Taxi-drivers denounce “pirate” transfer services at the airport

Taxi-drivers at Palma airport, already alarmed by “pirate” taxi services transporting passengers to and from the airport, have now set their sights on what they describe as “pirate” activities by vehicles which otherwise operate perfectly legitimately at the airport.
Essentially, they are referring to some thirty vehicles used for transfer services (some half a dozen operators are said to be involved), and the Majorcan taxi-drivers’ association has engaged the services of a detective agency to check up on their activities.
What this boils down to is that the taxi-drivers allege that the transfer services are acting as taxis in the airport, in other words they are picking up customers who have not pre-booked. Regulations applied by the airports agency AENA across the Spanish airport network are such that only taxis are permitted to make on-the-spot sales of a transport service within airport grounds.
 In addition, the regional government’s transport law prohibits the sale of individual places.
“The whole vehicle has to be commercialised,” says spokesperson Gabriel Moragues.
 “A service has to have the same tariff, regardless of the people who are being transported.”
The association has not used the detective agency to check on the use of private cars being used as taxis, as these operate in a different part of the airport and the association’s budget doesn’t at present allow it to investigate this activity.