Airport Taxi Regulations Discussed in Government

The operation of taxi services at the airport will be regulated, with new requirements to be established. The package of draft amendments to the RA Law on Automotive Transport and related laws was presented at the parliamentary session by the Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, Armen Simonyan.

“Currently, there are no specific regulations for providing taxi services in the airport area, which leads to issues in providing civilized transportation services. It is proposed to establish an 'A' type license requirement for transportation from the airport taxi stand, with an annual state fee set at 200,000 AMD,” said Simonyan.

He emphasized the need to set requirements for the equipment, appearance, and age limitations of vehicles providing taxi services at the airport, as well as administrative penalties. Addressing certain restrictions, the Deputy Minister pointed out that the airport taxi service license will only be granted to organizations and individual entrepreneurs with vehicles that are no older than 7 years.

It is also proposed that the vehicles must be white, operated on a factory fuel system, marked with 'AeroTaxi,' and have taxi checkered symbols.

This issue was discussed in the permanent commission on economic issues of the National Assembly. In response to a question from MP Armen Khachatryan from the 'My Step' faction regarding whether any individual meeting the standards could obtain a license, Simonyan stated that there would be no quota and no limited number of licenses.

Vladimir Vardanyan from the ruling party inquired whether these regulations would increase the costs for services that citizens pay when traveling from the airport. “The draft law has been developed to exclude the situation where a tourist arrives in Armenia and realizes that the service costs much more than in the most expensive European countries. This will not affect taxi services operating through electronic systems,” said the Deputy Minister.

The project does not envisage imposing a ban on taxi transportation to the airport. The discussion specifically concerns transfers from the airport area, which, according to the Deputy Minister, can mostly be carried out illegally at present. The draft was unanimously accepted in the first reading.