- There are no barriers and nothing to pay on site. Cameras read your number plate as you drive through.
- You must pay by 23:59 on the day after your visit. Not the same day, the day after.
- Pay at pay.eastmidlandsairport.com, by phone on 03452 221517, or set up Autopay so it is taken automatically next time.
- No cash and no cheques. Card or Autopay only.
- Miss the deadline and you get a £100 Parking Charge, reduced to £60 if you pay within 14 days, plus a debt recovery fee of up to £70 on top if it is still unpaid after 28 days.
- Maximum stay is 30 minutes. Stay longer and a Parking Charge of up to £100 can follow.
Drop-off is charged by the minute and there is a fine waiting if you forget to pay. Booked parking is a fixed price you pay once. Compare every EMA car park for your dates.
Compare East Midlands parking →Dropping someone at East Midlands Airport? Pulling up by the terminal now costs more for less time. Here is what it costs in 2026, and how to stay on the right side of the rules.
What are the East Midlands Airport drop off charges in 2026?
The East Midlands Airport (EMA) drop off charge is £8 for up to 10 minutes in the Rapid Drop-Off zone outside the terminal, then £1 a minute, and has been since Tuesday 29 September 2026. Until then it was £5 for up to 15 minutes, so you now pay £3 more for five fewer minutes. The maximum stay is 30 minutes.
It uses number-plate cameras with no barriers, so there is nothing to pay on site. You pay online by 11:59pm the day after your visit on the official East Midlands Airport site, or by phone. At £8 for 10 minutes, East Midlands is no longer the cheap drop-off it was, and Birmingham’s Premium Set Down, right outside its terminal, is listed at £8 too, but for up to 15 minutes.
How do I make the East Midlands Rapid Drop-Off payment?
You make the East Midlands Rapid Drop-Off payment at pay.eastmidlandsairport.com or by phone on 03452 221517, by 23:59 the day after your visit, because the zone has no barriers and you cannot pay on the way out. Card or Autopay only, no cash.
Cameras read your number plate and time your stop, so you owe £8 for up to 10 minutes and £1 for each minute after that. Miss the midnight deadline and a £100 charge follows. Flying yourself? Booked East Midlands parking is one fixed price paid upfront, from £49.44 for eight days.
How to avoid a fine
Two things catch people out. First, if you use the Rapid Drop-Off and do not pay by midnight the next day, you get a £100 Parking Charge, reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days. Second, staying beyond the 30-minute maximum can bring a Parking Charge of up to £100 even if you pay the tariff, and an unpaid charge can pick up a debt recovery fee of up to £70. Do not pull over on the approach roads to let someone out either. The safe option is the Rapid Drop-Off, kept short and paid on time.
What changed in 2026
East Midlands raised its drop-off charge on 29 September 2026, from £5 for 15 minutes to £8 for 10 minutes. It follows Stansted, run by the same airport group, which went to £10 for up to 15 minutes in March. The camera system and the online payment are unchanged.
What happens after ten minutes
The airport’s tariff is £8 for up to 10 minutes, then £1 for every minute after the first 10, with a 30-minute maximum stay. So a 15-minute stop costs £13 and a 20-minute stop £18. Ten minutes goes quickly if a flight is delayed or you walk someone to the bag drop.
If you are the one flying rather than the one waving, East Midlands has a genuine oddity worth knowing about. Off-airport meet and greet here is unusually cheap, to the point where operators frequently undercut the airport's own short stay. At most UK airports meet and greet is the premium option you pay extra for. At East Midlands it is often the cheaper one, which is the opposite of what almost everybody assumes.
Compare every East Midlands car park for your actual dates. Prices move by the day here, so the only number worth acting on is the one for the days you are travelling.
How much is parking at East Midlands Airport?
Booked ahead, parking at East Midlands Airport starts at £49.44 for an eight-day trip, roughly £6.18 a day, with Winter Special Meet & Greet currently the cheapest of the 10 car parks we compare. Set that against the drop-off tariff above and the sums are blunt: a 20-minute wait at Rapid Drop-Off comes to £18, more than a whole day of the cheapest booked parking. If a lift means one drop-off going out and one pick-up coming home, two trips up the M1 for the driver and two lots of minute-by-minute charges, leaving your own car for the week is often the cheaper way to do it. See every East Midlands price by car park.
East Midlands Airport drop-off: frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to drop off at East Midlands Airport?
From 29 September 2026 the Rapid Drop-Off zone in front of the terminal costs £8 for up to 10 minutes, up from £5 for 15 minutes. You pay online, by phone or through AutoPay, as there are no barriers.
How long do you get to pay for East Midlands Airport drop-off?
You have until 11:59pm the day after your visit to pay online on the official East Midlands Airport website, or by phone. Miss that deadline and the £8 fee becomes a £100 Parking Charge, reduced to £60 if you pay within 14 days.
What is East Midlands Airport Rapid Drop-Off?
Rapid Drop-Off is the barrierless zone right outside the terminal. Number-plate cameras record how long you stay and there is nothing to pay on site. You pay online afterwards, by 11:59pm the next day.
Can you pay for East Midlands Airport drop-off online?
Yes. There are no payment barriers in the Rapid Drop-Off zone, so you pay afterwards: online at the official East Midlands Airport site, by phone, or through Autopay set up for future visits, by 11:59pm the day after you drop off.
Did East Midlands Airport drop-off charges go up in 2026?
Yes. From 29 September 2026 Rapid Drop-Off went from £5 for 15 minutes to £8 for 10 minutes. Stansted, run by the same group, rose to £10 for up to 15 minutes in March 2026.