Newquay - Cornwall - Airport Development Fee

Scarlet_Fever · 23 June 2008 at 4:48PM

I'm flying from Newquay in August. I've booked my flight and then i find out about the ADF. Basically everyone who flies through Newquay has to pay £5 on top of their ticket price.

Its feels like the booking fee rubbish we have to put up with when booking concert tickets etc. I know its not a lot of money - but they *are* making money from the airlines (and this in not linked to the current crunch fuel stuff)

it just annoys me thats all...

**********************************************

Airport Development Fee

On Saturday 29 October 2005 Newquay Cornwall Airport introduced a £5 Airport Development Fee for all departing passengers.

Newquay Cornwall Airport is one of the fastest growing regional airports in the UK. It boasts regular low cost flights to some of the country's major international airports and overseas destinations. To meet the increasing demand for flights to and from the region, Newquay Cornwall Airport must develop services, facilities and infrastructure to meet its customer's needs. To meet these rising costs and to secure the future of the airport it has been necessary to introduce an airport development fee.

Newquay Airport - ADF FAQ's
Q. What is the ADF?
A. ADF stands for Airport Development Fee. All departing passengers will be required to pay the fee except for children under the age of 16 (proof of age may be required).
Q. Where does the money go?
A. The revenue collected will be used to support the long term future of Newquay Cornwall Airport. Some of the money will go to repaying the borrowing cost of this capital. Further money will be used for long term development planning costs.

for more go to http://www.newquaycornwallairport.com/index.cfm?articleid=40523

Incapuppy · 23 June 2008 at 5:04PM

So would you rather not have to pay the £5 and travel elsewhere to fly?

Sorry if that doesn't sound very sympathetic and I realise that mine might not be a popular view but I would quite willingly pay a £5 fee if it meant I had a very local airport. By the sounds of it the £5 will help to develop the airport further and so you will get the opportunity to make use of more frequent flights and/or fly to other destinations in the future.

AdrianHi · 23 June 2008 at 5:15PM

Buffyslay wrote: »

I'm flying from Newquay in August. I've booked my flight and then i find out about the ADF.

That's the annoying bit, not knowing the £5 was part of the deal at the time of booking.
I guess if you had known about the extra £5 up front you would have been OK with it since travelling further to save the £5 would not have made sense.

gondor · 9 April 2009 at 7:10PM

Incapuppy wrote: »

So would you rather not have to pay the £5 and travel elsewhere to fly?

Sorry if that doesn't sound very sympathetic and I realise that mine might not be a popular view but I would quite willingly pay a £5 fee if it meant I had a very local airport. By the sounds of it the £5 will help to develop the airport further and so you will get the opportunity to make use of more frequent flights and/or fly to other destinations in the future.

It is not being charged only for flights from Newquay, but also for passengers leaing on a return ticket. So people who are not local to the airport are being charged for something which by your reasoning is of little benefit to them, but of great benefit to the local population.

Also this means that the fee is charged in a situation where the choice is cough-up are remain stranded possibly hundreds of miles from home. As no notice of this is given before travelling to Newquay by a return ticket the legality of such a surcharge is questionable.

gondor · 9 April 2009 at 7:20PM

AdrianHi wrote: »

That's the annoying bit, not knowing the £5 was part of the deal at the time of booking.
I guess if you had known about the extra £5 up front you would have been OK with it since travelling further to save the £5 would not have made sense.

This is what the airports website has to say..

Q. Why is the ADF not included in my ticket price?
A. Newquay Cornwall Airport has decided to collect the fee in an open and transparent manner, and all airlines using the airport are fully aware of its existence as a charge payable locally in addition to the flight ticket cost and associated taxes / charges.

Now it's hardly "open and tranparent" if the fee is not mentioned when booking a flight is it?

Adding it to the ticket price would be much more transparent in fact. You would know that's what you would have to pay. The passenger really could not give a monkeys for how the ticket price is distributed betwee airport and airlone, just how much it costs.

This is just another example of bare-faced bull trying to excuse a hidden charge. As such it should be regarded as a scam. I mean to say you don't expect to be charged a 'development fee' when you buy a train ticket, or enter a club with free entry only to be charged an 'exit fee' when you want to go home do you?

apt · 9 April 2009 at 7:43PM

If it's any comfort Norwich also has a 'development' fee.

omelette451 · 9 April 2009 at 8:32PM

gondor wrote: »

Now it's hardly "open and tranparent" if the fee is not mentioned when booking a flight is it?

When this charge was first introduced Ryanair explicitly mentioned it both on the home page and when booking. I don't know what the situation is now though.

withabix · 10 April 2009 at 3:25PM

Airport Development Fees are not unusual - many airports across the world have them.

If you don't like them, you don't HAVE to fly to/from that airport.

Vancouver had an ADF for many years and as a result now has one of the best new airport terminals in the world.

Newquay - Cornwall - Airport Development Fee

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free