Uzbekistan Airports appeals to Supreme Court on the issue of single taxi service at Tashkent airport 

The Uzbekistan Airports company made an official statement regarding the entry of taxis to the area opposite the arrival hall of the Tashkent International Airport. 

Yesterday, the Competition Committee stated that the existence of a single taxi service in this area is against the law and made official demands to the airport, but Uzbekistan Airports rejected these demands, sued the anti-monopoly body and announced that it lost in two courts. 

In its statement, Uzbekistan Airports noted that it has selected a company providing a single taxi service through an electronic auction. According to it, the auction announced in August 2022 provides for a number of obligations for applicants. In particular, the taxi service must have vehicles running on gasoline or electricity (gas is prohibited in the airport area), accept payments from passengers in all forms, drivers must be in uniform and presentable, and know the basics of Uzbek, Russian and English languages. 

“Bobur Diyor” company was declared the winner in the auction held with the participation of three companies. After the compliance of the company with the established requirements was checked, a contract was concluded, and from September 12, 2022, a single taxi service under the brand “Aeroport Tashkent Taxi” began operating at the airport. 

By December 23, 2022, the Competition Committee issued a mandatory directive to Uzbekistan Airports to grant equal access to the airport to all licensed taxi companies that meet the requirements. 

“However, today there are hundreds of taxi companies in the city of Tashkent, they have thousands of cars of different brands, manufactured in different years, in different conditions and running on gas. When entering the airport territory, it is simply impossible to check their compliance with the requirements of the classified object. In this regard, Uzbekistan Airports has decided to choose a single service for providing taxi services, taking into account the requests of passengers, to eliminate the situation related to taxis. Otherwise, it was impossible to maintain order at the airport,” the company said in a statement. 

Uzbekistan Airports appealed to the inter-district administrative court of Tashkent city due to these reasons. The court upheld the committee’s instructions in its March 28 decision. The company’s re-application on June 12 was also rejected. 

It is noted that in the next few days, three more lots will be posted on the E-auksion.uz site – in the general departure hall of the Tashkent International Airport, in the CIP departure hall and one more point in the domestic airline terminal. In the statement of Uzbekistan Airports, it is said that the court and the committee did not take into account the decision in this regard. 

The company noted that during the year of operation of the single taxi service, there were no complaints against the airport and the single taxi service, passengers always give positive feedback. 

“Returning to the situation a year ago: social networks and various agencies received constant requests to clean the airport. Old cars, rude drivers, high prices, as well as several cases of robbery and beating of passengers – today Uzbekistan Airports has managed to squeeze all this out of its territory. Now the passenger can use official taxi services or call taxi aggregators Yandex, MyTaxi, etc. to the nearest parking lot (at a distance of 50-100 meters from the terminal), where taxis will have 10 minutes of free-standing time,” Uzbekistan Airports noted. 

The company intends to apply to the Supreme Court with a cassation appeal, as well as to cancel the committee’s order by selecting new companies for taxi services. 

It should be noted that Uzbekistan Airports did not refer to laws in its statement. The Competition Committee justified its position with the relevant laws. 

Pursuant to Article 16 of the Law “On Natural Monopolies”, natural monopoly entities are prohibited from using the status of natural monopoly to restrict competition in the market of goods (works, services) not included in the sphere of natural monopoly. 

Part 3 of Article 11 of the Law “On Competition” stipulates that the coordination of the economic activities of legal entities and individuals is prohibited if such coordination leads or may lead to the consequences specified in parts 1 and 2 of this Article. 

According to the above, the Competition Committee considered the establishment of a single taxi service by Uzbekistan Airports as an illegal act. On this basis, the Committee requires the airport to: 

• create equal conditions for the entry of vehicles of business entities that meet the relevant requirements and are licensed in the prescribed manner;

• exclude the clauses from the “technical assignment” for the organization of the passenger and luggage taxi service, from the lease agreement of the relevant space, the clauses that fixed tariffs are applied for the transportation of passengers and that any changes in the tariffs are carried out in agreement with Uzbekistan Airports JSC;

• ensure that consumers are informed about the presence of other economic entities providing taxi service on the 1st line of the special road near the departure terminal;

• revise the amount of payment for parking lots near the airport area.