Potential merits of regulating airport drop-off charges

Increases to the charges for dropping off passengers at UK airports have been in the news recently, with increases announced at Heathrow, Gatwick and Bristol airports and the introduction of charges at London City Airport.

The BBC has published a summary of how airport drop-off charges at different airports compare.

Regulation of drop-off charges

In general, airports can set their own drop-off and pick-up charges, provided they comply with general consumer and competition law. This covers things such as the provision of information on prices for dropping off passengers and anti-competitive practices between service providers.

Heathrow Airport is also subject to economic regulation by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). However, this focuses on overall charges to airlines and service standards, and does not specifically regulate drop-off charges.

Economic regulation of airports

The CAA, a public corporation of the Department for Transport, regulates service standards and the maximum amount airlines are charged to use airports that have ‘significant market power’. Currently this only applies to Heathrow, although the CAA also monitors charges and service standards at Gatwick.

Competition for surface access

The CAA has concurrent powers with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to enforce the prohibitions in the Competition Act 1998 as they relate to airport operation services and the supply of air traffic services. In 2016, the CAA published a review of market conditions for surface access at UK airports. For the review, surface access was defined as how passengers get to/from the airport to their origin or destination ‘on the ground’. In other words, this covered drop-off and pick-up, but also car parking more widely and other modes of transport such as taxi, rail and bus.

It noted that passengers travelling to and from large urban airports generally benefit from greater choice compared with those using smaller airports or airports with poorer transport links. It concluded that there was insufficient evidence that passengers were not being well served by the current market structure of surface access charges, where these are decided and managed by the airport operator, which would warrant a review of this.

People with reduced mobility

Dropping passengers off by car is especially important for people with disabilities and reduced mobility (CAA, Review of market conditions for surface access at UK airports – Final report, 20 December 2016, para 40). While many airports offer alternative drop-off and parking arrangements for Blue Badge holders (such as Manchester Airport and Glasgow Airport), statutory provisions on Blue Badge parking do not apply to off-street car parks.

Airports and surface access operators do however have duties under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments and publish information on disabled parking, including pick-up and drop-off:

[The] Equality Act 2010 (EA2010) imposes a duty on service providers, which in this case includes airport and surface access operators, to make reasonable adjustments. Airport operators are also required to publish information on their websites on getting to the airport, including the arrangements for disabled parking at the airport (within the terminal boundary), and any specific rules for, or charges applied to, [persons with reduced mobility] PRM passengers for using a drop-off zone at the airport.

(CAA, Review of market conditions for surface access at UK airports – Final report, 20 December 2016, paras 38 - 40)

Government position on regulation of drop-off charges

In September 2025, then Minister for Aviation, Maritime and Security Mike Kane MP said that the government had no plans to regulate drop-off charges at airports:

The Department for Transport has no plans to monitor or limit the level of parking fees at airports.

The provision and charging of car parking at airports (including drop off and pick charges) is a matter for the airport operator as a commercial business to manage and justify.

Industry reaction

An article by the RAC, Drop-off fees soar again at more than half of UK’s busiest airports (17 July 2025), said that major airports, including Paris Charles de Gaulle, Barcelona and Rome, offered free drop-off zones. It also said that there was a trend of airports stopping on-site payment of drop-off fees, instead requiring payment online or by phone. The article described this as “another source of frustration for people who in many cases are just trying to help a family member or friend get to the airport.”

Karen Dee, Chief Executive of Airports UK, a trade association representing the interests of UK airports, said that drop-off fees help airports manage the impacts of traffic congestion:

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.

Further information

Commons Library research briefing SN-00323, Regional airports (5 April 2022)

Commons Library research briefing SN-01360, Blue Badges and parking for disabled people (30 August 2024)