Airport parking set to be much more expensive this summer

Vacationers will have to reckon with higher parking fees at airports again this year. Indeed, during the upcoming May and summer vacations, the cost of parking on weekends and weekdays has risen sharply compared to last year. That's according to the website Vliegveldinfo.nl, which compared parking fees at the 16 airports most commonly used by Dutch and Belgians as departure airports.

Parking for a week or eight days at an airport now costs an average of 75 euros. That's 10 euros, or 15.5 percent, more than in 2022. The cost of a weekend or three-day parking spot has also increased significantly. A weekend parking space at an official airport parking lot now costs an average of 50 euros. That's a 17 percent increase compared to 2022.

Furthermore, costs have risen at 11 of the 16 airports surveyed. Striking is the sharp price increase for one-week parking at the busy Brussels Airport, Charleroi Airport, Düsseldorf Airport, Eindhoven Airport, and Cologne Bonn Airport. At these airports, parking fees increased by 31 percent to 55 percent.

However, the prices have not increased at the regional airports of Bremen Airport, Liège Airport, Maastricht Aachen Airport, Münster Osnabrück Airport, and Ostend Bruges Airport. Vacationers can save money on parking by flying from a regional airport, Antwerp Airport, and Liège Airport in Belgium not included. Overall, Groningen Airport Eelde and Münster Osnabrück Airport are the cheapest, according to Vliegveldinfo.nl.

At Schiphol, the price rose by only 5 percent to 83.50 euros for a week's parking, which still makes the airport significantly more expensive than the average price. In Eindhoven and Brussels, however, travelers pay almost 100 euros for a week's parking. In Rotterdam, a week's parking costs 80.25 euros, and at Groningen Airport Eelde, travelers spend 43 euros.

The average price for weekend airport parking in the Netherlands is 50 euros. This is slightly more than in Belgium (46 euros) and slightly less than in Germany (54 euros). The differences are even greater for a weekly parking space. In the Netherlands, the average price is 74 euros, in its southern neighbors it is 94 euros, and in its eastern neighbors a week's parking is cheapest at 60 euros.

"Parking at Schiphol Group airports is expensive," says Guus Wantia, owner of Vliegveldinfo.nl, who advises travelers to take public transportation to the airports or reserve a parking space as early as possible. "Booking several months before departure is much cheaper than a few weeks or days before departure," Wantia said.