Manchester Airport confirms further plans to start charging drivers to drop-off passengers

by Lisa Reeves

Friday 1^st June 2018

Fri 1^st Jun 2018

Manchester Airport has confirmed further details of their plans to start charging drivers for dropping passengers off at all three terminals.

The new arrangements will be introduced this month to help alleviate the congestion caused by the high volume of "kiss and fly" and the recirculation of cars.

From June, drivers will be charged an express drop-off fee of £3 for staying up to five minutes or £4 for six to ten minutes.

The forecourt management plan announced in March, also includes the creation of a new drop-off zone, from where passengers will be transferred to all of its terminals free of charge.

This week, Manchester Airport has confirmed arrangements for passengers with reduced mobility, local users of the airport station and commercial operators, such as private hire taxi firms.

An exact date in June for the system being introduced is still to be confirmed but will be communicated in advance.

The airport has confirmed Blue Badge holders will be able to drop-off outside the terminals free of charge.

Non-Blue Badge holders who have booked special assistance can use the free drop-off site, where there will be a dedicated help point to communicate with the airport's assistance provider. All buses travelling to and from the terminals from this location are wheelchair accessible.

A scheme for people living near to the airport who use its Ground Transport Interchange to travel in and out of Manchester and surrounding areas has also been developed, following discussions with stakeholders in these communities.

It allows people in certain postcodes to apply for a permit, giving them access to the station for an annual fee of £30.

A discount scheme will also be set up for commercial private hire operators who are frequent users of the airport. The scheme already exists for pick-up within car parks and will now offer discounted access to the forecourts, for drop-off.

Tricia Williams, COO of Manchester Airport, said: "Manchester Airport has seen a significant increase in passenger volumes in the past five years and is heavily investing in further growth and improvements to the customer experience, most notably through our £1bn transformation programme.

"This growth, coupled with imposed security restrictions on forecourt capacity and an inability to increase available space, has led to extreme congestion around the estate, especially at peak times. It became clear we had to take a more proactive approach to managing this, as Manchester Airport continues to grow, which is why we are introducing a forecourt management system, including a dedicated free site for people to be dropped-off at.

"We have listened carefully to issues raised by passengers since announcing our plans and have been able to respond to many of the concerns raised through the measures being announced today.

"We will announce any further details, including the exact date the system will be introduced, at the earliest opportunity."

Proceeds from the forecourt management scheme will go into a new public transport fund being set up by the airport. This will be used to support measures to improve access to the site for employment opportunities as well as passengers using public transport. The airport will be working in partnership with Cheshire East Council, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Transport for Greater Manchester to administer the fund.

The changes being introduced only impact those dropping-off. The process for picking up passengers remains the same. Passengers can be picked up in terminal car parks, as per the current process, with a charge of £4 for 30 minutes.

Tags:: Manchester Airport

Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Tony Haluradivth

Friday 1^st June 2018 at 6:16 pm

I am less concerned with the Airport ripping us off than our beloved Council doing the same (especially as they receive a huge share of our income via council tax.) Example...the 2 Ring Go ticket machines at Rex/Hoopers car park in town have been playing up this week . Earlier they were spitting out our cash and refusing payment by contactless means. I rang the council only to be told by a very disinterested guy to dowload the App and pay or "park somewhere else" He also told me to report the machines myself to Ringgo.A young guy overheard me and told me that said council were advising most folk to pay by the app. CEC told me the charges were all the same. As an OAP I have a faithful Nokia so my 15 year old grandson dowloaded the App on his iphone (with MY details as he is a minor). We did this and paid £2.40 for 3 hours. However on checking the machine noticed we had been charged 30p more as it should haven been £2.10. The parking team at CEC says that each machine states clearly the extra charge. (They don't each says a small convenience charge "may" be levied. )Ring Go tell me that this charge "goes to CEC" and not all councils insist on a fee. So CEC know the machines are "disabled" they are exhorting all folk who ring in to pay by the app and pocket a clear £3 for every 10 persons who either have to drive around and find another space or pay over the odds for the privilege. If there are any lawyers on here can you tell me if it is illegal not to state these fees clearly and legibly. At no stage during the whole process was I aware of the hidden charge. I am suck of the underhand cavalier attitude of our council ...sorry but this to me smacks of extortion.

