Dreaming of flight
In 2011, “Sho” Kassam became the owner of Oklahoma Aviation, the state’s most modern fleet of charter and training aircraft.
When “Sho” Kassam was a teenager growing up in Mombasa, Kenya, a short apprenticeship at an aircraft repair facility near the Moi International Airport created a passion to learn about the mechanics of airplanes, followed by an ardent desire to become a pilot.
After his family sold some real estate to fund his training in the United States, the 18-year-old and his cousin traveled to Norman in 1999, to train at the Airman Flight School.
Today, Kassam is a U.S. citizen, accomplished pilot and married with two children. He’s also trained about 600 pilots. In 2011, he became the owner of Oklahoma Aviation, the state’s most modern fleet of charter and training aircraft based at Wiley Post Airport in Bethany.
The company’s 17 employees manage about 20 aircraft, and services include aircraft management, charter, sales and flight instruction. His company also extended its jet charter offerings earlier this year by offering a 2014 Cessna Citation Sovereign+ that is at Will Rogers World Airport.
“We’re not shy about expanding into other airports or cities within the state of Oklahoma,” Kassam said. “Oklahoma lacks the kind of quality aircraft that we currently offer our clientele.”
He said he is excited about Oklahoma Aviation’s trajectory.
“We are a Cessna pilot center with the latest model training aircraft and invested heavily in computer-based training curriculum,” Kassam said. “Our training is designed for people who are very busy with family and successful careers and they have very limited time. Our training allows our students to learn from home or their offices.
“Another big component of our training is the fact that we had and have some of the best flight instructors available,” he said.
When Oklahoma Aviation opened its doors in 2004, Kassam said, several of the company’s competitors were going out of business.
“I interviewed with the owner and the director of operations for their first flight instructor position,” Kassam said. “It was a startup company, so they knew they had to have the right instructor with the right stuff. The fact I was hired was a big vote of confidence coming from both.”
As the firm added pilots, Kassam was named chief instructor and later became director of operations. About a decade ago, he said he had an opportunity to buy the company as the founder moved on to other ventures, but financial restraints prevented his purchase. After the second owner decided to divest the business in 2011, Kassam risked his savings to buy the company.
“During the first year, I spent every waking moment thinking that I had made a bad decision,” he said. “We had the worst weather, the hottest summer and the seasonal trends were not in our favor. We pulled it off by the skin of our teeth — 2011 was one of the more challenging years of my life as an entrepreneur.
“The company had been around then for eight years, so we did have some tail winds and it wasn’t all doom and gloom. It started working for me thereafter, and we’ve grown every year since. Each year has brought new challenges, initiatives and we’ve added more people and aircraft as we continue to refine our offerings.”
Oklahoma Aviation’s customers include some of the state’s most successful businesses and individuals, Kassam said. Those customers enjoy the freedom of flying safely to remote places not served by commercial airlines, he said.
Although Kassam doesn’t get to fly every day due to the demands of his growing business, he co-pilots the Citation 680+ and is type-rated in the Hawker 750, Cessna 525 series and the Beech 400 jet.
Tom Kraft, regional sales manager at Textron Aviation, said Oklahoma Aviation has experienced
“over-the-top growth” as Kassam has moved into managing jets for charter revenue.
“They’re one of our most-trusted aviation partners and have one of the few pilot training schools in the country,” he said.