Flying on a good idea

WHEN A YOUNG NEEL KHOKHANI WAS SACKED FOR SUGGESTING AN IMPROVEMENT TO THE BOSS’S FLYING SCHOOL, HE LAUNCHED SOAR AVIATION, DESPITE NOT HAVING A PLANE.

- WENDY KAY

They say all it takes is a good idea, and when Neel Khokhani had a brilliant one he assumed his boss would be delighted to hear it. Instead, the flight instructor got the boot. “Yeah, absolutely, I got sacked,” he says. “I was 22 and made a few suggestions on how to improve the business, only to be told that if I thought I could do better, I should go out and start my own company.”

Neel wasted no time doing so and, while his former boss went bankrupt, he launched Soar Aviation in 2013. Six years later it is Australia’s largest flying school with a fleet of 70 planes, 60 instructors and 550 students contributing to a turnover of A$20 million. The school operates out of Melbourne’s Moorabbin Airport, Bendigo Airport in Central Victoria and Sydney’s Bankstown Airport, with full- and part-time courses available to beginners through to advanced entry.

It’s an astonishing achievement. It’s even more extraordinary when you consider that Neel had just A$5,000 to invest in the business and no essential equipment – not even a plane.