It is very difficult to ascertain where the stereotype that parking at the airport is expensive has come from. There are many ideas but it comes down to the fact that the mass exodus of people to foreign destinations on holidays is a relatively new phenomena. If we were to go back 50 years, the foreign holiday was the domain of the rich and powerful only; ordinary people didn’t fly at all. Because of this, there were two outcomes; the only people flying were rich and there weren’t many of them! When there are few people trying to use a service, the cost needs to rise a little bit in order to make the income created by the service outweigh the cost of it (on staff etc). On top of this, you have people who are willing to pay a little bit more in order to park their car because, frankly, they can afford it! The result of this is that the car parking companies whacked the price up dramatically in order to gain as much profit as possible.

What we forget is that, now, there are thousands of people who use the airport every summer meaning that there is no shortage of suitors for the service. These are people who will not pay over the odds for the service and will choose the cheapest option. Because of this shift in the demographic, the companies have lowered their prices substantially. The cheapest car parking price around Stansted airport is a little over £1 per hour which is incredibly low! It will incur a 10 minute walk to the station but you are certainly making a saving!