1 How the estimate works2 Checking it against Heathrow3 Prices4 Passengers and how they travel5 Station users who aren’t flying6 Penalties7 Four defences, answered8 The law, plainly9 What we don’t know10 Sources and licences11 Corrections and who runs this
1 How the estimate worksOf the airports we checked, only Heathrow publishes what it makes from drop-off. So for each airport we estimate:
cars a year = departing passengers who start their trip here × share who arrive by car or taxi at the kerb ÷ passengers per car
Passengers: CAA terminal passengers for 2025, halved for departures, less passengers changing planes (about 30% at Heathrow, 6% at Gatwick, 3% at Manchester, 1% elsewhere).Share at the kerb: everyone who doesn’t arrive by public transport and doesn’t park or return a hire car. Taxis count: they pay the fee too. See entry 4.Passengers per car: 1.5, from Heathrow’s own figures (1.7 million fewer visits meant 2.5 million fewer passengers). We use 1.4 to 1.6 for the range.Share who pay: 95% where you pay after the visit (Heathrow reports compliance over 95%), 100% where a barrier takes the money.
Every figure is shown as a range. The low end takes the lower kerb share and 1.6 passengers per car; the high end the reverse.
Why estimate at all? Airports don’t publish drop-off income on its own. Gatwick’s 2024 accounts, for example, put “revenue from forecourt charges for passenger drop-offs” inside car parking revenue of £147.8m, with no separate figure.
It leaves things out on purpose. Overstay charges, penalty notices and people dropped off for a train when they aren’t flying are not counted, so on those the real take is higher. All 20 busiest airports together: £264m to £393m a year (est.), at 2026 prices.
2 Checking it against HeathrowHeathrow is the only airport we found that publishes its drop-off revenue. In 2023 it was £40.0m , at a £5 fee, with penalties counted separately. We ran the model on 2023:
79,149,042 terminal passengers ÷ 2 × (1 − 0.3) = 27,702,165 departing passengers who start here
× 0.46 at the forecourt (Heathrow’s measured share) ÷ 1.5 per car = 8,495,331 cars
× £5 × 0.95 who pay = £40.4m
The model reproduces Heathrow’s published 2023 figure within 1% (+0.9%).
Full disclosure: our first run left out the share who pay, and came out 6.2% high. We added that one input, using Heathrow’s published compliance figure, and the gap closed. That input applies to every post-pay airport in the same way.
A second check, on a year the model wasn’t tuned to: Heathrow 2025 at £6 gives £51.7m. Heathrow reported £56.0m, which includes penalty income we leave out. Our figure is 8% lower, as a figure without penalties should be.
When Heathrow’s drop-off income fell short of the regulator’s forecast, the airport was allowed to recover 65% of the 2025 shortfall (£3.8m) through airport charges, about 4.5p a passenger. Passengers pay twice.
3 PricesPrices come from the airportdropoffcharges.co.uk dataset (CC BY 4.0), which records each airport’s fee, time allowed, overstay tariff and penalty, and the date it was checked against the airport’s own website. We show that date on every notice.
Some prices have changed since the RAC’s July 2026 survey. We checked Luton (£9.00), East Midlands (£8.00), Liverpool (£7.00), Belfast International (£5.00) and Bournemouth (£8.00) on each airport’s own website on 16 Oct 2026. Our figures follow the airports, so for four of these they differ from the RAC’s July table.
The RAC’s national figures we quote (fees up by a third in a year, all 20 busiest airports now charging where six were free before Covid, and none of the EU’s 10 busiest airports charging for a quick drop-off) come from its July 2026 analysis and its October 2026 update. Its survey found four in five drivers call the charges a rip-off.
Gatwick’s penalty amounts (£100, £60 if paid within 14 days) come from Gatwick’s drop-off terms and conditions, last updated 15 Sept 2026. One airport in the dataset, Humberside, is recorded from published comparisons rather than its own site.
