One of the UK's biggest airports has hiked its ‘kiss and fly’ fees by more than 40 per cent ahead of the busy summer months.

Edinburgh Airport bosses claim that raising the price of drop-off fees from £6 to £8.50 was ‘unavoidable’ after being dealt an ‘unacceptable’ £8million rates rise by the Scottish Government.

They said they had not planned to bump up the cost of a ten-minute stay at the drop-off and pick-up zone at the main terminal building.

But chief executive Gordon Dewar said the ‘absence of a transitional relief scheme, equivalent to that available in England and Wales, leaves us with no alternative’.

The £2.50 increase will take effect from May 18 ahead of the airport’s busiest period, with more than three million passengers expected to travel through the terminal in July and August.

Scottish Conservative MSP Miles Briggs criticised the rise, which comes just months after Glasgow and Aberdeen hiked their fees to £7 – up £1 and £1.50 respectively on last year.

He said: ‘Passengers are being used as a cash cow to offset the SNP’s brutal business rate rises.

‘Many people are reliant on these quick drop-offs as public transport in our cities under the SNP is too unreliable or simply not practical for an airport trip.’

Edinburgh Airport, which saw a record of almost 17million passengers in 2025, said the ‘142 per cent rise in business rates’ represents the ‘largest increase in costs faced by any airport in Scotland and the UK’.

Mr Dewar said the scale of the increase was ‘simply unacceptable’ and he had written to ministers and the Lothian Valuation Joint Board outlining concerns about the rates process.

The airport said it had been forced to scrap the 50 per cent reduction for electric vehicles.

The Scottish Taxi Federation’s chairman Jim Kyle said the £8.50 fee was ‘over the top’ and ‘the public is getting robbed’.

The Scottish Government said the valuation of all non-domestic property was a matter for the Scottish Assessors, who are independent of central and local government. 

A spokesman added: ‘The Scottish Government’s Revaluation Transitional Relief protects those most affected at revaluation – including airports.’

Scottish Labour Transport spokesman Daniel Johnson said: ‘These steep charges will hit the pockets of Scottish holidaymakers and risk driving investment away from our city – and they are a direct result of the SNP’s business rate hikes.

The SNP’s eyewatering hikes to business rates are piling pressure on lots of businesses and customers are paying the price.

‘Edinburgh Airport should rethink this increase but, crucially, the SNP should fix the mess it has made of business rates in Scotland and work to improve connectivity into and across Edinburgh.’