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The recent impromptu strike by taxi drivers at Larnaca airport, a frequent phenomenon at both main airports in Cyprus whenever these drivers have a grievance or a score to settle, has touched on the borderline of safety and security, with neither the airport operator nor the police seeming to do anything.
The latest reason to moan was that a bus shuttle service had been licensed to operate from Larnaca airport to the Ayia Napa-Protaras area, a destination taxi drivers often charge an arm and a leg for.
Surely, in the day and age of Uber, car-pooling and other forms of cheaper travel, taxi drivers ought not have much to complain about, as long as they continue to rip off passengers, demanding a tenner for a five minute drive, ranking
The fact that a shuttle service has been licensed means just that – it is subject to rules and will be regulated by the Ministry of Transport, to ensure that the best service is offered to passenger tourists. Or else its license is revoked.
Taxi drivers, on the other hand, keep on crawling up in front of the Larnaca airport terminal, pushing their ‘territory’ further and leaving less space for drop-off and quick pick-up, creating further havoc, especially during the Christmas and New Year holiday period with multiple flights on arrival or departure.
Other airports, with ten times the passenger traffic of Larnaca and Paphos combined, provide an incentive for quick stops, with drivers only charged if they exceed the 20 minute free period. Here, the opposite is unfortunately true, charging from the first minute, thus pushing people to park in dangerous spots, such as on or under bridges, double and triple parking in the few available lanes that could spell disaster in the case of an emergency (or worse scenario).
Hermes should re-consider the 20 minute free parking, to alleviate the pressure.
And if the private security contractor cannot keep the order in front of the terminals, then the police may need to re-take responsibility for this as well, charging the airport operator with the relevant fee.
What’s more, if the taxi drivers are not stopped from creeping up further and further in front of terminals, then this situation will never improve, and will probably be compounded to the long queues at passport control, re-creating the horror stories that Paphos airport (and to a lesser extent Larnaca) witnesses at the peak of the tourist season.
