October 5: Airport charges give visitors bad impression

I WAS interested to hear that Leeds Bradford Airport has reported record passenger numbers this year. Unfortunately, the people who use the airport will get a very bad impression of Yorkshire.

As the public transport connections to the airport are very poor, unlike Manchester, which has an excellent train service, most passengers at Leeds have to be dropped off or picked up by car.

The charge to drop off or collect someone from the airport is £3 and if a plane is delayed, the charge shoots up to £9 after 30 minutes.

I frequently travel to and from Palma de Mallorca, which I notice was the second most popular destination for Leeds flights.

At Palma, and at many airports, there is no charge to ‘drop and go’ and the car park has a reasonably priced ticket system that charges for the time you stay. A much fairer system.

The authorities who own Leeds Bradford Airport are not interested in the visitors to the region, only in their own profits.

I note that John Parkin, chief executive, is visiting Durban to meet new airlines with a view to increasing passengers numbers using his airport. Will he be informing them that his airport has these expensive parking charges?