Gatwick Airport extends passenger drop off charges
Charges are now in place for the North and the South Terminals
More charges are now in place at one our areas airports meaning you have to pay while dropping off passengers.
A minimum ÂŁ5 charge for ten minutes is now in effect at Gatwick's South Terminal.
It has already been in place at the North Terminal for over a month.
Last year Gatwick Airport reported losses of ÂŁ465.5 million, with around 40% of staff being left unemployed as airlines cancelled thousands of flights due to the imposition of travel restrictions.
Jonathan Pollard, Chief Commercial Officer, Gatwick Airport, said:
“We know that a drop off charge is not going to be popular with everyone, but we have just lost £465 million and more than 40% of our staff, so this new revenue stream will help us to protect the remaining jobs.
“We are also considering how to rebuild better and this charge has a role to play encouraging more sustainable journeys to the airport using our strong public transport connections.
"Our investment in the new £150 million airport train station is also progressing well and will benefit anyone traveling to the airport by train and a proportion of the revenue raised through the forecourt charge will also support other new sustainable transport initiatives.”
The charge will be ÂŁ5 for 10 minutes, and ÂŁ1 for each additional minute up to 20 minutes. The maximum charge will be ÂŁ25 and the maximum length of stay 30 mins.
Anyone who does not wish to pay the charge will be able to drop off or pick up passengers in the airport’s long-stay car parks with two hours free parking and a free shuttle bus to the terminal.
Local commuters living in postcode sectors (RH6 0, RH6 9, RH11 0) with limited public transport access will be allowed two visits per day to use the train station by paying an annual ÂŁ50 charge - after registering via the Gatwick Airport website.
People picking up passengers are being encouraged to do so from the short stay car parks as it often takes more time to collect passengers. Short stay car park users are permitted a 30-minute stay for the same tariff (ÂŁ5) as 10 minutes on the forecourts.
Alternatively, passengers can be picked up in the long stay car parks where parking is free for up to two hours, using the free shuttle bus from the Terminal.
Passengers can pay online using a range of payment methods including credit or debit card, Google and Apple Pay.