4 Passengers and how they travelPassenger numbers are the CAA’s 2025 airport statistics (Table 09). How people reach the airport comes from the CAA’s Departing Passenger Survey 2025, which covers eight airports:
Airport Public transport Taxi London City 66% 28% Stansted 48% 10% Gatwick 44% 14% Heathrow 42% not published Luton 34% 19% Manchester 20% 30% Birmingham 19% 33% East Midlands 10% 23%
For Heathrow we use its measured forecourt share instead (46%, July 2024).
The survey’s public summary doesn’t split out people who park. We assume 10% to 17% park or return a hire car where at least 30% use public transport, and 20% to 35% where fewer do. For the airports the survey doesn’t cover, we assume 5% to 20% arrive by public transport. These are the widest assumptions in the model, which is why those bands are wide. The CAA holds the detailed split, and we’re asking for it.
5 Station users who aren’t flyingGatwick Airport station had 21.2 million entries and exits in April 2024 to March 2025 (ORR). About 40.5 million passengers start or end their journey at Gatwick, and 40.1% of them use the train (CILT, from CAA data). That’s about 16.2 million air-passenger journeys, leaving roughly 5 million made by people who aren’t flying. CILT’s own figure for 2023/24 was 3.3 million. We show an estimated 3 to 6 million a year . That includes airport staff and people meeting passengers, not only commuters, and the ORR notes Gatwick’s count may be on the high side.
Gatwick’s Local Commuter Scheme costs £50 a year for two visits a day at the South Terminal. The postcodes that qualify, RH6 0, RH6 9 and RH11 0 , appear only on the enforcement contractor’s purchase form, after you create an account and accept the terms (checked 10 Oct 2026). They are the same three sectors announced in March 2021. Horley town, RH6 7 and RH6 8, is not included. The Gatwick web page that the terms cite five times for the scheme, gatwickairport.com/dropoff, returned an error when we checked on 10 Oct 2026.
Gatwick’s terms say part of the fee is “a public transport levy” (clause 3.3), and that Gatwick takes no responsibility for “cancellation or changes of schedules” of public transport (clause 10.1).
The permit itself: £50 a year including VAT (Gatwick’s terms give this fee “as at 8 March 2021” and say it is at Gatwick’s discretion), up to two drop-offs a day, South Terminal forecourt only, up to two vehicles, and proof of address by a utility bill from the past three months. It runs for one year from purchase, and Gatwick says it may close the scheme without refunds. Sources: Gatwick’s drop-off terms, section 5, and the contractor’s permit portal, both checked 10 Oct 2026.
The Local Commuter Scheme does not change the yearly-take estimate, which excludes station users.
The yearly cost assumes one drop-off each working day (230 days × £10.00). Pick-ups aren’t allowed in Gatwick’s drop-off zone, so we don’t count them.
6 PenaltiesMost post-pay airports issue a Parking Charge Notice if you don’t pay by midnight the next day, typically £100, reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days (Heathrow: £80, £40). Each notice shows the airport’s own figure.
Heathrow’s 2024 and 2025 drop-off revenue includes penalty income. Its 2025 shortfall against forecast was put down to “a reduction in penalty charges”.
In a Westminster Hall debate on 13 Jan 2026, MPs asked airports to publish penalty data: how many notices were issued, how many were cancelled on appeal, and why. No airport publishes this. We’re asking for it to be part of the government’s review.
7 Four defences, answered
“Use public transport.” Gatwick charges you to reach the train. Its own fee includes a public transport levy.
“There’s a free option.” Often there is: a car park further out and a shuttle bus. That suits some passengers and not others. And Heathrow’s accounts show penalty income is part of the take.
“It manages congestion.” When Heathrow’s fee rose to £6, its forecourt share moved 0.3 points. The Elizabeth line moved mode share; the fee moved revenue.
“It’s part of the business model.” That is close to how the airports’ trade body, Airports UK, put it: “money raised through premium services form a part of the airport business model” (as reported in October 2026). For the driver, the premium service is a few minutes at the kerb.
“They’re private. Nothing can be done.” The Government has said it will review airport drop-off charges. The question is what’s inside the review.
8 The law, plainlyAirport drop-off charges are contract-based. If you don’t pay, the operator can issue a Parking Charge of £100 (£60 if you pay early) and ask the DVLA for the keeper’s details.
