Editor's note: The above video is from a Dec. 18 newscast.
PHOENIX - Uber is set to stop all operations at Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport if the city moves forward with its decision to raise fees for the rideshare company.
The popular rideshare company wrote in a letter to the city's aviation department it will cease operations at the airport on Jan. 31 at 11:59 p.m.
This means Uber drivers will no longer be picking up or dropping off passengers at the airport.
This comes about a month after the Phoenix City Council voted to raise fees charged to ride-hailing companies at the airport despite Uber and Lyft threatening to stop curbside operations.
The Arizona Attorney General Office has filed a special action with the state Supreme Court to overturn the rideshare ordinance. State prosecutors are trying to stop the fees from going into effect on Feb. 1.
The item passed 7-2.
The measure approved at the city council meeting on December 18, 2019 increases the fee at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport from $2.66 to $4 per pickup starting Feb. 1.
A $4 fee also will be charged for drop-offs.
Uber's full statement following the decision:
“We are disappointed the Phoenix City Council has chosen to once again hand down a fee increase on the most popular form of transportation at Phoenix Sky Harbor: ridesharing. Our riders and drivers should not be treated as a piggybank to fill the Airport’s budget holes. This fee unfairly penalizes those who rely on ridesharing to get to or from PHX by asking them to bear a disproportionate
share of costs associated with the Sky Train. On behalf of the riders and
drivers who rely on Uber, we cannot accept a partnership that unfairly burdens
our shared passengers. Uber will cease operations at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport next month.”
The council voted 7-2 on Oct. 16 to raise the fees ride-hailing companies pay the city, but the decision was declared void because of a clerical error.
A commission recommended the increase after a study showed airports in many other cities charge ride-hailing companies more to drop off and pick up passengers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.