by Oliver Rill
“Okay. Good to see you! Listen up, I’d like you to speak English while I am around, so that I have a complete understanding of everything. What you talk about at other times is none of my business and you can speak Greek then.”
“No problem.” I had no problem communicating with George anyway as he spoke excellent German as well as English.
“Kosta, I have got these papers here. As far as I can see they allow me to do anything that a Greek can do, right?” I passed him my papers that I had got on Sifnos.
“Right. You’re allowed to buy properties, start businesses, work and, of course, pay taxes.”
“Right, well, let’s start the business before we have to invite the tax man in.” We all laughed.
“We aren’t so precise here with taxes.”
“And we need offices; we have to protect our name and logo; flight licenses etc.”
“You’ve got a lot ahead of you.”
“George has a lot ahead of him.” I explained the structure we intended Neos Dromos to take, to Kostas: A business independent of Can Am, with me as owner and George as Director.
“That’s no problem. It’s just going to be difficult to get the flight licenses quickly.”
“Difficult? How difficult?”
“Ah well, we’re in Athens. Everyone sits with their hand stretched out waiting for money. If you don’t pay, you don’t get the licenses.”
“We’re not paying bribes. The press would have a field day. I’ll give you each a camera and we’ll expose anyone who demands a bribe. I’m not kidding. We’ll go down the official paths and if it takes too long, then we’ll go to the press. I have a great team across the pond, who know how to sell a story.”
“Oli, I love this job already, but believe me, it really is like that here.” George said in our new Greek lawyer’s defense.
“Let’s go down the normal friendly route first, before we make enemies. We’ll make them soon enough.”
It was easy enough to find offices. In Athens supply had overtaken demand and you could rent them at prices that were almost laughable.
Leila, a friend I had met in Sifnos was also available. Crazy and loveable at the same time, she had an undeniable talent for marketing. She was working casually here and there on little pay or doing favors for friends. It was a no brainer to take her on for me and George was just as keen.
Matt joined us. My Matt, who I had loved so intensely and been in such awe of, now rescued me from myself on a regular basis. I had a tendency in Greece, surrounded by attractive men, to flirt outrageously and Matt had taken the job of knight in shining armor in his stride and then my memories of him rose to the surface, refusing to stay where they rightly belonged in the past.
Now, Matt pushed up his sleeves, showing his well-toned arms and got down to work as we sat in the Marriot restaurant, where most of my work seemed to take place.
“Oli, darling, how many planes are we looking at?”
“We’ll get to that in the morning, Matt, darling! We’re talking to Airbus tomorrow and we’ll see what they’re offering.”
“Airbus? What’s wrong with Boeing?”
“We’ll see. Airbus has been keen to do business with us since we started up. Let’s see what they offer with Can Am in the background but having nothing to do with it. See?”
“You sly fox! You want to let them think they have chances of doing business with Can Am if they give us a good deal? I don’t want you as an enemy!”
I smiled contentedly.
The delegation from Airbus came. They sat in their Guy Laroche suits asking searching questions about our securities and how I, as owner of Can Am, could now do business in Athens. I found them overbearing. How I hated the slimy geezers from Toulouse.
“Let’s make this quick. I need A319s and A321s from you. I’m going to have to order some smaller planes too, Embraer or Canadairs. A third order will probably be A330s and A340s. I’ve got 100 million in my pocket. Now tell me what I’ll get for that.”
The Airbus guys tutted, put their heads together and whispered, pushing bits of paper between them and then the head slim ball said: “You can have five A320s, if you deposit 100 million as deposit.” I signaled Matt, Kostas and George to stand up.
“Thanks for your time, it’s always a pleasure doing business with you. Boeing’s going to be pleased.” I said heavy with sarcasm.
“Just a minute.”
I turned on my way through the tables and raised an eyebrow at him.
“You see, you’re flying in Greece. Greece has been in recession for over ten years. We think it’ll be hard to start a business here.”
“I’m sure it would be difficult. I think so too. But you know if I thought as you did, I started back in the USA with my competitors having over 1000 planes a couple of years ago when I had just three. If I had said back then that the market’s too tight and the prices are too low, then I would have given back the three planes and gone off to Hawaii or somewhere and drunk Mojito on the beach for the rest of my life. If you prefer a safe bet, then you do that, and I’ll go to Boeing. It’s as simple as that. Go back to Toulouse, to your snails and tomorrow you will read the article telling you how Boeing snapped a deal from under the European’s noses in your French newspapers. On their own territory! Your shareholders will be delighted.”
“Ok, ok. What do you want?”
“Ten planes and you will get my 100 as security. But I want them fast. Super-fast!”
“Give us half an hour. We have to make a call. We’ll see you here in thirty minutes.”
“Oli, you are an asshole!” Matt exploded in amusement after the delegation had left. “But I love it when you get all masterful!”
“I thought they were going, too. Is that how these big deals go?” Asked George.
“It’s bad, isn’t it? You almost have to rail road them in order to become one of their customers.”
