NORFOLK, Va. — The Norfolk Airport Authority sent an email to 10 taxi company owners expressing an intent to outsource the airport's taxi operation to a single taxi cab company, raising alarms for some of Hampton Roads' taxi owners.
Currently, nearly a dozen taxi companies service the airport. Some taxi owners said a decision to narrow service to one taxi company would put their companies in jeopardy.
"It would just be detrimental," Andy's Cab owner Doug Crain said. "It would wash out all of the small business owners that have been around here for 40 years."
The Authority has not made a decision on its intent to outsource. It scheduled an April 9 meeting to talk about the plan with taxi owners. The email to taxi owners said the Authority plans to discuss the impact of the proposal on taxi operators and reveal a potential timeline at that meeting.
"Having just one cab company there would hurt a lot of people, jobs and drivers," Crain said. "Speaking just for myself, I'm in disbelief."
Crain, who assumed ownership of Andy's Cab Company in 2018, said many of the small taxi companies rely heavily on airport rides.
"I'd say it's about 90 percent of my business or my drivers' business," he said.
If the Authority chooses a different taxi company to be the sole airport service provider, Crain said he could be forced to close his business.
"I'd shut it down," Crain said. "There's no way I could do this at all, there's no way."
Plus, Crain said he wouldn't want to see the airport outsource to just one cab company even if his company stood to benefit from the decision.
"Even if it's my cab company, I wouldn't want that to happen to anybody else. I want all the other guys to stay too," he said. "They've been around a long time and we've been through thick and thin even if we hate each other."
Crain said he hopes the Authority reconsiders before the April meeting. He said he believes travelers want to have a choice of different taxi operators.
Frank Azzalina, a spokesman for Black and White Cabs, Yellow Cab, Norfolk Checker and Coastal Ride, said he is waiting to see what the Airport Authority has to say at the meeting and it's too early to comment definitively.
Azzalina said the airport does not show favoritism toward different cab companies. He said there have not been any private conversations between the Authority and the taxi companies he represents.
A Norfolk Airport Authority spokesman said he will not discuss this topic publicly 'without the benefit of first meeting with the taxi owners.'
This decision will not affect Uber and Lyft rides at the airport, per the spokesman.
The message detailing the Authority's intent and scheduling the April 9 meeting at11 a.m. was sent to: Andy’s Cab, Black & White Cabs, City Wide Cab, Duke’s Cab, East Side Cab, Eden Cab, Norview Cars, Waterside Taxi, Southside Cab and Oceanside Taxi.