Bournemouth Airport to introduce £2.50 drop off charge
07.04.11
Bournemouth Airport is to introduce a new £2.50 drop-off and pick-up charge, the BBC reports. At present, vehicles can park for free at the airport for up to 10 minutes before a £2.50 charge is applied for a stay of between 10 and 30 minutes. But from 14 April all vehicles will be charged £2.50 for up to 30 minutes.
Signs informing drivers of the changes will be put up in prominent places and travel agents will be told to inform passengers in advance. A team of marshals will assist drivers when the charges first come into force at the barrier-operated car park, the airport said.
The move comes after a new £45m departures terminal designed to cope with three million passengers a year opened at Bournemouth in June 2010. However, during most of the winter months only one flight a day left the airport as Ryanair cancelled all flights for three months and other airlines pulled out.
Rob Goldsmith, managing director, said most passengers left their cars at the airport while they were away, paying on-site parking charges ‘among the cheapest in England’. He added: 'We know that some people will be disappointed by this change. We hope they will understand that this is a commercial decision brought about by the worldwide recession and the subsequent downturn in the aviation industry.’
A number of other airports across the UK have introduced a drop-off charge, although £2.50 is at the top end of the scale even for these airports. Luton, Edinburgh, East Midlands and Newcastle all charge £1, for example.Add to: del.icio.us | Digg it | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
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