Julian Barlow

Friday 1^st June 2018 at 7:45 pm

“We’re moving the drop off zone to a more inconvenient location so we can extort more money from you” would be a more honest statement.

Sunday 3^rd June 2018 at 8:54 am

The phrase "they are ALL in it together" springs to mind....

Jon Williams

Sunday 3^rd June 2018 at 1:12 pm

Just got back from T1 utter chaos on the road leading up to it and you can see the pay booths being finished at the bottom of the ramp on the way out.

Graham Shaw

Wednesday 6^th June 2018 at 3:28 pm

Hang on, is it me or are we being ripped off by the airport??

To pick up someone costs £4 for up to 30 minutes, yet to drop someone off costs £3 for 5 minutes or £4 for 10 minutes.

If the same number of people who fly out come back, then surely that isn't tackling the issue of congestion if you allow 30 minutes to pick them up? And doesn't it take the same amount of time to drop off as it does to pick people up?

Yes, I know flights can be delayed coming back home, but if MCR Airport are serious about tackling congestion and not just concentrating on making money, then shouldn't you try re-educating people to ensure that family members who pick them up from the airport don't arrive too early and check flight information before setting off to the airport? And if the airport are investing in this wonderful public transport with the proceeds, then surely encourage more passengers to use it to get to and from the airport?

Simon Worthington

Wednesday 6^th June 2018 at 5:02 pm

The disingenuous Tricia Williams must have had some very sharp claws as she fought her way up the greasy pole. The "forecourt" is full because the greedy predecessors sold out to hotel groups whist wearing blinkers and now the space is needed the punters pay - again. To claim that drop off vehicles "recirculate" is beyond parody and the main reason most locals arrange to be collected is because of the dubious practice of black cabs overcharging to venture south. Any experience of the dump is more than enough to persuade one to fly from elsewhere when possible or even not bother.
This airport is an utter disgrace and embarrasment as a gateway to our country.

Brian Hull

Wednesday 6^th June 2018 at 8:13 pm

Got back from Lanzarote on 24th May. Plane arrived at 2050, finally got on stand at 2107. We were only flight in T2 but bags did not arrive until 2220. We were being met by friend who had parked his car expecting us to be through in about 30 minutes. So instead of pick up charge of £4 Manchester airport gained an extra £2.50 through their own inefficiency. This on top of a non refundable charge of £1 for a trolley, one line of which was out of order. At Lanzarote trolleys are free. Trolley duly abandoned in car park whereas if the money was refunded they would be returned to a pick up point. The new drop off charge is just another money making scheme. Elderly people like me who do not need special assistance but struggle with luggage have now got to lift it on and off buses and take extra time to get to the terminal thus negating the advantage of living not far from the airport.

Pete Taylor

Wednesday 6^th June 2018 at 9:34 pm

I expect that our local Councillors will be tumbling over each other in their rush to comment...

Roger Thawley

Friday 8^th June 2018 at 8:55 am

I have a question for Tricia Williams. I'm pretty organised about collecting people from the airport. I'm in touch with the people I'm collecting by phone and wait in the surrounding area until they are standing waiting with their luggage some where where I can adopt a reverse process to dropping people off, making it completely unnecessary to venture anywhere near their expensive park and collect facilities; it takes me perhaps a minute to collect.
I assume that, for people like me, the no-cost off-site facilities can be made to work in the same way ....perhaps Tricia can confirm that for me.

Wednesday 13^th June 2018 at 4:04 pm

Further to my previous message, I emailed the airport for confirmation that a free 'reverse drop-off' process will be available for those of us disinclined to pay the equivalent of £120 per hour for two minutes of pick-up ....so far no response.