London City Airport to charge for dropoffs from the 6th January

London City Airport was one of the last major airports in the UK not charge to drop off passengers. Well, that ends on the 6th January, when the new drop-off charge comes into effect.

The charge will be £8.00 for 0-5 minutes, then £1 per minute for any additional minutes, with a maximum stay of 10 minutes.  This will apply to all passenger vehicles (except Black Cabs, which will eventually include the charge in the metered fare)

Blue badge holders will be exempt from the charge.

The airport advises that this will be managed using automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, so be prepared to pay. Drivers should not wait in their vehicle or leave it unattended on the forecourt, as this may result in a penalty charge.

If you are collecting passengers or are taking time dropping off passengers, you’ll need to head to the short-stay car park.

The guidance from the airport is here.

Use the DLR

The majority of passengers will depart and arrive at London City Airport via the Docklands Light Railway, or use local buses (with the airport noting two-thirds of its passengers use this method to travel).

And for most people,that’ss fine – least of all, these give you good links to Canary Wharf and Central London. Those who are heading or coming in the other direction may need something else… and will now have to pay (unless you’re creative about it – there are local options if you’re feeling creative and want to save £8.

With the airport trying to push passengers further onto public transit, it’s very much carrot and stick – as well as hoovering up that sweet extra revenue that airport drop-offs can generate.

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