Bournemouth Airport's soaring £3 drop-off charge among highest in UK

CONTROVERSIAL drop-off charges at Bournemouth airport make it one of the most expensive in the UK, a survey has revealed.

It costs drivers £3 to stop at the Hurn site no matter whether they are there for five, 10, 15 or 30 minutes.

The survey, by insurance company Staveley Head, reveals the £3 charge places Bournemouth as the seventh overall most expensive airport to drop someone off at.

Of the 30 airports monitored, 26 permit waiting and Bournemouth’s £3 charge put it among the joint second highest priced airports to charge for five minutes. Only Stansted – which charges £3.50 for a five-minute drop-off, was higher.

Bournemouth was joint fifth most expensive airport for a drop-off that lasted 10 minutes or less, alongside Luton, Liverpool, Leeds and Newcastle – which also charge £3.

But as time went on Bournemouth’s charge remaining at £3 proved value for money.

It was one of the cheaper airports for 15 minutes, where charges can go as high as £10 at Edinburgh airport or £8 at Luton, and 30 minutes – the most expensive being the £25 Stansted charge, closely followed by the £23 Luton airport charge.

When first introduced by the previous owners of Bournemouth Airport, Manchester Airports Group, the drop-off charge was hugely contentious and passengers repeatedly called for it to be dropped. New owner, the Rigby Group Airport, has not indicated if it is minded to scrap it.

A Staveley Head spokesperson added: “The study used data from Civil Aviation Authority to rank 30 of the UK’s busiest airports (based on footfall) from the most expensive to the cheapest based on five minute, 10 minute, 15 minute and 30 minute stays directly outside the terminal.”

The A&T approached Bournemouth Airport for comment but it did not reply prior to the newspaper going to press.