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Luton Airport has just announced that it is putting on hold the proposed £1 fee that it was planning to charge customers for dropping off passengers at the terminal, which had been dubbed the 'kiss and drop' charge.

The airport had originally been planning to introduce the new charge in April, but it turns out that it has now been put on hold until further notice.

The decision has been welcomed by the Air Transport Users Council, which objects to passengers having to pay more than the cost of their flight for other services provided by the airports.

The £1 fee, although not a huge amount in itself, would have been yet another charge that frustrated customers would have been expected to pay at the airport, on top of the £1 that they are already charged for the clear plastic bags which are used to take cosmetics and other liquids on board the flights.

However, Luton Airport authorities have made it clear that the fee has not been cancelled altogether, but has instead simply been put on hold until further notice, so customers may yet see themselves forking out an extra charge in the future.

A spokesman for the airport told The Telegraph that “there is no fixed date for it” and that passengers will be advised “in due course”. But if the airport does start to charge customers, it will be the first in the UK to do so.

It is becoming increasingly common for airports to charge passengers for a number of little things, and these are starting to add up. However, during the recession airports need to make their money somehow, and these mini charges are one way of increasing profits that it is hard for customers to do much about.