Starting on the 26th of April, no one will be allowed to drop off or pick up passengers outside the Newcastle Airport terminal building for free.  Instead there will be a “pick-up and drop off” car park about three minutes’ walk from the terminal that will cost £1.00 for up to 20 minutes.

What a bargain, right?  Tell that to the cab drivers who currently get to park outside the terminal for up to five minutes at no cost.  One cabbie told BBC News that it’s going to cost him around £20 a week now to drop off passengers, a cost that he’s unable by law to add onto his regular tariff.

New parking fees causing a stir

So let’s see…Newcastle International has so far managed to disgruntle the cab drivers and make it less convenient for passengers to use the airport.  While they’re on a roll, why not charge people admission to enter the terminal building?

But there may be a method to the madness.  A Newcastle Airport spokesperson said:

“We’re one of the very few airports of our size that has been able to not only retain a free period but increase it.

“We’ve listened to customers and offsite taxi drivers and they’ve been telling us that the five minute period that is currently available in front of the terminal building isn’t long enough.  So we’ve put in place a plan that will allow us to extend the period to 15 minutes.

“If we were to extend the existing provision immediately in front of the terminal building to 15 minutes, we wouldn’t be able to accommodate it because of the very limited space.”

It’s not clear at present how or when they will eventually expand the time allowed to 15 minutes, but in the meantime there’s bound to be a lot more (justified) grumbling amongst passengers and cab drivers who have to use the airport.

So, what do you think of the new Newcastle Airport parking fees?  Leave a comment and let us know.

In the first quarter of 2009, 85% of all charter flights departed on time, compared to the national average of 68%.

Newcastle Airport

Scheduled flights also outperformed the national average, with 82% departing on time between January and March of this year.  In addition, the average length of unavoidable delays to chartered flights was less than half that of every other airport in the survey.

Dave Laws, chief executive of Newcastle International Airport, praised the teamwork and efforts of employees across the business, and also said, “This survey reinforces the sense in flying from Newcastle International, rather than travelling to larger airport where punctuality suffers and delays are often much longer.”

Their excellent record for on-time flights isn’t the only good news for travellers in the Northeast of England.  Park and Fly Newcastle, a GoSimply Award-winning airport parking service, is located just 0.2 miles from the terminal building at Newcastle Airport.