PEOPLE dropping off friends or relatives at Southampton Airport will have to pay £1 for a maximum 10-minute stay from next week.

The charge will apply at new “priority drop-off and pick-up area” from Thursday, September 1.

It is part of a revamp of parking facilities at the airport.

The existing free pick-up and drop-off area will move to the long stay car park and will offer 30 minutes of parking for free.

Passengers dropped off at this free area can catch the airport shuttle bus to the main terminal which takes between three and five minutes and runs every 10-12 minutes, say the airport.

Between 2010 and 2015 the airport invested more than £20 million in improving its security, arrivals and departure areas as well as new shuttle buses.

Neil Garwood, the airport’s head of operations, said: “With many new airlines and new routes being announced over the past year, it is anticipated that passenger numbers will increase which comes with a responsibility to improve facilities to maintain our current high standards.”

Money raised from the new parking changes will be reinvested in future developments at the airport which is aiming to cater for two million passengers per year.

When the changes were first announced earlier this year they received the thumbs up from Clive Johnson, of the Southampton Trade Association, which represents more than 400 hackney cab and private hire vehicle drivers in the city.

“In principal this sounds like a good idea and it should eliminate congestion at the drop-off area,” he said.

Payment at the priority area will be made at the barrier on leaving by depositing cash in coin bucket, similar to those the Itchen Bridge toll booths, or by contactless card payment. Alternatively, Visitors can also exit their vehicle and buy a ticket at a machine.

Bournemouth Airport scrapped its free 10-minute waiting period in 2011 and has no free parking provision. In April it raised the cost of the first 30 minutes parking to £3.