Service with a smile: With the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1991 came the rise of a red velvet one, and this time center stage belonged to American entrepreneurs Chris Cartwright '89 (on right in photo) and Paul Wilkinson '88 (at left). In the untapped economic potential of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States they created Far East Russian Air Services (FERAS), a company that manages ground handling operations at airports, usually for corporate aircraft operators who aren't prepared to sweat the details.

Since the commercial boom in the ex-Soviet Union has brought many travelers to the Russian interior, the ground support service saves time, money and international relations by bridging the cultural gaps in corporate trips. FERAS representatives handle all aircraft ground support matters: visas, overflight permits, fuel, baggage, catering, security--all transactions and translations--to ensure that each client's trip comes off without a hitch. The client list itself is confidential, although Cartwright will admit to serving the White House press charter every time President Clinton visits Russia. FERAS serves 92 percent of Fortune 500 companies that operate corporate aircraft and between 40 and 60 percent of European business aircraft operators.

Which is not to say that FERAS' own journey has been entirely hitchless. "We really didn't know how to begin, and we made a lot of mistakes," muses Wilkinson via e-mail (Russia's 11 time zones make phone contact challenging). "We started this business exactly at the time when Moscow Civil Aviation was giving (or losing) decision-making power to individual airports. We spent several months negotiating our first contract (with Airport Khabarovsk) on a state level, only to see the contract scrapped by an offended airport director. He was furious that we negotiated a contract with state authorities for operations at his airport!" But the two directors put their prior international experience to work (they previously managed caviar factories in China) and soon learned to negotiate the Near Eastern aviation industry and capitalize on its assets. As Wilkinson puts it, "The equipment looks old and terrible, but it works. And customs and immigration procedures are not really different than in the U.S.--maybe even easier."

With a satisfied client base and the rapid growth of investment in the former Soviet Union, FERAS grew from a two- to a 14-airport operation. The co-directors made FERAS profitable after only three years, although Cartwright refers to those years as "a white-knuckle ride." FERAS is still expanding, and its directors continue to relish the lessons taught them by life in Russia and the CIS. Writes Wilkinson, "Sometimes it takes a year or two to sign one contract with an airport. But patience has really paid off. Our first year we had only 12 flights, and I almost gave up. Chris (the eternal optimist) was convinced that things would get better. He was right. Now we have that many flights every week."

-- Clare Homan '96