UK Airport Cost of Car Parking Index

The cost of parking a car at UK airports varies considerably across the country and can add a significant expense to a holiday. 

At Flights Finder we champion value, so we decided to probe into the hidden expense that parking a car for a week can add to the cost of a winter sun getaway. 

We looked at the cheapest cost to park a vehicle at many of the UK’s busiest airports during the week from February 10th to 17th 2024. 

Our findings highlight the major discrepancies facing holidaymakers across the UK with those in some parts of the country having to fork out a great deal more than others for the privilege of leaving their car at the airport. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly our research revealed that Heathrow is the most expensive airport to park, charging travellers £123 for the week. 

This is almost £90 more expensive than the cheapest airport car park at Edinburgh airport, who have a fee of £34.99, for the exact same times and days.

Two out of the three cheapest airport car parks were both in Scotland - with Glasgow ranking third most affordable at £54.99 for a week’s stay.  

Heathrow was also the only airport to charge travellers over £100 - as the second most expensive was East Midlands airport at £81.39 for the seven days. 

Only four airports set their weekly parking fee under £60 - Liverpool, Glasgow, Belfast International, and Edinburgh. 

Stansted, Leeds Bradford and Birmingham airports all charged holidaymakers between £60 and £70 to park their vehicles. 

The only Welsh airport to make the list - Cardiff - ranked the seventh most expensive at £72.99.

Four of the London airports make the list - Heathrow, Stansted, Luton and Gatwick. All besides Stansted make the top six most expensive UK airport car parks. 

Outside of the capital city, the airport with the largest passenger numbers is Manchester with 23.3 million travelling through annually.

The northern airport is eighth most expensive for those wanting to park for a week - charging £71.99. 

The fourth cheapest airport car park in the UK is Liverpool - with a weekly fee of £55.99. This is just £1 more than the cost at Glasgow airport. 

Newcastle ranked as the fifth most expensive at £77.99, and is one of the eight airports in the table that charges their customers over £70 to park their cars for the week. 

Three of the London airports have been ranked in the top six most expensive holiday car parks all charging over £74 for a week. Stanstead is at the other end of the rankings charging travellers at least £12 less at £61.99.

The three cheapest airports for seven days of parking are outside of England and Wales - Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast International. 

Cardiff airport is the seventh most expensive at £72.99. East Midlands airport comes in at second most expensive in the UK behind Heathrow - with a fee of £81.39 for travellers parking their cars.

When travellers are already having to pay huge sums for their cherished holiday the cost of airport parking is often a hidden extra and another expense on top of everything else. 

Travellers are often left with no other choice than to pay the expensive parking fees to leave their vehicles at the airport whilst they jet set away. 

This means that airports are essentially able to charge customers as much as they like, with even the cheapest car park furthest away from the terminal potentially costing over £120. 

Here are our UK airport car park price findings in full: 

Notes:

The fifteen busiest UK airports by passenger numbers (2022 data). Please note that in order to include every country in the table, Cardiff was included in the top fifteen, meaning five airports were removed from the study. Source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_busiest_airports_in_the_United_Kingdom#2021_/_2022_data 

Each airport’s official website was used to find out the cost of parking between 7am on the 10th February 2024 - 7pm on the 17th February 2024, where the cheapest option was selected. 

All information correct as of 02/01/2024.