17:45, 19 Jul 2025<\/p>\n
![\"Belfast](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_Belfast-City-Airport-06_JK.jpg\")
Belfast City Airport.(Image: Justin Kernoghan\/Belfast Live)<\/p>\n
More than half of UK airports have raised or introduced drop-off charges for drivers in the past year, while most of Europe’s busiest airports still don’t charge a fee, according to new findings.<\/p>\n
The RAC’s study indicates that 11 out of 20 UK airports surveyed have increased their “kiss and fly” fees \u2013 charges typically incurred for dropping off passengers directly outside terminal buildings \u2013 since last summer.<\/p>\n
The nine airports that have raised their fees by \u00a31 include Belfast City<\/a>, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Gatwick, Heathrow, Liverpool John Lennon, Newcastle, and Southampton. Leeds Bradford and Glasgow have both added an extra 50p to their charges.<\/p>\n READ MORE: How Belfast City Airport drop-off fees compare to the rest of the UK<\/a>READ MORE: Belfast City Airport announce 33 percent increase in pick up and drop off charge<\/a><\/p>\n Cardiff Airport has introduced a new \u00a33 fee, having previously not charged for drop-offs. Luton, which was without a kiss and fly zone last summer due to a car park fire, is now imposing a \u00a35 charge.<\/p>\n The RAC’s research found that eight of the top ten EU airports, including Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt, and Madrid, do not impose a fee for drop-offs. RAC senior policy officer Rod Dennis voiced his dismay at the rise in UK airport fees, remarking that they are “all the more depressing” when contrasted with the situation across Europe.<\/p>\n He commented: “The sky really does seem to be the limit when it comes to the amount drivers get charged for making the briefest of stops to let friends or loved ones out to catch a flight,” reports the Mirror<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mr Dennis emphasised that the main reason people get dropped off at airports is because of bulky luggage, which makes public transport “can be impractical”.<\/p>\n He observed that whilst numerous UK airports offer free drop-off areas in car parks, these typically require a trek or shuttle ride to reach the terminal.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, he highlighted that such complimentary zones are “often well away from the terminal”, causing motorists who wish to help passengers reach the terminal to “often end up overstaying the free period”.<\/p>\n Mr Dennis also expressed worries about airports increasingly adopting barrier-free systems that demand online or telephone payments.<\/p>\n He cautioned: “Anyone who doesn’t notice the change or simply forgets to pay will inevitably be stung with a very unwelcome parking charge notice.”<\/p>\n London City distinguishes itself as the only UK airport examined that permits free drop-offs directly outside its terminal.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, charges stayed the same at Aberdeen, Belfast International, Bournemouth, East Midlands, Manchester and Stansted.<\/p>\n Karen Dee, chief executive of AirportsUK, justified airport policies: “All airports offer a free drop-off facility. They also have a wide variety of options to suit all passengers’ needs, including premium drop-off in front of the terminal building for those who wish to use that.<\/p>\n “Where fees are charged, this helps airports manage and reduce congestion, noise, carbon emissions and air pollution for local communities, something that they are mandated to do by the Government and local authorities. These charges are a part of the airport business model and help enable the provision of the widest variety of flights from the airport.”<\/p>\n Charges per airport:.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a37: Bristol, Gatwick, Leeds Bradford, Southampton and Stansted.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a36: Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Heathrow and Liverpool John Lennon.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a35.50: Aberdeen.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a35: Bournemouth, East Midlands, Luton, Manchester and Newcastle.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a34: Belfast City.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a33: Belfast International and Cardiff.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a30: London City.<\/strong><\/p>\n Click this link<\/a> or scan the QR code to receive breaking news and top stories from Belfast Live. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you\u2019re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice<\/a>.<\/p>\n For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage <\/strong>here<\/strong><\/a> and <\/strong>sign up to our daily newsletter<\/strong><\/a> here.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The airports that have raised their fees include Belfast City Steven Smith Content Editor 17:45, 19 Jul 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[87753,2000,299,5187,18463,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-275299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-belfast-international-airport","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-european","12":"tag-george-best-belfast-city-airport","13":"tag-travel"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114881145531009309","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1_WhatsApp-community-QR-code-Belfast1.png\")
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