Fulton judge calls time-out on airport contract
Travelex, which trades your rupees and euros for dollars, wins chance to review competitors’ proposals
The monumental task of overhauling Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport with more than 150 new restaurants, retail shops, and other businesses includes several steps: the heated fight between dozens of vendors to win lucrative spots, the messy battle to convince Atlanta City Council to approve the proposals, and the legal fallout that follows. We’re well into the latter.
A Fulton County judge yesterday ordered Mayor Kasim Reed to allow a foreign currency exchange firm (PDF) which failed to win a spot in the Atlanta airport’s new international terminal up to 30 days to review competing companies’ proposals.
Though the delay is unlikely to affect the opening of the airport’s new international concourse, city attorneys have warned that the move, the latest in a ping-pong battle between City Hall and the currency exchange vendor, could open the city to lengthy legal disputes by other spurned vendors. Which as we type are surely being considered, if not prepared.