Parking rise at busy UK airport dubbed ‘excuse to | Tech News

Travel specialists have referred to as out a prime UK airport after plans to dramatically increase parking prices had been revealed. Gatwick Airport has confirmed that drop-off costs, which presently permit motorists to stop exterior for 10 minutes, will rise from £7 to £10 from January 6, 2026, simply months after the final increase.

A £5 drop-off charge was launched at Gatwick in March 2021, which was elevated to £6 from 2024 and £7 in May 2025. Gatwick Airport has blamed an increase in business charges and better prices as the explanation for introducing the charge. However, Clive Wratten, CEO at the Business Travel Association (BTA) pressured it was merely an “excuse”.

Clive defined: “Of course, business rates are a challenge, but a £10 drop-off fee looks less like a necessity and more like a choice. This feels like a convenient excuse to increase fees that are already out of step with the passenger experience and the reality of regional connectivity. It shifts the burden onto passengers and taxi drivers rather than addressing the root problem.”

Gatwick isn’t the only airport recording an increase in parking fees, with drop-off rates at Heathrow Airport also set to go up. The drop-off prices will rise at the UK’s largest airport from January, and prices will increase from £6 to £7.

Clive has estimated  the Gatwick Airport parking rise could generate more than £1million  in additional revenue. 

He added: “To put the scale into context, we estimate BTA members had around 1.5 million passengers travelling for work depart Gatwick in the past 12 months. Even using a conservative estimate that just 30% arrived by car, that means UK businesses paid roughly £3.15 million in drop-off fees over that period. With the increase to £10, that rises to £4.5 million, for the same journey and the same experience.

“And the reality is that public transport is simply not a practical option for many. Gatwick regularly schedules more than 100 departures before 9am, with check-in requirements starting as early as 4am. For the vast majority of those passengers, there is no reliable bus or train option that gets them to the terminal at that time.”

A press release from Gatwick Airport learn: “This increase within the drop-off charge shouldn’t be a resolution we’ve taken flippantly, nevertheless, we face a quantity of rising prices, together with a more than doubling of our business charges.

“The increase in the drop-off charge will support wider efforts to encourage greater use of public transport, helping limit the number of cars and reduce congestion at the entrance to our terminals, alongside funding a number of sustainable transport initiatives.”