London City Airport Adding Passenger Drop-Off Fees From January 6

London City Airport (LCY) really does not want you driving in to drop off passengers at their terminal. On January 6, 2026, they will follow in the footsteps of a number of other UK airports, introducing a mandatory drop-off fee.

The charge will be £8.00 for 0-5 minutes then £1 minute for any additional minutes, with a maximum stay of 10 minutes. Blue badge holders and black cab drivers will be exempt from the charge.

According to airport officials, “this move is part of our commitment to encourage more travel to and from the airport via public and sustainable transport modes, of which two-thirds of our passengers already use.”

LCY is a small airport compared to Heathrow and Gatwick, connecting passengers to Scotland, Ireland, Isle of Man and mostly western Europe destinations. According to 2022 stats, they served just over 3 million, compared to its bigger brothers serving in the 10s of millions, with Heathrow seeing over 83 million passengers in 2024.

As a result, they do not have much of a footprint within the city, and have a very small drop-off area for those coming in via car or bus. With their own DLR (Docklands Light Railway) station next to the airport, LCY officials prefer that passengers transit in and out via rail rather than congesting the very small drop-off area and surrounding streets.

For now, the drop-off charge isn’t incorporated into black taxi or bus fares, but will most likely be added on once Transport for London (TfL) revisits its fare structure.

Drop-off fees nothing new in the UK

The practice of immediately charging a drop-off fees seems to be a very UK thing as most major airports internationally still allow a very small grace period where cars can pop in and out before a fee is applied.

At Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton, drop-offs up to 10 minutes will run you £7. Stansted also costs the same, but with a slightly longer window of 15 minutes. Manchester is a bit cheaper at £5 for the first give minutes, and £6.40 for six to 10 minutes. The charges increase exponentially if you stay longer at any one of these airports as a way of deterring vehicle operators from blocking the drop-off area.

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