Airports are not only places where passengers and bags get on and off planes. They are also landlords, retailers, advertisers, loyalty companies, caterers, fuel farms and, in some cases, time machines. And as well as all that they are giant car parks.
This article is about the factors that influence airport parking revenue and the implications for both airport and airline commercial models. It also reviews some recent economics papers that attempt to explain variation in how parking revenue models and results do not appear to be the same across all airports.
Parking is a valuable revenue stream for airports
In 2023 the UK’s largest airports (Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester), made £673 million ($915 million) a year from car parking. That is £1.8 million ($2.5 million) on average every day.
Heathrow developed 900 new parking spaces were developed in 2024. These spaces will have contributed to non-aeronautical revenue, which grew from 36.3% of total airport revenue in Q1-23 to 37.2% in Q1-24.
Airports Council International (ACI) reckons that car parks accounted for over 20% of global airport non-aeronautical revenue in 2023. At Heathrow, which earns £564 million ($767 million) from non-aeronauticals, 20% would represent £113 million.
This is only 16.8% of the £673 million for four major UK airports, far less than a quarter. That might be because at Heathrow car parking is more than 20% of non-aeronauticals. But it might be for other reasons too. More on that later…
The United States Federal Aviation Administration, who regulate all things flying-related out west, believe that car parking is even more important for airports. Their studies show around 40% of non-aeronauticals being derived from car parking.
So car parks seem to be doing quite well for airports. But sometimes things can go wrong...
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