How to start an airport transfer business in the UK

Airport runs are good pre-booked work for a private hire firm: longer journeys, booked ahead, often with a return. If you want to start an airport transfer business, the licensing is the same as any private hire firm, but the airports add their own charges and pick-up rules, and the bookings run on flight times. This guide covers all three, with the airports' own figures. The licensing described is for England and Wales; gov.uk notes that Scotland and Northern Ireland license operators differently.

Do you need a special licence for airport transfers?

No. An airport transfer business is a private hire business, so you need the same three licences as any private hire firm: an operator licence, a driver licence for each driver and a vehicle licence for each car. Gov.uk says all three must come from the same licensing authority, which is your council, or Transport for London if you're based in London.

The licence decides how you can get work. Gov.uk says a private hire vehicle can only be pre-booked, while taxis can also be hired at a rank or hailed in the street. A private hire driver can't pick up a passenger who walks up at arrivals and asks for a ride. Every airport job has to come through your booking system first.

Outside London, section 46 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 makes it an offence to operate without an operator licence, or to send a car or driver that isn't licensed. In London, a five-year TfL operator licence for 0 to 10 cars costs £2,000.

You won't be alone. The Department for Transport counted 290,000 licensed private hire vehicles and 19,000 licensed private hire operators in England on 1 April 2026. The licensing steps are set out in our guide on how to start a taxi company in the UK.

What do airports charge private hire cars?

Each airport sets its own charges, and they change, so check the airport's page before you set prices. These are the published figures at three airports:

Heathrow is explicit that all taxis and private hire vehicles pay the £7 charge each time they enter a drop-off zone. It recommends drivers and operators open a free business account, which lets you set up autopay and see every drop-off in one place. If a private hire driver wants to wait before collecting from Terminal Parking, Heathrow points them to its Authorised Vehicle Area.

Bristol Airport enforces its red routes with cameras, and stopping on one brings a £100 enforcement charge, reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days.

Blue Badge holders are treated differently. Heathrow gives a 100% discount on the drop-off charge, and a passenger arriving by taxi applies using the car's registration number. Gatwick exempts Blue Badge holders who register their vehicle with its operator, Times24.

How do flight-based bookings work?

You book the job against the flight, not just against a clock time. For an arrival the pick-up time follows the landing, so the booking needs enough detail for your controller to check the flight and for the driver to find the passenger.

Take these at the booking, every time:

1. The passenger's name and a mobile number that will work when they land.
2. The airport, the terminal and the flight number.
3. The scheduled landing time, and the date. Overnight flights catch people out.
4. How many passengers and how much luggage, so you send the right car.
5. Where the driver will meet them: in the terminal with a name board, or at the car park.
6. The destination, and whether they want the return booked now.

The law asks for some of these anyway. Outside London, section 56 of the 1976 Act says an operator must record the particulars of every booking before the journey starts, in the form the council sets. The Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards expect councils to ask for the passenger's name, the time of the request, the pick-up point, the destination, the driver and vehicle, and the names of whoever took and dispatched the booking.

Then decide your waiting policy and say it when you take the booking. How long after landing is waiting free? What do you charge after that, and in what blocks? What happens if the flight is diverted? There's no legal standard for any of this. It's your price and your terms, and the passenger should hear them before they pay.

Check arrivals before the driver sets off, and again before the driver goes into the terminal. A driver who parks for meet and greet when the flight is 50 minutes late is paying car park charges for nothing.

How should you price airport transfers?

Price each airport run as a fixed fare by route or zone, quoted before the passenger books, with the airport's charges built in. Passengers comparing firms want one number, and a fixed price is easier to quote quickly on the phone.

Work out each route from its real costs: the driver's time, including the wait; the mileage; the empty leg home if there's no return job; and the airport's charges. Meet and greet costs more to deliver, because the driver parks and walks in, so price it as an extra.

Example, using Heathrow's published charges: a drop-off at the terminal adds £7. A meet and greet pick-up where the driver is parked in Terminal Parking for 45 minutes adds £15.50 on the way out. A collection from the Park & Ride inside 29 minutes adds nothing, but the passenger takes a shuttle bus to reach the car. Those are three different costs for what the passenger calls "a Heathrow run", and your price list should know which one it's quoting.

Zone prices keep this manageable when you cover a wide area. Our guides to taxi zone pricing and how to price taxi fares show how to build a price list that holds up.

How do you win airport work?

Airport passengers book days or weeks ahead, so the work goes to firms that are easy to find, quote a clear price and answer when people try to book. The usual routes in are:

• Your own website with fixed airport prices and online booking.
• Hotels and guest houses whose guests ask reception to book a car.
• Businesses with staff who fly regularly, set up as account customers.
• Repeat passengers: offer the return when you take the outbound booking.
• Other operators who need cover on busy mornings.

That last one cuts both ways. Outside London, section 55A of the 1976 Act lets a licensed operator pass a booking to another licensed operator in the same district, another district, London or Scotland, whatever the contract with the passenger says. It's how firms cover a 4am rush without turning work away. The booking stays on your records, and our guide to cross-border hiring and subcontracting explains the rules.

Early-morning flights mean bookings and changes at hours when the office is quiet. Dispatch AI is booking and dispatch software for taxi and private hire firms. It answers your phone, WhatsApp, texts and emails, books the jobs at your prices and sends them to your drivers on your own app, and it offers the extras you sell, such as meet and greet or booking the return. More on the growth side is in winning more airport work, and on systems in airport transfer booking software.

What do you need before you take your first airport job?

A short checklist:

1. Operator, driver and vehicle licences from the same authority, and hire and reward insurance on every car.
2. A business account with each airport that offers one, such as Heathrow's, so drop-off charges don't turn into parking charges.
3. Each airport's pick-up rules written down for your drivers: where to wait, where to collect and what it costs.
4. A booking form that takes the flight number, terminal and landing time as well as the fields your council requires.
5. A waiting and delay policy you can read out in one breath.
6. A price list by route or zone with the airport charges built in.