Neel Khokhani : Soar Aviation

Soar Aviation was founded in 2013 to address the global shortage of commercial pilots. It's one of the most unorthodox entries on this year's Smart50, offering training and accreditation through a Victorian-based flight school.

Neel Khokhani,  a 28 years old founder and owner of Soar aviation, experienced astonishing growth over the past years of 568 %, accruing revenues of over $12 million in the previous financial year. Neel firmly believes that the success of a business can be attributed to modern approaches for flight training, eschewing the more "muscle car"-like planes like Pipers for a fleet of 45 light sports aircraft and Cessnas. All these contribute to lower costs of fuel and emissions. Soar Aviation accrued partnership benefits with training organizations such as Box Hill Tafe, which helped boost the number of students from 10 in 2016 to over 500 in 2018. although the business operations, Soar Aviation has not taken any external funding. Neel Khokhani started his business investment with $5000. for him, giving away too much equity early on is an "easy trap" for young entrepreneurs.

However, the business has recently been sold to a private equity fund, The Growth Fund. Neel feels it will bring him perceptibly closer" to his long-term goal of running his airline.

Neel Khokhani attributes successfully running Soar Aviation young age in part to his success, with the founder gaining his commercial pilots' license at 18.

Having an innovative choice of aircraft means lower operating costs; savings are passed on to consumers in lower fees. According to the head of Soar— Neel Khokhani, their program is over 30% cheaper than other comparable products.

Neel's move to start and successfully run Soar Aviation has ignited the flame of many individuals who dream of becoming aviators. The corresponding effort he put into achieving his dreams is highly incredible, making him stand out from the crowd and other entrepreneurs of his generation.

Conclusion

According to Neel Khokhani's achievements and success, we can attest it's through hardwork and determination that individuals accomplish their goals. According to Neel, when the right time comes, his sight will bring further diversity to Soar Aviation by setting up another pilot training organization in  Western Australia or Queensland. However, the answers might not sound overly exciting, but he believes it's what the business requires. Soar Aviation aims to propel the growth of the aviation industry in a way that will open the door for other aspirants.