Bristol Airport announced on the 17th January 2019 that it will be introducing an on-site waiting area for taxis’ and a
free drop-off facility for private vehicles. Bristol Airport is not alone, as most
UK airports charge a drop-off fee, in fact Bristol is one of the cheapest in the UK with only a £1 charge levied for up to 10 minutes. Compare that to
London Stansted who charge £3.50 for the same 10 minutes (that’s a whopping £21 per hour!) and those using Bristol Airport are actually quite a good deal at the moment.
However, that good deal is about to get a whole lot better as the airport has bowed to local pressure to scrap the charges altogether. Local residents groups have long protested against the charge which has led to increased congestion on side roads and local villages south of Bristol as cars park up to await the arrival of their passengers to avoid the drop off fee.
It’s not all good news however, the commitment is included within the airport’s proposed Section 106 Agreement (a planning obligation – a private agreement between developer and local authority to appease planning concerns / support an application otherwise unacceptable). The free drop-off at Bristol Airport will only be made possible should the local authority grant permission for the airport expansion plans as it aimsto handle 12 million passengers a year as soon as 2020 (up from 10 million) which in themselves have been the cause of many protests.
A move perhaps to appease the local objection to the airports further expansion plans perhaps, but a welcome move to all those that use Bristol Airport and perhaps a model of what other airports might adopt to remove the highly controversial and un-popular fees.