Romania’s competition watchdog ordered the National Company "Bucharest Airports" (CNAB) to refrain from intervening in taxi applications and free up access to its software and terminals used for ordering taxis.

Until now, only the software applications of taxi companies could run on the touch screen terminals within Henri Coandă International Airport in Bucharest. 

In doing so, CNAB restricted access to these touchscreen terminals for companies managing aggregator applications, according to the Competition Council. In practice, customers could request transportation services only from specific taxi companies with software applications installed on the terminals, according to Profit.ro.

The airport will rent spaces for installing new terminals without intervening in the types of applications on them. Moreover, passenger transport services at the airport will no longer be limited to taxi services but will also include other options such as orders via aggregator applications or ride-sharing apps.

Additionally, the rental of spaces will be awarded exclusively through public auctions organized by the Romanian Commodity Exchange, and interested companies will be able to bid for multiple spaces. However, only one space will be awarded to each company within the same auction procedure to ensure the presence of as many active companies as possible and to provide passengers with diverse services. 

The new policy and resulting increased competition may lead to a decrease in costs for travelers who arrive at the airport and wish to go to the city without using public transportation.

radu@romania-insider.com

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