Leeds Bradford Airport Parking

[Aviador]

By Way LBA would not comment. I wonder why? They have also gone really quiet on the subject on there Facebook page after a load of comments where made.

Least said sooner forgotten. It's a good policy.

 

[White Heather]

There was a time when the YEP was totally supportive of LBA, but not anymore. They waste no opportunity to dish out the dirt. But there again, they are not really a local paper any more are they? The decision on the drop off area has been made by the airport - end of story. No amount of moaning will change that. It is their airport, their land, and their shareholders who expect a dividend. Meanwhile we, the airport customers, supporters, employees, etc, want to see the airport successful, with multi million pound developments and lots more flights. That is all great, yet there is an almighty fuss about them charging a couple of quid to use the car park. If the airport gave every one free access, the moaning about parking would stop, but then the same people would probably moan about overcrowding and lack of investment in the terminal instead. There really seems to be a culture of believing that some fairy godmother is going to build us a nice airport out of the goodness of their hearts, and the customers will not need to contribute at all.

As I have said before, if people don't want to pay the £2 to get dropped off at the airport (or picked up) then they should help the airport comply with its planning conditions and go on the bus. I think they will find it cheaper to pay the parking charges though!

 

[stewief1]

Well, i am proud of the 'moaning' (or genuine consumer criticism) on the Facebook page - it is important that people have the right to express their opinion about their local airport! Due to the poor signage on the approach to the airport, and interestingly the free parking offer in the long stay car park being several type sizes smaller than the £2 fee notice, i have witnessed car drivers pull alongside the curb by the car park before the barriers, then wait for a gap in the traffic, turn around, then speed out the one way system. Not what the airport managers want i expect. Although i wish the airport success, supporters like myself are equally entitled to criticize some of the decisions made.

 

[Aviador]

Hi stewief1

I for one welcome such criticism. I cannot knock people for supporting the airports move either. Most of the people who use this forum have the same interest and goal which is to see the airport expand and develop to reach it's full potential and serve the Yorkshire region to the full.

Had the Glasgow airport bomb not occurred, airports throughout the country would still be allowing pick-up and drop-off traffic to approach the terminal front for FREE so they would have had to find 'development' money else where.

Subsequent measures were brought in by the previous Labour government and the Department For Transport imposed new security measures on airports. Those measure say that all airports must now provide 25m spacing between the terminal and approach roads. Ram proof barriers must also be placed around major airports, terminals and some stations.

These measures meant airports such as LBA had to redesign the layout of their drop off facilities. It was only then that airports realised that money could be made from this.

I have no doubt that all airports are finding it increasingly difficult to expand and improve facilities. Imposing parking charges on people who may only be dropping off is harsh and admittedly, I can't think of a system that would work better. People abused the previous system which allowed ten minutes free by driving round the block and back into the car park. This added to the congestion on the roads around the airport with people parking up on double yellow lines until the flight they were waiting for had landed.

One of the excuses given by the airport authority is laughable.

"the decision to allow off airport parking (Sentinel and the Avro Factory) will reduce airport income and impact on the speed at which they can carry out the alterations and additions."

Sentinel has been operating for around ten years or more. Gaining official planning consent should not alter the airports income from parking charges at all. With regards to the new company in the Avro factory, I understand this is only a small set-up with limited spaces anyway.

The council also said it was concerned that the airport didn't have the capacity to cope with the extra 2000 spaces, had the application been declined. So really this is the fault of the airport for not providing sufficient spaces for parking on-site.

Although the airport will shortly be issuing a new updated masterplan, there is little scope for addition parking on-site without some sort of multi-storey stacking. The airport management has said in the past that this is too expensive at the moment, so I see no way forward without the use of off-site parking.

 

[stewief1]

Thank you for the insightful reply. I knew that the drop off fee was probably made with a heavy heart from the airport management (or may be not..?), and as usual, there is always more than meets the eye when making decisions which will affect the popularity of the airport. In time, i am sure the drop-off fee complaints will all blow over, and we will soon find ourself complaining about the next 'stealth tax' that will be introduced. Perhaps we will find ourselves being charged for passing through security!

 

[Aviador]

I think when you look at other airport and station pick-up and drop off facilities there's really not much difference. Most of them charge and they nearly all over-charge in the public eye.

If you look at Leeds City Station, the pick-up and drop-off facility there is farcical and far smaller than the facility at Leeds Bradford airport. Parking at the station is equally expensive yet Leeds City Station handles around 100,000 passengers a day as opposed to an average of around 8000 passengers a day at Leeds Bradford airport. So I think when you compare pick-up and drop-off facilities at Leeds Bradford airport with other large airports and stations, Leeds Bradford Airport fairs well.

