Airport car park charges shake-up

The change is part of a shake-up of the parking charges, with parking for 24 hours going up from £12 to £20.

Guernsey Ports has been looking to generate more income from many of its operations, and has now turned to car parking at the airport as part of plans to reduce reliance on taxpayer funding.

James Underwood, head of commercial, said car parks were a significant income-generating asset at airports across the UK.

‘Benchmarking exercises have shown that revenue from parking at Guernsey Airport is not being maximised at present,’ he said. ‘Freeing up spaces for longer stays will make it easier for travellers to plan their transport to and from the airport, giving travellers confidence that we have parking available to them at peak times.’

Currently it is free to park at the airport for an hour, but this is set to be cut to 30 minutes.

It would then be £2 for up to an hour, £10 for 12 hours and £20 for 24 hours, and from then a further £20 a day, for up to three days.

It would then be £12 for each subsequent day.

This means that people leaving their car for three days at the car park will face a charge of £60, rather than today's £36.

Parking raised £822,000 last year. With these increases factored in, this is expected to rise to more than £1m. next year.

Currently, around three-quarters of all the car park tickets issued at Guernsey Airport are for free stays of up to 60 minutes, for people dropping off or meeting passengers.

The increase in short stay charges are not expected to raise significant additional revenue, with more than half of motorists currently parking for less than half an hour.

Around a quarter of tickets are for stays of between 30 minutes and 60 minutes, but most of these are expected to become shorter stop-offs when the free period is reduced.

‘Any revenue that we can raise through parking contributes towards the ports’ operating costs, helps to address the current income shortfall and reduces the amount that needs to be raised through other charges,’ said Mr Underwood.

Tariffs will increase from 1 October – the first rise since 2019.

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Airport car parking charges across the British Isles

Guernsey’s new charges

Up to 30 minutes Free

Up to one hour £2

Six to 12 hours £10

18 to 24 hours £20

48 hours £40

72 hours £60

Southampton Airport charges

Up to one hour £12

Up to 90 minutes £15

Up to four hours £22

Up to 24 hours £45

Up to two days £90

Exeter Airport charges

Up to 30 mins £5

Up to two hours £10

Up to 12 hours £20

Up to 24 hours £45

48 hours £70

72 hours £90

Manchester Airport charges

Up to 30 mins £6

Up to one hour £12

Up to four hours £30

Up to 24 hours £58

Gatwick Airport charges

Up to 30 mins £5

Up to one hour £8

Up to three hours £15

Up to six hours £26

Up to 12 hours £40

Up to 24 hours £45

(Long stay parking is about £20 per day)

Jersey Airport charges

Short stay £1, per 30 minutes

Long stay 30 minutes free, 90p per hour thereafter. This is £21.60 for 24 hours.

Not all charges are included. Some airport offer cheaper rates for pre-booked vehicles. Short stay car parks charges used, unless stated otherwise.