“But they will do the deal, right?” Asked George.
I grinned at him conspiringly. “They just have to give me one reason not to lease their Airbus.”
Of course, we got them. There was really no doubt that we would. Airbus had had to swamp the market with the new model and so they had at least ten on their books at the moment.
“It is of course quite a high risk venture for us, but we want to show ourselves as reliable partners for future work together.” Yeah, whatever. Just deliver the goods on time.
I talked about the logo with Leila. I had given her very exact instructions about it. I wanted an angular, modern font, in blue and white of course. The symbol on the tail, the actual logo, should be a stylized version of the Greek flag.
“That’s it, Leila, the rest is up to you. You have to know which customers you are trying to attract, the type of language, what to say, where to put the adverts etc, etc. We’re going for comfortable quality. Not as comfortable as Can Am. You guys have to watch your prices more, but let’s not compete with Ryanair and Easyjet. We’ll lose that competition.”
A week later I turned to George. “I’m going to leave you on your own now. I’ll leave a couple of folk here. Matt won’t be one of them though. You can call me about anything at all, just keep the time difference in mind when you do call.”
“Oh yes, I’ll have to get used to that.”
“You have to work on that massive pile of papers that’s accumulating on Kosta’s desk and tell me when the planes are going to be delivered. Tell me when the date is confirmed, that is.”
“Ok I will.”
“Then here’s to a successful enterprise!” I said, clapping him on the back.
I sat with Matt in first class. Business was completely booked out, unfortunately.
“Tell me, Oli. I know you of old. How are things with you?”
“Great, why?”
“I’ve seen the looks you’ve been giving me.”
“Oh.”
“I know that look. But I also know you said there’s no going back.”
�
��It’s better like that, isn’t it?”
“I did love you very much.”
“I loved you, too, Matt. But it wouldn’t have worked between us. You know that.”
“I heard on the grapevine, that you and Aaron …”
“Well that’s true. We’re together.”
“Funny, I did think once that you might. But why then the looks? Aren’t you happy with him?”
“Of course I am, Matt! I’m very happy with him. Really. I just see a wonderful man in front of me. Is that so bad?”
“It’s not bad, I just can’t help wondering if we, if you really have made the right decision or if you are still just a little undecided?”
“If we had carried on as we were …” I left the sentence unfinished. “Anyway, you ran away, not me!”
“It was just all too much for me. The jealousy, you being away so long, the game-playing.”
“And your love of big tits!”
“I do miss the time with you sometimes, Oli, really.”
“Matt, if you don’t stop, I’ll scream. It would all be just the same. Nothing has changed. You’d get jealous and wouldn’t accept that you have fallen for a guy, at least not to the outside world.”
“That’s true.”
“So let’s leave sleeping dogs lie. Let me look at you and just enjoy you being there. Things are really going well between us. Do we want to spoil that?”
“I sometimes wish we could just meet at weekends and fuck.”
“You could do that with anyone. Not with me though. I love Aaron and I won’t do that to him. Anyway, we’d just be in danger of falling in love all over again.”
“Ok, in that case you can, no, never stop looking at me like that. It means a lot to me.”
“Enough!”
In July, Aaron and I flew to Sifnos for two months rest and respite. Aristo came along with us, too. This year I couldn’t stop him taking the holiday, nor did I want to, and, of course he had been looking forward to it all year.
His family relations did not seem to have improved this year either. He stayed with his family and a few days later stood, steaming with anger before my door. He had again argued with his father.
George made a flying visit and reported on progress, which mainly on the airbuses expected delivery dates. The CRJ and Dash would follow.
I had invested a total of 140 million dollars and almost felt poor with only 19 million as pocket money, but not entirely.
I spent my days whizzing from place to place on my scooter, sometimes with Aaron, sometimes alone taking the Range Rover only when absolutely necessary. I loved to feel the wind in my hair, riding freely over the island. We decided to fly to Berlin for Christmas and New Year this year.
“We’ve done Fort Myers so often. It’s their turn now to take the strain.” Aaron said, hoping to avoid having to invite his mother and sister again.
I agreed readily and in late December we flew across the pond. I loved being in Berlin with my friends. Right now, as we changed for dinner in the Marriott, I thought of Marie, who was so handy at designing uniforms. It was a shame that they had already been ordered by my Greek director. We had arranged to meet my Mom downstairs.
“Aaron, what’s happening with your mum? I haven’t seen her for ages.”
“Strange eh? You haven’t seen her because I sent her packing before she came in. She was tight as a tick.”
“Weren’t we all most of the time? She would have fit right in. We all like a drink, too.”
“You don’t know her. She’s an alcoholic and she gets embarrassing. Believe me, she doesn’t fit in at all. You lot get tipsy and you’re funny, then a few more and you get talking, then you get tired. She just gets more and more in your face. She’d throw up in the pool and then pass out in a corner somewhere.”
“Oh boy, I’m sorry. Can’t you help her in some way? A clinic or something to dry out?”