Obscuring a number plate is an offence, and Gatwick’s terms make the driver liable regardless.
We don’t advise withholding payment or hiding plates.
Appeals go to the operator named on the notice.
9 What we don’t know
Why Gatwick’s qualifying postcodes haven’t changed since 2021, and how many permits are live.
What any airport except Heathrow earns from drop-off.
How many penalty notices are issued, at any airport.
The split between people who park and people who are dropped off, which we’re asking the CAA for.
Where the widely quoted figure of £300m a year comes from. We could find no published source or method for it. Our own range for the 20 busiest airports, £264m to £393m, happens to include it.
What the Government’s review will cover and when it will report. Neither has been published.
10 Sources and licencesUK Airport Drop-Off Charges Dataset , Airport Drop-Off Charges, retrieved 10 Oct 2026. CC BY 4.0 (attribution: airportdropoffcharges.co.uk).CAA UK Airport Data 2025, Table 09: Terminal and Transit Passengers , Civil Aviation Authority, retrieved 10 Oct 2026. Open Government Licence.CAA UK Airport Data 2025, Table 10.3: Terminal Passenger Timeseries 2015-2025 , Civil Aviation Authority, retrieved 10 Oct 2026. Open Government Licence.CAA Departing Passenger Survey 2025, dashboard , Civil Aviation Authority, retrieved 10 Oct 2026. Open Government Licence.Review of H7 TDOC revenue allowances (letter, Table 1) , Civil Aviation Authority, 12 Dec 2024. Open Government Licence.Heathrow (SP) Limited regulatory accounts 2024 and 2025 , Heathrow (SP) Limited.Heathrow Terminal Drop-Off Charge 2026 decision document , Heathrow Airport Limited.Gatwick Rail Access , CILT(UK), 5 Mar 2026.Estimates of station usage, April 2024 to March 2025 , Office of Rail and Road, 4 Dec 2025. Open Government Licence.Gatwick Drop-off Terms and Conditions , Gatwick Airport Limited, 15 Sept 2026, retrieved 10 Oct 2026.Local Commuter Scheme permit questionnaire , Times Parking (Gatwick enforcement contractor), retrieved 10 Oct 2026.Farewell fees , RAC, 23 Jul 2026.£751m paid to park at five airports in 2025 , LBC.Government to review airport drop-off charges following sharp price increases , RAC, 15 Oct 2026.UK to review airport drop-off charges (quoting Airports UK) , Brit Brief (secondary report), 15 Oct 2026.Gatwick Airport Finance plc consolidated financial statements, 31 December 2024 , Gatwick Airport Limited.Frankfurt: drop-off rules , checked 10 Oct 2026.Munich: drop-off rules , checked 10 Oct 2026.Amsterdam Schiphol: drop-off rules , checked 10 Oct 2026.Copenhagen: drop-off rules , checked 10 Oct 2026.Owners named on notices: each airport’s or owner’s own website, or an official filing, checked 10 Oct 2026. Where ownership couldn’t be fully confirmed (Birmingham, Belfast City and most smaller airports), the notice names the airport only.
European comparison: each airport’s own website, checked 10 Oct 2026. Some European airports charge after a free period, so we only show airports whose rule we’ve read.
VAT: drop-off fees include VAT at 20% (Gatwick terms, clause 3.2), so one sixth of each fee goes to the Treasury.
CAA and ORR data: Open Government Licence. Price data: CC BY 4.0, airportdropoffcharges.co.uk. Hansard: Open Parliament Licence.
11 Corrections and who runs thisYour postcode goes to postcodes.io, to find your nearest airport, and to Parliament’s MP finder, to find your MP. It goes nowhere else: not into links, images or analytics. Full privacy note
If anything here is wrong, email [email protected]
Drop-off Rip-off is an independent campaign on airport drop-off charges. Press and corrections: [email protected]
Figures last rebuilt 16 Oct 2026. Top 20 by 2025 passengers: LHR, LGW, MAN, STN, LTN, EDI, BHX, BRS, GLA, BFS, LPL, NCL, LBA, EMA, LCY, BHD, ABZ, BOH, CWL, SOU.