Airport Parking & Hotels Ltd Press Releases

YouGov Customer Consultation - Summary of Results

APH and other members of our industry trade association IAPRA (the Independent Airport Park and Ride Association) recently commissioned independent market research organisation YouGov to survey a random sample of our customers on their attitudes to congestion charging at and around airports. The feedback we received demonstrated overwhelming public opposition to airport congestion charging.

Why did we carry out the survey? Because the government has said that a far bigger proportion of people in the future should travel to airports by public transport, and some people are arguing for a congestion charge around airports to pay for it. We don’t think that’s realistic, and we don’t think it would work. But we wanted to know what our customers thought.

Between March 10 and March 31, YouGov contacted 146,905 of IAPRA members’ airport parking customers by email. There were 8,836 responses to the online survey, a response rate of 6% which YouGov says is very strong for this kind of survey. Many thanks for taking the time to fill out the questionnaire – your opinions were much appreciated.

The survey asked a range of questions about the airport you last flew from, how many people were in your travelling party and how many of these were under-16s. It also asked how you usually choose to travel to airports, the reasons for this, and how your behaviour would change if a £5 congestion charge were introduced at airports. (£5 was used as an example because this was level at which the London congestion charge was introduced.)

The key findings of the survey are:

• 82% of respondents said that when they last flew on holiday, they travelled to the airport using their own car and parked whilst away. Of these people, 79% said that convenience was the main reason for getting to the airport in this way.

• 81% of respondents said that the next time they travel to an airport, they were most likely to use their own car and park whilst away.

• Of those who didn't travel to an airport by public transport when they last flew on holiday, 51% said they wouldn’t consider using a train or coach to travel to the airport in the future.

• 63% of these respondents said that public transport to airports is simply too difficult to use. For 58% it is too unreliable, 46% say it is not available to the airport from where they live, 41% say it is too expensive and 45% say it does not run early or late enough to make flight check-in times. 9% say they do not feel safe using public transport. When asked to give the main reason for not considering public transport, the most popular response, chosen by 29% of respondents, is that it is simply too difficult.

• If a £5 congestion charge were to be introduced, only 8% of customers surveyed say they would use pubic transport, compared to the 4% surveyed who said they would consider using public transport next time they went to an airport without a congestion charge.

• In parallel, if a £5 congestion charge were to be introduced, the proportion of people who say they would get a lift from a friend or family member to an airport next time they travel, compared to how they currently intend to travel, rises from 7% to 13%. There is also a small increase in those travelling by taxi, from 6% to 7%. Both kiss and fly, and taxi journeys involve a doubling of car movements around airports compared to using a park and ride.

Many customers registered their strong opposition to congestion charging in the comments we received back – you can rest assured that we will be working through our trade association to ensure that these views are channelled to politicians and policymakers alike. IAPRA has written to every transport spokesman in Westminster, the Scottish Executive and the Welsh Assembly, highlighting the results and asking for a firm commitment not to introduce congestion charging at or around airports. IAPRA will be publishing their responses in due course.