A few weeks ago I mentioned Gatwick airport were looking at introducing a drop off fee for their customers. This has now been confirmed, and as suggested by so many prople, the fee will be a minimum of £5.00. 

I understand the reasons (and there are several), and the amount of revenue the airports have lost over the last year with the Covid 19 lockdowns is huge. When you hear of passenger numbers DOWN 90%, ofcourse they need to recoup some money (as do most businesses, regardless of their trade or service) 

 

Currently, only the North Terminal is open, and when the south reopens, the charge will also take effect there. From the 8th March, the charge will be £5.00 for 10 minutes, and then an additional £1.00 per minute up to a maximum of 10 minutes. Just like the rest of them !!! 

 

Interesting to see the airport trying to become green with the following statement : 

As the worlds battle with coronavirus continues, along with the great success of the UK vaccine roll out, unfortunately the aviation business has been dealt yet another blow. 

 

In order to try and contain new variants (mainly Brazil and South African), as mentioned in my previous blog, a red list of approximately 30 countries has come into effect. Most of us (me included), presumed these new rules took immediate effect from when the home secretary announced them several days ago. Alas not, they come into law from Monday 15th February. 

 

They are not too straight forward, and I have tried to understand them myself, and I hope a few lines from Matt Hancock,s Commons statement earlier today will help !!! (good luck)