Leeds Bradford airport pick-up and drop-off


Leeds City Station Pick-up and drop-off

 

[lbaspotter]

Yorkshire Evening Post are at it again tonight. Good to see that they don’t support there local airport anymore. Just like 5 Local councils who sold the airport to Bridgepoint in the dire state it’s in now. They should all hang there heads in shame for the lack off development over the last 15 years or so, Especially Leeds City councils ruling Labour party.

Now if they the previous owners had invested in the airport over the past 15 years. )Well since LBA got its 24 hours operations back) they would be no need for these extra charges which are been introduced by the Airport in my eyes. Instead they have just dumped it all on its new owners to sort out. Where else do the airport find the money for new terminal building development and so on?

Charge the airlines more money. Well if you do that then the airlines pull-out there services and tell the airport where to go and then everyone ill be moaning as to why LBA doesn’t have the routes anymore.

Source: http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/l ... _1_3452538

Rod McPhee: Terminal decline

Published on Monday 6 June 2011 09:52

BOSSES at Leeds-Bradford airport are missing a trick charging a measly £2 to drop people off .

C’mon boys, think big – two piddling quid isn’t going to deter enough people from using it.

Perhaps they should charge a fiver, maybe a straight tenner. That way no one will even consider our local point of departure.

If we’re serious about putting people off we need some kind of congestion zone technology. Installed in a three mile radius around the airport, passing through the area would see you get charged £5.

Glancing across at the airport would be an additional £1 and making a mental note of it next time you’re arranging a holiday should incur a further quid.

Fortunately, if we’re to deter people from Leeds and Bradford using Leeds-Bradford airport, there are already many hurdles.

At present a taxi from the middle of Leeds will set you back somewhere close to £20. If you come from the south and east of the city you’re looking at £30 or more. That’s £40 to £60 for a return trip.

Manchester Airport, meanwhile, is a straight £25 for a return train ticket from Leeds city station, taking you into the heart of the terminal in as little as 77 minutes.

There is no train to Leeds/Bradford, of course. It’s miles from a motorway and access comes from a cluster of B-roads where it isn’t easy to stop without getting killed as you leave the car.

Parochial? You bet your backwater aerodrome it is.

Offsetting the fact that other airports often offer cheaper flights anyway, is the bonus that Leeds-Bradford airport is so close that driving there isn’t too much hassle.

If you live on the closest side of either city you could easily get a friend or relative to drop you off with little hassle, but now? Now it’ll cost you £2. Genius.

It’s the Ryanair approach to milking customers: get as much money out of them wherever possible, even if they do loathe you for it.

Obviously most people can afford a couple of pounds, they’ll just resent handing it over.

The charge adds to the sense that using Leeds-Bradford, unlike other “international airports”, is just that bit too bothersome. And if we are ever on the cusp of choosing there or somewhere less bothersome to fly from, guess who’s going to lose out.

The £2 “kiss and fly” fee also makes us look unbelievably petty and provincial to outsiders. It makes us look like a bunch of penny-pinching yokels at a time when we should be developing the airport as a symbol of our evolution into a cosmopolitan city.

The ideal would be a point of arrival and departure – like Heathrow, like Manchester, like Glasgow – where international jetsetters swoop in and out.

Instead, what will greet them on arrival? It’s an image which will make Tykes look like straw-chewing farmers scrambling around on the back of their carts looking for groats to pay the gatekeeper.

Charging a £2 drop-off fee isn’t going to instantly deter travellers but it adds to the constant hassle which will, in time, see more and more people walk away from Leeds-Bradford airport

But I’m being cynical, obviously. The move to reduce passenger numbers is clearly part of some far bigger plan that my simple mind can’t begin to fathom.

We must pay up and keep faith that the airport bosses aren’t just short-sighted and money grabbing

 

[rmac]

I feel very sorry for Tony Hallwood and all those at the airport who are striving to improve the airport in many different ways when such a disgusting article appears in the local paper basically telling Leeds people to forgat their local airport and use Manchester. Fortunately there are people out there who appreciate the airport, like my friends who travelled from Crieff (Stirling area) in Scotland to fly from LBA to Limoge and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

 

[Seasider]

I can't believe that the article has been written by a journalist from a local paper. Is it tongue in cheek? Is he a Lancastrian? Does he use the airport?

I hope the Airport MD writes to the editor of the YEP for the right to reply to utter "destructive" criticism.

I am as fed up as anyone about the charges airlines/airport implement, but it is cheaper to fly from your local airport than it ever has been.

 

[lbaspotter]

I'll be voting with my money. I'll be no longer buy the Yorkshire evening post every night with articles been written like that.

