Will you be doing a good deed this summer and leaving or picking up friends at the airport? Then make sure you have some loose change with you, as from Wednesday 7th July motorists dropping off or picking up passengers at the Belfast International Airport will face a £1 charge.
Any vehicle entering the drop off / pick up zone will be charged a £1.00 fee and will only be allowed a maximum of 10 minutes in the area. If you are intending to be any longer than 10 minutes you will have to use the car parking facilities. To allow for this Belfast International Airport has doubled the time limit allowed for parking at the lowest rate in the short staycar park.
The new drop off zone means that the airport will now come into line with Government guidelines introduced after the Glasgow airport bombing. Currently the distances between the airport terminal and vehicle zones are not big enough and must be increased. But should passengers have to pay for this?
It should also see an improvement in traffic flow and reduce congestion around the airport terminal. However what about the roads leading up to the airport? Currently there are cars and buses parked and waiting along the roadside for miles leading up to the airport so when the new £1.00 charge comes in, is this situation just going to get worse?
What are your thoughts on this? Do you think it is fair to ask vehicles to pay to drop off or pick up passengers?
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