Yorkshire. The airport, which handled around five million passengers in 2025, also charges £7 for ten minutes of drop-off parking outside its terminal, equating to £0.70 per minute.
Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LPL)
Registering a slightly lower amount for drop-off parking, Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport charges £6 for up to 10 minutes in its express drop-off zone. This amounts to £0.60 per minute.
London Stansted Airport (STN)
Unusually for the London airports and for one as busy as London Stansted, the airport relaxed the rules regarding drop-off zone parking in 2025, allowing visitors up to 15 minutes for a single charge. The airport charges £7 for a maximum of 15 minutes in its drop-off zone outside its single terminal, meaning that passengers now pay just £0.46 for each minute they spend in the forecourt area.
What about the rest?
Although other British airports are not exempt from charging for drop-off parking, their charges are slightly lower than those listed above. East Midlands Airport (EMA), for example, charges just £5 for 15 minutes (£0.33 per minute), while Teesside (MME) charges £2.50 for ten minutes (£0.25 per minute) and Norwich Airport charges £6 for 30 minutes (£0.20 per minute).
Notable mentions should be given to Newquay Airport (NQY) in Cornwall, plus Birmingham International Airport (BHX). These two airports form an exclusive but lonely club in the UK, as they have declined to charge airport users for drop-off parking for the first ten minutes of their stay in the set-down zone.
Until December 2025, Newcastle Airport (NCL) had been part of this club, but scrapped free drop-off parking during the month, in favour of an off-airport set-down zone served by shuttle buses.
Why do airlines charge to drop off passengers?
While airports argue that there is nothing improper about charging for the use of their facilities, and that UK business rates are making it harder for airports to make money, the views of numerous consumer groups differ.
They say that the imposition of high charges for the use of forecourt parking has become an easy money-making scheme, with consumers at the behest of the airports for a facility that should be free of charge.
Indeed, they argue that airports are afforded ample opportunity to recoup costs from passengers once they are inside the terminal, so why begin charging them before they have even set foot in the building itself?
As Clive Wratten from the Business Travel Association told the BBC, airports were “pulling the easiest revenue lever” by increasing their parking fees.
There is an argument that the quantum of charges being imposed far outweighs the cost of providing the service, and that airports see drop-off drivers as an easy target.
Additionally, with a lack of effective public transport services to several of the smaller UK airports, the use of private cars or taxis is seen as the only viable alternative. With that comes a captive audience, which airports are accused of exploiting for their own financial gain.
Whatever your viewpoint, there is no avoiding the fact that airport drop-off charges in the UK have become the norm, and with no sign of their rising levels slowing down, such charges are likely to be here to stay.
What the future holds for drop-off zone parking charges
While the arguments for and against charging for drop-off parking at airports will continue, with airports making millions from the exercise, the practice is unlikely to be curbed at any time soon.
Airports have realised that for relatively little investment in barriers, cameras and ANPR (automated number plate recognition) technology, there are huge opportunities available to benefit from charging even the most fleeting of visitors, providing much-needed capital for future investment and the upkeep of existing facilities.
For those airports that handle millions of passengers a year, charging for drop-off parking may seem a small price to pay. Yet, in an age where many passengers travel on low-cost flights where fares are cheap, the imposition of a parking charge that can be a considerable portion of the overall trip price will always remain a difficult pill to swallow for many.
Featured image: Chalabala / stock.adobe.com
