Airport a nirvana for many businesses

Airport a nirvana for many businesses

JAKARTA (JP): Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in
Cengkareng, west of here, is home to a wide variety of people
offering all conceivable goods and services to passengers and
their families.

The businesses range from the legal to the illegal, and
vendors have been known to force prospective customers to
purchase their merchandise or services.

Some of the most bothersome businessmen for visitors to the
airport are parking attendants and illegal taxi drivers.

As yet, airport authorities have not explained why they have
failed to take measures to clear the airport of these sometimes
illegal and often annoying vendors, who threaten the image of the
country's largest international airport.

A business which has only recently popped up at the airport is
renting telephone cards.

However, many passengers and other visitors to the airport
have not felt it necessary to complain about this latest venture.

A passenger on his way to Singapore, Sudirman, said on Sunday
the vendors did not disturb passengers, and being able to rent a
telephone card would be helpful to those people who needed to
make an urgent call but found themselves without a phone card.

"They (the business people) are so creative in searching for
business opportunities.

"For people like me who don't have a cellular phone, their
services are really helpful," he said, showing a phone card he
had just rented.

Identifying the men renting telephone cards is as simple as
looking for someone loitering near the telephone booths.

Two of the 11 men offering rental phone cards on this Sunday
were Thomson Pardede and Hapsan.

According to the men, no permits or other documents are
required to start the business. All that is needed is Rp 30,000
(US$3.75) to purchase a 100-pulse telephone card, although the
men did say they had difficulty raising the cash.

Thomson said he began renting phone cards at the airport about
three months ago, after he was fired from the fabric company he
was working for.

He said he got the idea from a number of his friends who had
been in the business for about a year.

Like Hapsan and the other 10 men renting telephone cards,
Thomson charges customers Rp 500 per pulse, almost double the
normal rate.

"I think the price is fair," he said.

He said that from a Rp 30,000 telephone card he was able to
earn a profit of Rp 20,000.

"Sometimes I earn Rp 50,000 per day, but these kind of days
don't happen often," said Thomson, who always carries five phone
cards with him.

Thomson and his colleagues believe people at the airport often
have difficulty making phone calls, because most people do not
carry phone cards or coins with them.

Hapsan, in his 30s, said that on a good day he could earn Rp
60,000.

"I'll stick with this business because it's relatively
profitable for me," he said. (ind)