Taxi and minicab drop off and pick up fees revamped for new £7m Edinburgh Airport facility

A new multi-million pound Edinburgh Airport facility has seen a restructure in pricing for taxi and private hire drivers wishing to drop off and pick up passengers at the terminal.

Changes to Edinburgh Airport’s forecourt will be brought in next month to assist the airport cope with the challenges thrown up by the coronavirus pandemic, and in response to feedback from users and passengers.

The new £7million East Terminus will open in November, providing a dedicated facility for taxis and private hire cars, and is partly made possible by a revamp in drop-off and pick-up charges.

The changes will see:

• A harmonisation of charges to a £4 fee for both pick-up (£1 less) and drop-off (£2 more)

• Time in drop-off doubling from 5 to 10 minutes

• A discount of £2 for people with electric cars

• A discount scheme for households in neighbouring areas

• Retention of the free drop-off zone, temporarily moving to Mid-Stay.

The changes will come into effect from 9 November and will be supported by new signage in the area and social media activity.

The new East Terminus facility was started before the pandemic hit and has been prioritised to be completed given its impact on passenger experience. It will be one of the last capital projects at the airport until financial conditions improve.

Gordon Dewar, Chief Executive of Edinburgh Airport, said: “The changes will make things easier to understand for users as requested in much of the feedback we received, as is the doubling in time for use in that area. We’ll also be offering incentives for those with electric cars as we move towards more sustainable methods of transport

“However, we can’t deny that the drastic impact of COVID-19 has also forced our hand on the pricing change. We are 91% down on passenger numbers, with less routes and airlines operating, and we’re having to operate with a quarantine policy that is a travel ban in all but name. All of that drastically impacts on finances and right now we stand to lose £60 million in 2020, which makes it incredibly difficult for us to remain competitive and attract back those airlines and routes in the coming months unless we increase revenue to survive a very bleak winter.

“More importantly, we don’t want to lose more staff – we want to preserve as many jobs as possible. We’ve already had to say goodbye to a third of our workforce through no fault of their own and we’ve done that to right-size the airport, but forecasting future passenger numbers is almost impossible at the moment so we don’t quite know what size that’ll be. To make sure we are ready to recover then we have to have a staff base that allows us to do so.”