“She’s already done three. Just forget it, okay? Just forget my Mom entirely.” He said bitterly. He rarely showed his feelings on the subject, so I knew that he was feeling particularly bad this time.
“Can I say something?” I asked carefully.
“I don’t know, can you?” He retorted.
“When I look at your profile, with those insane muscular shoulders …” I started.
“And I always thought it was my legs that got you going.”
“Oh my god, and your legs! Don’t even get me started on those.”
“I know. It’s getting boring, all the guys say that.”
“Oh ...,” I said, dumbfounded, looking down at the floor.
“Come here. Quickly! I want to show you how sexy you are!”
Neo Dromos opened in December, but the initial figures were not fantastic, if truth be told. We had had to fight tooth and nail to get it through without succumbing to the corruption. The officials had been shameless and let us know quite clearly that if we didn’t pay a million here, two million there, our planes would never take off.
We really did have to resort to filming a high official and letting him know that if he didn’t get our permissions through in double quick time, the press would get their hands on a copy of it.
Another official, who appeared a bit cleverer, let us know his demands by telephone. He said that if we didn’t pay, permissions could take a very, very long time in Greece. At this point we had to adopt Mafia-like techniques. He got a visit from two good friends from Russia. After that, you never saw him anywhere without two bodyguards tailing him around. We upped our own circle of Russian friends to ten and his two bodyguards spent a week in hospital.
“I heard you were involved in an incident the other day. I hope you’re well. I just wanted to ask when your office is going to grant my license.” I asked, using the telephone from home.
“Hoffmann, you are never going to get that license. I’m going to the police.”
“Do that, and they will, I am sure, ask you what possible motive I could have had to do that?”
“Because you’re a mad man, that’s why!” He screamed down the line.
“I’m in the USA. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just know that we need that license urgently and I think that the next time my messenger is in your vicinity to pick it up, he will get hold of the right guy. You know what I mean?” I was trembling with anger, but I didn’t want him to know that. I kept my voice as calm and controlled as I could.
“You’re totally crazy!”
“There! You see, that’s why we understand each other quite well. You’re mad, because you want a private donation and I’m mad, because I’m so impatient. Send the license to my Athens office tomorrow by courier, or your family will be reading your will. Do something for your country for once in your god-forsaken life!” I shouted the last sentence into the receiver.
“We’ve got Olympic and Aegean! We don’t need any damned foreigners fucking up our flight routes!”
“You are totally clueless. You really need to do some reading up on how the economy works. Have you ever spent time on that? Or do you only spend time sorting out your own finances? Give us the license and you’ll never hear from us again. I need it tomorrow. Got it? Sometimes you just have to count your losses.”
He put the phone down and we really didn’t hear from him again. The courier brought an envelope the next day to the Athens offices. It had taken several months to get the license and that was the first time in my life I had ever acted so criminally threatening. I sincerely hoped I would never have to do it again.
“Come on Melvin, spit it out. It’s the end of the year again, how indecently rich have I become this year?” I put on a jaunty air as I plumpsed down on the chair in front of Melvin’s desk grinning at him cheekily.
“I’m afraid I’m going to wipe that smile off your face this time.” Melvin’s face did not smile back.
“I’m getting used to worry and stress with the Athens office problems. Tell me the worst!”
“In spite of the
much larger fleet, we’ve only turned over 780 million this year. Bucks Airlines is making life difficult for us. I can’t say anything about Athens yet, but it doesn’t look as rosy as Can Am’s figures at the start.”
“My God, Melvin! How am I going to support my caviar habit?” I joked.
“I’m glad you find it funny. But have you thought about what action you’ll take if the figures go any lower? The banks will cancel our leasing contracts and we’ll take a lot of people down with us.”
Bucks Airlines was a competitor, who seemed to be intentionally targeting the same customers as us. They had got the money together somehow and were running the same flight routes at near enough the same times as us. The closeness to our business seemed to give his more credibility. The flights that we had sent ‘secret shoppers’ on reported back that although nicely fitted out, the planes were not better nor worse than ours, but they were cheaper and that was costing us customers.
Matt burst into the office.
“Oli! Did you hear?”
“No, what?”
“Bucks went bust! They have just announced that they are bringing the administrators in. I rang Boeing and they confirmed that they are repossessing some of the stock because they can’t pay.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. They worked hard and they were clever. It’s good that they aren’t pissing on our tree anymore though. Call up that idiot at Bucks and tell him that we’ll take on his staff. That is a silver lining for us. We might be able to take on some planes quickly too. Get him to send a list over. I’ll be there in a while.”
I found it hard to hide my joy. I wasn’t really sorry that I was only going to get 78 million and that my account stood at just under a 100. It was 97 million, to be exact.
Matt and I played the guessing game again, each writing on a note how many planes we thought we would get next year.
“This time I want to do it slightly differently. I want you to write down four figures this time: the first, how many planes we want to order for Can Am; the second, at what point we quit expanding. We will go so far and no further. Then the same two figures for Neos Dromos.”