What changed
Cardiff raised its drop-off charge from £3 to £4.50 for 10 minutes (and £4.50 per additional 10 minutes) — up 50%.
Took effect 1 Jul 2026; see the change log. The figures below are from today's data, confirmed against published reports on 28 Oct 2026, because Cardiff Wales Airport's own pages couldn't be read.
The key facts
- Airport
- Cardiff Wales
- The charge now
- £4.50 for up to 10 minutes
- Before
- £3 (the charge in 2025)
- The rise
- +50%
- Took effect
- 1 Jul 2026
- Source
- www.cardiff-airport.com
- Last checked
- 28 Oct 2026 (published reports: the airport's own pages couldn't be read)
How Cardiff Wales now compares
At £4.50, Cardiff Wales is the joint 22nd most expensive of the 29 UK airports we track, £2.24 below the UK average of £6.74. See every airport ranked in the price index.
| Nearby airport | Drop-off charge | Time allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Bristol | £8.50 | 10 minutes |
| Exeter | £8 | 15 minutes |
| Cornwall Newquay | Free | 10 minutes |
| Southampton | £7 | 20 minutes |
How to avoid paying it
Cardiff Wales' free alternative is Car Park 2: 20 minutes free, about a 5-minute walk (booking sites also mention a free shuttle bus). The Cardiff Wales drop-off guide has directions, pick-up rules and the Blue Badge position, and the free drop-off guide covers every airport.
Every change we've logged at Cardiff Wales
- 1 Jul 2026: Cardiff raised its drop-off charge from £3 to £4.50 for 10 minutes (and £4.50 per additional 10 minutes) — up 50%.
All changes at every airport are in the change log. If you're writing about this, the figures are free to quote under CC BY 4.0: see the press page.
Cardiff Wales drop-off charge: your questions
How much is drop-off at Cardiff Wales Airport now?
£4.50 for up to 10 minutes, confirmed against published reports on 28 Oct 2026, because Cardiff Wales Airport's own pages couldn't be read.
When did Cardiff Wales raise its drop-off charge?
It took effect on 1 Jul 2026. Cardiff raised its drop-off charge from £3 to £4.50 for 10 minutes (and £4.50 per additional 10 minutes) — up 50%.
Method & corrections
Every charge on this page is checked against the airport's own published charges and stamped with the date we checked it. We re-verify the full dataset quarterly, and after any reported change — see how we check every figure and who maintains the site.
Spotted an error? Email hello@airportdropoffcharges.co.uk — corrections are made visibly and dated. The dataset behind this page is free to reuse with attribution: JSON · CSV (CC BY 4.0) — about the data.