BAA concerned over Aberdeen Airport taxi plans
24.01.09
Passengers will have to wait longer for taxis at Aberdeen Airport if proposed changes get the go-ahead, the Evening Express reports. Airport operator BAA said it had ‘serious concerns’ over how new city council taxi plans could affect its customers.
Currently only Comcabs taxi drivers can pick up at the airport. But the local authority wants to remove the current taxi zoning and allow any Aberdeen driver to operate from the airport. Licensing committee convener Callum McCaig ordered a report from council officers after problems with taxis last year. He told the newspaper: ‘At the moment we have a situation where airport taxis are not licensed to pick up in the city, and city cabs are not licensed to pick up at the airport. No other Scottish airports have this set up.’
However, a spokesman for BAA said: ‘We have serious concerns that arriving passengers will have to wait much longer for taxis.’ Aberdeen Taxi Group spokesman Brian Sinclair explained: ‘It will affect customers because they could wait longer. If there is a holiday flight coming in at 2am on a Sunday morning, there will be no cars because the town is so busy.’
Comcabs claim it is already difficult to find drivers to work to the airport during unsociable hours – because most drivers prefer to work the more lucrative city centre routes. Comcabs airport manager KK Lam said: ‘We feel the current system is working. If we don’t have a designated fleet we think it would be difficult to find drivers.’
The proposals will be discussed at a meeting of the city council’s licensing committee on February 3.
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