An Aberdeen businessman has slammed the lack of taxis at Aberdeen International Airport and said it greats a poor impression of the city to first-time visitors.
Martin Findlay was forced to wait 30 minutes for a taxi after landing back in the Granite City after a holiday in Italy.
He said the first thing people have to put up with when they come into the country is a long delay, and it needs to be fixed.
Mr Findlay said on Twitter: “Nothing like a 30 minute wait for a taxi at the end of long travel day. More for some. It’s not like arrival of planes with passengers is a surprise . How about fixing this Aberdeen Airport and Aberdeen City Council?
“It’s literally the first thing visitors encounter. It’s rubbish yet fixable.”
Aberdeen Airport, which is located in Dyce six miles from the city centre, responded to Mr Findlay’s remarks.
Replying on social media, a spokesman said: “Unfortunately at times when we have busy flights arriving at one time, it can be challenging to manage the peak.
“We are also in the midst of a recruitment drive for more drivers to join the fleet.”
Speaking to the Press & Journal, Mr Findlay, an office senior partner and tax partner at KPMG in Aberdeen said:
“Aberdeen seems to stand out as being one of the few cities which simply does not have taxis waiting at busy times of the day, we’re an outlier, which is really unfortunate.
“I think some sort of solution can be hammered out between the city council and the airport to make the initial impression of the city be a positive one.”
Despite the situation with taxis at the airport, Mr Findlay said the rest of the airport experience is “generally pretty good”, adding: “The improvements to the airport over the last few years to the arrivals and departures, to the security screening area, to the baggage hall, I think all have been hugely positive.”
Lack of taxi drivers – airport ‘can’t be blamed’
Since the start of 2020, Aberdeen is said to have lost 25% of its taxi drivers, with many of them leaving jobs to find work elsewhere or to retire.
Aberdeen taxi driver, Kevin Sherwin, said he “sympathised” with the city’s taxi drivers, on social media, he said: “500 drivers left during Covid, but there is solutions if the council would listen.”
Graeme Giles also blamed the pandemic for the shortage of taxi drivers, adding: “Covid decimated the taxi driver numbers and over 50% left. That’s not on the airport and they can’t be blamed for that.”
Jamee Kirkpatrick from Aberdeen, who works as a PR and communication account director in the energy sector and is a frequent user of the airport, responded by revealing that she no longer uses airport taxis.
In her tweet, she said: “The airport having several arrivals at the same time, combined with their decision to operate their own taxi service is just poor planning and money grabbing.”
Back in January, the airport announced it was increasing it’s drop-off zone fee for non-electric vehicles, increasing it to £4 for ten minutes.
‘The infrastructure to support it is terrible’
This was the third increase in in the last six years – with charges first doubling to £2 in 2016 and later rising further to £3 in 2019.
Miss Kirkpatrick added: “It’s £4 to collect, ludicrously expensive to park and while there is a 24hour bus connection it services a tiny portion of the city, so nearly useless. For an international airport the infrastructure to support it is terrible and aimed at making the airport more money.”
In June 2018, the airport launched its own taxi services, having previously contracted Comcab to provide them, with the airport believing that running it themselves would allow them to “manage it more closely”.
‘If the service cannot be provided, we need Uber’
The constant delays at the airport, Scotland’s third biggest, has renewed calls for Uber to be introduced in the Granite City, with Nicola Gardiner posting on Twitter: “I too waited for 90 mins at midnight in the freezing cold.
“If the service cannot be provided, we need Uber. I’ve also collected a relative and offered elderly tourists a lift at the same time, as no taxis.”
In 2017, the San Francisco based ride-hailing company was granted an operating licence to provide its services in Aberdeen, however, they shelved their plans in 2019.”
‘We are currently in the middle of a recruitment programme for drivers’
A spokesman for Aberdeen International Airport said: “At times we have a number of flights arriving at the same time and during peak timings we thank passengers for their patience.
“To help deal with this we are currently in the middle of a recruitment programme for drivers to join our fleet and would encourage anyone to get in touch if they wish to apply.”
Conversation