Top UK airport plans car park fees hike in blow to summer holidays

One of the UK’s most popular airports could soon hike car park fees as part of an ambitious plan to secure a second runway. Gatwick Airport bosses have not ruled out increasing car park drop-off fees and parking tariffs to force people to use the trains.

The move comes as part of a bid to secure planning permission to build a second runway at the site. Gatwick believes a second runway would add an extra 100,000 flights per year and could almost double the airport’s capacity to 75m passengers. The Planning Inspectorate has previously said Gatwick must ensure that at least 54% of travellers use public transport to get the green light for a second runway.

However, the decision is likely to be unpopular among holidaymakers who could be forced to splash out to head abroad.

Stewart Wingate, chief executive of Gatwick Airport, stressed car park fees were in the spotlight as bosses had no control over how many people used the trains.

Stewart said: “We’d be trying to influence people who were making that marginal decision of ‘should I drive and drop off or use the car parks, or should I use the rail services?

“The forecourt drop-off charge is the mechanism we can use. We could start to increase that drop-off charge. If we adjust that upwards we would also make changes to the car parking tariffs as well.”

Gatwick Airport has only just increased fees with prices increasing from £5 to £6 in early 2024.

It means road users are now charged £6 to drop off a loved one or friend at the airport but this must be completed within 10 minutes.

Every extra minute in the drop-off zone will set road users back an additional £1. Total costs increase up to a maximum of 30 minutes with drivers forced to splash out £26.

Any higher increases could make Gatwick Airport London’s most expensive airport for parking fees.

Heathrow Airport charges road users £6 to stop with Stansted’s drop-off fees currently costing £7.

Stewart added: “We’re trying to give the Government a pragmatic, sensible and rational pathway which achieves the objective of reduced road congestion and allows them to support the runway.”