Every time we have published news about UK airports’ drop-off fees we have received much negative reader feedback.
Dublin airport proposes ‘drop-off’ fee
Manchester airport to introduce drop-off fees
Glasgow airport to introduce drop-off fee
Now it’s the turn of Gatwick which will introduce its own drop-off fee next year.
London’s second airport describe the fee as a forecourt charge which will be payable for those vehicles who drop off passengers in front of the terminals.
Gatwick is proposing a fee of £5 which will be introduced in 2021, but the airport is not providing a specific date yet. Neither is it saying the length of drop off time covered by the £5 fee.
It argues that “most UK airports have done this for many years” and “the revenue raised will help the airport continue its recovery from the economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis.”
The airport says that if travellers do not wish to pay they can park in the long-stay parks free of charge for up to two hours and take the free shuttle bus service to the terminals.
A growing number of travellers from Surrey and Sussex now use Gatwick’s rail station (connected to the South Terminal) as a convenient way to travel to and from Central London.
For these users Gatwick is “looking at solutions to allow those who regularly drop off and pick up at the South Terminal to make a token annual payment.”
Gatwick says it will “put a proportion of the revenue earnt [from the drop off fee] into its existing Sustainable Transport Fund.”
