Airport parking is priced on the walk, not the space

Airport parking prices vary by a large multiple across a single site. The variable being sold is distance to the terminal door, not the square metre of tarmac.

Land near a terminal has competing uses

The ground immediately around a terminal is also wanted for stands, taxiways, service roads and future expansion. Parking competes with all of them for the same footprint.

That competition is resolved by price. Short-stay parking sits closest because it turns over many times a day, generating far more revenue per space than a fortnight's holiday stay.

Long-stay parking is pushed outwards to land with no operational value, which is why it is cheap and why it needs a bus to connect it.

The shuttle is the actual cost

An off-site car park charges less and repays the difference in time: a wait for the bus, the ride, and the same again in reverse on return.

Shuttle frequency is the number that matters and is rarely advertised prominently. A ten-minute headway and a thirty-minute one produce very different journeys from the same price.

Late arrivals are where the difference bites, since off-site operators reduce frequency overnight exactly when a delayed flight lands and passengers are least willing to wait.

Booking ahead is a different product

Driving up and paying the gate rate is the most expensive way to park almost everywhere. Pre-booked parking is sold as a reserved product with its own, much lower, tariff.

The pricing behaves like an airline's: capacity is finite, demand is known in advance, and the rate rises as the date approaches and spaces fill.

School holidays and long weekends fill first, and the cheap tiers close earliest at airports serving mainly leisure traffic, where demand is concentrated into a few weeks a year.

Drop-off has quietly become chargeable

Many airports now charge for entering the terminal forecourt, enforced by plate recognition and payable afterwards. The charge applies whether the vehicle stops for two minutes or ten.

Free alternatives usually exist a short distance away, in a designated area with a short walk or a shuttle, which is the same trade being made in the car parks.

The charge is also a demand management tool rather than only a revenue one, since forecourt congestion delays buses and taxis that carry far more passengers per vehicle.

Comparing against the alternatives properly

A fortnight of long-stay parking is often more than a return taxi, and frequently more than a train fare for two people. The comparison is worth making with the actual dates.

Parking wins on flexibility rather than on cost: a delayed arrival at three in the morning is a solved problem with a car and an open question without one.