I can't honestly believe they have published an article like this. I agree with you seasider that I do hope somebody within the management at LBA will reply to it. The Sooner the better, Rather than later.

 

[tleeds]

A truly disgusting article.
I think that the council, yes, should've pumped more capital into the Airport, but just as they may have planned to put money into it, the recession occurred shelving everything planned for 2008 onwards. You could say they have had since 1994 when the 24hour license was granted, but there was no-really dominant airline back then like TCX, RYR and LS are now...?!
Possibly, if they had put capital in earlier, airlines would've started operations earlier as well...?

 

[stewief1]

I unfortunately know the said journalist, or shall we say, had an encounter with him some years ago. Even in those days he lacked integrity and loyalty, which has now evidently spilled over into his journalistic productions. From memory, he is a Leeds/Bradford lad.

 

[Aviador]

Yorkshire Evening Post are at it again tonight. Good to see that they don’t support there local airport anymore. Just like 5 Local councils who sold the airport to Bridgepoint in the dire state it’s in now. They should all hang there heads in shame for the lack off development over the last 15 years or so, Especially Leeds City councils ruling Labour party.

Now if they the previous owners had invested in the airport over the past 15 years. )Well since LBA got its 24 hours operations back) they would be no need for these extra charges which are been introduced by the Airport in my eyes. Instead they have just dumped it all on its new owners to sort out. Where else do the airport find the money for new terminal building development and so on?

Charge the airlines more money. Well if you do that then the airlines pull-out there services and tell the airport where to go and then everyone ill be moaning as to why LBA doesn’t have the routes anymore.

That's some rant there Lbaspotter. :shok:

First of all I would say as much as I would like support the airport wholeheartedly, I honestly can't say I do with this.

Anyone that thinks that implementing such charges would go unnoticed is naive. The new charges some people would describe as 'draconian' are unfair regardless of whether you want to support the airport or not.

I do agree that the council has dragged it's heals with issues surrounding the airport development but I am not convinced it is the fault of the ruling Labour group. If you have followed local elections over the years you would know that the council has passed between Labour hands and the Con/LibDem hands on two separate occasions. Not knocking any of the individual party's but the lack of a having a party with overall control has led to indecisive moves by numerous council administrations.

The Sale of the airport was done by the Con/LibDems, Labour councillors considered the move as selling the city jewels. Much of the indecisiveness with the planning for the terminal has been whilst the Con/LibDems have shared power in the local chambers. Only recently has Labour taken overall control of Leeds City Council once again.

At this stage it is worth pointing out that the council was in Labour hands when the airport managed to get Jet2 to open up a base. So I don't feel your rant about Labour is justified.

Moving on from that. I think people need to remember the financial situation the country is in caused by both the banks collapsing and the cost of crude oil which has escalated over the same period as the worldwide financial crisis.

Airlines have put the pressure on. Ryanair can be quoted for saying "airports need to feel the same pain as we are feeling". Airports have had to make enormous changes. Like many other airports in the UK, here at Leeds Bradford we have seen the introduction of the trolley charge (£1.00), security fast track charges (£3.00) and now the introduction of the £2.00 'kiss and fly' charge. The problem here is the trolley and the fast track charges are optional but without breaking the law and parking on double yellow lines, the £2.00 'kiss and fly' charge is compulsory. So for every passenger that uses the airport that is dropped off and picked up is charged £4.00 even if they only use the pick-up drop-off zone for a matter of minutes.

Surely there has to be a fairer system that charges people only for the time they use the drop-off system and surely the airport can find other ways of making money preferably by people choosing to use something as opposed to being forced to use it?

 

[stewief1]

Well said Aviador - my feelings on the 'kiss & fly' subject are well known, however journalistic trash such as the article published in the YPN is neither constructive nor productive in producing a reasoned argument for the pro's and con's. Objectivity would be better, and wld certainly help people make an informed decision about using LBA in the future.

 

[lbaspotter]

Well Aviador I’m sorry here you can’t support your local airport. I do hope you have more pleasure flying from Manchester or Doncaster in the future if you feel that way.

£2 is a measly sum compared to the £40 in fuel for the car and either £2.20 for been dropped off or the £35 for parking the car.
If travelling by train its even worse. You got to get to Leeds interchange first by taxi (which is about £15) from where you live or £3 for you bus fare. Then you have the £25 (Per Person) for the return train fare. So if there are 2 off you it’s more like £60. Plus you'll have the hassle off dragging your luggage about everywhere for a couple of hours.
So LBA wins every time in my book.

In reply to you post well I’ll like to add the following comments.

At this stage it is worth pointing out that the council was in Labour hands when the airport managed to get Jet2 to open up a base. So I don't feel your rant about Labour is justified

.

