With many Brits set to get away this year, but also looking to save money, Xcite Car Leasing's analysed the price of parking at top UK airports.
Factors such as the pricing of drop-off, short-stay, mid-stay, and long-stay parking were all analysed, while also looking at how much you can save by booking in advance. The number of electric vehicle charging stations at each airport was also investigated, to suit the growing number of EV drivers in the UK.
Each airport was ranked for each factor, with an overall score then calculated. The lower the overall score, the better that airport is for parking.
Belfast has the best UK airport to park at, study reveals
Belfast International Airport took the top spot in the index, excelling in several areas of the study. It's the cheapest overall for long-stay parking that isn’t booked in advance, at £65 for 7 days. It also ranks second for both pre-booked week and weekend parking. Belfast International is, however, let down by a lack of EV charging points – there are zero chargers available at the airport.
Aberdeen Airport's in second place, ranking second on the price of mid-stay car parking (£30 for 24 hours). Bristol Airport rounded off the top 3, as the best for both drop-off and short-stay car parking (free of charge). It also ranks well for the number of EV chargers available.
At the other end of the table, London City Airport's the worst airport for parking. It ranked bottom and second-bottom for every category bar EV chargers.
Pre-booking your airport parking saves you nearly £97 on average – with Edinburgh Airport offering the best deal
Based on booking for a July week away, we got quotes from the airports’ pre-booking sites to see how much it would cost to park your car during the summer holidays. As well as a week-long stay (Friday 5pm-Friday 5pm the following week), we also looked at a long weekend in July (Friday 5pm-Monday 5pm). On average, booking in advance can save £96.97 on airport parking.
Edinburgh has the lowest price for a car parking spot in July for a week and also a long weekend – costing from £39.99 and £23.99 respectively. Belfast's the next cheapest at £44.99 for the week, and then East Midlands at £58.99.
London City Airport's the most expensive to park your car, even with pre-booking. It costs £147.50 to grab a parking space for the week, or £420 without booking in advance. The airport offering the biggest saving for booking, however, is Manchester. Pre-booking brings the cost of parking for a week down from £360 to only £69.99 – a massive saving of £290.
Heathrow has 216% more EV chargers than the next airport
We looked at each airport’s website, as well as Zap Map, to reveal that Heathrow is by far the best airport for availability of EV charging points, with 38 overall – 216% more chargers than second-placed Bristol Airport. These are located in the multi-storey car parks, with 26 in the Terminal 2 parking area, and 4 each in T3, T4, and T5.
Bristol Airport was the next best for EV charging points, with 12 overall, while London Luton Airport boasts 10.
While many airport websites state there's EV parking nearby, 5 airports analysed don’t currently offer EV charging points on-site: Stansted, Belfast International, East Midlands, Bournemouth and Southend.
How to get free parking at 16 UK Airports
| Airport | Free Parking Available |
|---|---|
| Aberdeen Airport | 15 mins for EV's - Must register vehicle first |
| Belfast International Airport | 30 mins free in long-stay car park |
| Birmingham Airport | 20 mins free in drop-off car park |
| Bristol Airport | 1 hour free in waiting zone |
| Cardiff Airport | 5 mins free for drop-off 20 mins free in long-stay car park |
| East Midlands Airport | 1 hour free in long-stay 2 |
| Edinburgh Airport | 30 mins free in long-stay car park |
| Glasgow Airport | 15 mins free for EVs - must register vehicle first 30 mins free in long-stay car park |
| Leeds Bradford Airport | 1 hour free in mid-stay 2 EVs can use the pick-up & drop-off car park for up to 1 hour free of charge |
| Liverpool Airport | 40 mins free in drop-off 2 |
| London Heathrow Airport | 29 mins free in long-stay car park |
| London Luton Airport | 15 mins free in mid-stay car park 1 hour free in long-stay car park |
| London Southend Airport | 15 mins free in long-stay 3 |
| London Stansted Airport | 1 hour free in mid-stay |
| Newcastle Airport | 15 mins free in short-stay 2 |
| Southampton Airport | 20 mins for EVs - must register vehicle first |
The vast majority of UK airports have the option to drop holiday-goers off for free, but figuring out which car parks apply is the hardest part. Mostly, these areas are the long-stay car parks, but with most drivers opting to go to the drop-off or short-stay car parks, they could be paying a bit more than they need to.
London Stansted, East Midlands, Bristol, Leeds Bradford and London Luton, all offer the longest free waiting time. You can park in their mid- or long-stay car parks for up to an hour free of charge. 3 of the airports analysed didn’t appear to offer any free parking: Manchester, London City and London Gatwick, where you must pay at all parking spots.
Several airports are also offering free charging for EVs, such as Southampton, Aberdeen and Leeds, where EVs can park for up to an hour at no cost.
You can see our previous research around the best airports to park at here.
Methodology
For this study, Xcite Car Leasing looked at the standard ‘turn up and go’ pricing for drop-off (15 mins), short-stay (one hour), mid-stay (one day), and long-stay (seven days) parking at some of the UK’s largest airports by number of passengers.
We also gathered individual quotes for a pre-booked weekend (Friday 5pm-Monday 5pm) and a pre-booked week (Friday 5pm-Friday 5pm the following week), looking at 21 July-24 July 2023 and 21 July- 28 July 2023 respectively. This was to coincide with UK summer holidays. The final factor considered was the number of EV charging points that each airport currently has, which was found on each airport’s website, Zap Map or Airport Parking Shop.
Each airport was given a score of 1-20 (best to worst) for each category. The scores were then added together to create the overall airport parking index. The lower the score, the better the rank, and thus the better that airport is for parking.