Parking at Edinburgh Airport

Dropping someone off at Edinburgh Airport

Dropping off at the terminal costs £8.50 for up to 10 minutes.

Edinburgh publishes a single drop-off price for the airport, with no split by terminal.

Entry and exit are barrier controlled, so the charge is collected as you leave rather than billed afterwards. The airport publishes no maximum stay and no parking charge notice for this zone — past ten minutes the meter simply runs at £1 a minute. Every car park here is cashless: since 1 July the payment machines take debit or credit cards only, and contactless, Apple Pay and Google Pay are accepted. Cars, motorbikes and minibuses are allowed. Blue Badge holders get free access to the car parks for one hour — press the intercom at the exit barrier and give your 16-character code. Residents of EH4 6, EH4 8, EH12 0, EH12 9, EH28, EH29 and EH52 5 can apply for a 50 per cent discount, which applies to the first ten minutes only.

Free alternative: The Long Stay car park gives 30 minutes free. Note there is no shuttle bus — a walking route runs from the north end of the car park and the airport says to allow ten minutes to the terminal.

The airport's own drop-off page →

Picking someone up

Collecting from the terminal costs £8.50 for up to 10 minutes.

Edinburgh runs no separate pick-up facility — the same zone and the same tariff cover both, so waiting for an arriving passenger is charged exactly like dropping one off, at £1 a minute past the first ten.

Free alternative: The Long Stay car park's 30 free minutes apply to collecting as well as dropping, and with the £1-a-minute meter running at the terminal it is the sensible place to wait for a delayed arrival — provided you allow ten minutes to walk each way.

Car parks at Edinburgh Airport

What catches people out at Edinburgh Airport

• The free option has no bus — Long Stay gives thirty minutes free, and the airport recommends it. What is easy to miss is that there are no shuttle buses between it and the terminal. A walking route runs from the north end of the car park and the airport itself says to allow ten minutes each way — so of your thirty free minutes, twenty are spent walking if you see your passenger to the door. source
• £1 a minute, with no ceiling published — After ten minutes the charged zone bills £1 for every further minute, and Edinburgh publishes no maximum stay and no cap. Half an hour is £28.50 on that arithmetic. A flight that lands late is the expensive way to find out. source
• No cash, anywhere — Every car park at Edinburgh is cashless, and since 1 July the payment machines accept debit or credit cards only. Contactless, Apple Pay and Google Pay work. Arriving at the barrier with notes and coins is arriving at the barrier with nothing. source
• The Blue Badge hour needs a code you applied for — Vehicles carrying Blue Badge passengers get free access to the car parks for an hour, but it is not automatic at the barrier: you have to press the intercom at the exit and give a 16-character validation code. Turning up without one leaves you paying the standard tariff. source
• The resident discount is worth £4.25 and must be applied for first — Residents of EH4 6, EH4 8, EH12 0, EH12 9, EH28, EH29 and EH52 5 can get 50 per cent off — but only on the first ten minutes, and only after applying. It halves £8.50 to £4.25 and does nothing at all for minute eleven onwards. source

If you get a ticket at Edinburgh Airport

Edinburgh Airport is private land. A notice issued here is a parking charge notice — a claim under the contract you accept by parking, not a fine issued by a council. Nobody at the airport has the power to fine you.

Because this is not a council notice, an appeal does not go to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (General Regulatory Chamber), which hears council penalty charge notices in Scotland.

Edinburgh publishes no parking charge notice for this zone, and no appeals route with it. Entry and exit are barrier controlled, so the charge is taken as you leave rather than sent to you afterwards — there is normally nothing to appeal, because there is nothing issued. The airport's drop-off zone terms point to its byelaws rather than to a private parking contract, and name neither an operator nor a trade body, so we cannot say whether a dispute would reach POPLA or the IAS. If you are issued with anything here, read the operator's name and the appeals route off the document itself.

How a private parking charge works, and when the keeper can be pursued →

Appealing a private parking charge, step by step →

Nearby

• Parking in Edinburgh council tickets, not private charges
• Glasgow Airport
• Belfast International Airport
• Birmingham Airport
• Bristol Airport
• East Midlands Airport
• Gatwick