To imply that Labour had anything to do with Jet2 coming to LBA surely can’t be right. The airport was run independtley of the 5 local councils. I think you are totally wrong when it was in fact Ed Anderson who got the deal with Mr. Messon to bring the Jet2 brand to LBA.

Airlines have put the pressure on. Ryanair can be quoted for saying "airports need to feel the same pain as we are feeling".

.

Also I have a feeling that you would agree with me that we would certainly be some of the first people to complain about Airlines pulling services out of LBA. It was only 2 weeks ago that PIA threaten to pull out.
If the airport were to increase its charges to the airlines/operators the likes of ryanair, PIA and possibly Thomson Airways will be the first to pull routes. Then the airport goes back to a situation of routes not been served and a big drop in passengers figures which nobody wants to see.

By the way I do agree this is not the right place for a political debate.

 

[michael]

Aviador and Lbaspotter, I think the political argument is both irrelevant and a waste of time, surely the point is this - is it fair to expect someone who is not using airport facilities - the car driver - to have to pay £2 (which,by the way is guaranteed to go up at least annually) for the pleasure of driving on LBA ground for a maximum time of about 2 minutes - I would have thought the average time to drop passengers off. The simple answer is NO. Those who want to go in to the airport terminal to wave off their loved ones will do just that - and they expect to pay for their half hour or whatever stop in the car park - just as those of us do who pick passengers up. If you park up you rightly expect to pay, for simply dropping off you should not have to pay. As good old Boris Johnson surely would say surely 'it's not beyond the wit of man' to come up with a fair system. I don't know how long the 'grace' period used to be in the car park but if this was set at 3 minutes those of us dropping off would be in, out and gone. It would also encourage people to get out quicker rather than chatting in the drop off zone. And if LBA depends so much on this charge then stick another pound on parking charges for those who park up . In effect this charge makes LBA drop off the shortest (and possibly only) stretch of TOLL ROAD in West Yorks! :aggressive:

 

[Bigman]

It really hacks me off that this guy actually thinks that the rail service to Manchester solves everyone’s problems. Get real!!! The trains are packed and I cannot think of one occasion in the last 5 years where I have not encountered delays getting into or out of Manchester Piccadilly station.

When you get off the train, you have at least ½ mile to walk just to get to your check in desk.

And since when did the A65, A658 and A660 become B Roads??

 

[lbaspotter]

It really hacks me off that this guy actually thinks that the rail service to Manchester solves everyone’s problems. Get real!!! The trains are packed and I cannot think of one occasion in the last 5 years where I have not encountered delays getting into or out of Manchester Piccadilly station.

When you get off the train, you have at least ½ mile to walk just to get to your check in desk.

And since when did the A65, A658 and A660 become B Roads??

Well pointed out BigMan, Also most off the time when I get on the 757 airport bus from Leeds it only takes between 35 to 40 mins. (Depending on traffic of course)

 

[Aviador]

Well Aviador I’m sorry here you can’t support your local airport.

Far from it lbaspotter. I always give credit where credit is due but it is silly to support something for supporting sake.

With regards to your comments, you have either misread or misinterpreted what I said.

Here is what I said again. "as much as I would like support the airport wholeheartedly, I honestly can't say I do with this."

"This", meaning this issue alone. I have always supported the airport through some of it's biggest changes over the years. Anybody who knows me who wishes to go to the library and research the background of the nighttime flying restrictions will come across many of my letters supporting the airport in the local press. The fact is, everybody makes mistakes including businesses and LBA is no different.

They should all hang there heads in shame for the lack off development over the last 15 years or so, Especially Leeds City councils ruling Labour party.

Then you wrote...

By the way I do agree this is not the right place for a political debate.

Contradicting statements there. I couldn't let you get away with your first quote without setting the record straight although I too don't feel this is the right place for a political debate.

Just because I don't agree with the £2.00 charge (£4.00 including your return pick-up) doesn't mean I don't support the airport. I just think there are other ways they can make money fairly without charging people who genuinely don't abuse the facility.

A quick brainstorming session will come up with numerous other ideas that the airport could adopt to generate new revenue.

Once passengers have returned from their holiday or business trip the airport has no arrivals shop where people can purchase essentials such as milk and bread. Something like this could even be build in the carpark. near the exit barriers.

A Mcdonalds drive through could be placed in the car-park for meeters and greeters who are waiting for relatives to return. Flight information screens could be placed in the drive-thru car park displaying advertising (more revenue)

An on site petrol station so people fill-up before driving home.

The list goes on.

 

[Aviador]

With regards to the YEP article I do agree with peoples comments on here. The journalist is clearly only out for point scoring with whoever. It's his job to create controversy to get more readers to buy his fledgling newspaper.