UK’s largest airport ranked as third most expensive in Europe, behind only Helsinki and Zurich.
Recent research made by the flight search engine AirlineHunter.co.uk reveals that Heathrow airport ranks as third most expensive in Europe and more than twice as expensive as the UK’s second largest airport, Gatwick. The cost of flights from Heathrow are on average 16.9 pence per kilometre, while from Gatwick they are only 7.3p/km.
Only Helsinki (19.3p/km) and Zurich (20.1p/km) are more expensive than Heathrow. Ranked with cheapest airport first, Gatwick comes in at number 15, two places above Rome, and three places below Stansted (6.5p/km) at number 12. The cheapest airport in the research is Katowice (Poland), with Paris, Brussels and Frankfurt all featuring with an airport in the top 10.
Four UK airports in top 6 most expensive for parking in study of 30 European airports
AirlineHunter.co.uk compared 30 airports in Europe, using the average ticket price per km as a way to compare the overall price levels. Long haul destinations were not taken into account. The research also covered prices for airport parking, where Heathrow came out even worse.
By far the most expensive for parking, a week at Heathrow airport will set you back £144 – almost the equivalent of a 160 km journey by taxi. This is significantly more than the two runners up, Stansted (£112/week) and Paris Charles De Gaulle (£109/week). Apart from Heathrow, the following UK airports were in the top six most expensive: Stansted (2nd), Gatwick (5th) and Manchester (6th). The calculations are based on peak prices at the cheapest parking lots to avoid special offers influencing the ranking. Those who do need to park at the airports should check for special discounts in advance.
Looking at other results of the survey, some of the more surprising results are the expensive flights from Prague airport, coming in at 4th most expensive with 16.5p/km, and that two of the three cheapest airports includes Paris Beauvais and Oslo Rygge
Average Air Ticket Prices
Methodology: Average price per 1 kilometre of flight for air tickets available for purchase in the following months. Prices include only European flights (intercontinental flights are not included). Air ticket prices are taken from the AirlineHunter.co.uk database.
Airport Parking
Methodology: Price for airport parking for 7 days available to all passengers. Only the official parking places offered by the airport operator at the airport official website were included. If the prices vary e.g. according to the season, the highest price was included. No short-term special offers were included. No pre-booking discounts were included.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
