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ECONOMICS & ENTERPRISE<br />
Travel in Style, By Land or Sky<br />
BY PAUL NATINSKY<br />
Most of us have daydreams<br />
about cruising downtown<br />
streets in a classic Rolls Royce<br />
or sailing through the clouds in a private<br />
jet with our significant other and<br />
a few close members of our entourage.<br />
Well, we might not be able to own<br />
such luxurious modes of transport,<br />
but we can be king or queen for a day,<br />
thanks to two enterprising Chaldean<br />
businessmen who specialize in royal<br />
treatment.<br />
Vintage Luxury Rentals<br />
Omar Kallabat had worked for his family’s<br />
medical transportation since he<br />
was a teenager, all the while dreaming<br />
of classic cars. In 2021, working at<br />
home as the COVID pandemic raged,<br />
an idea clicked for Kallabat.<br />
“I was sitting at home all day on the<br />
computer. I started losing my mind.<br />
Started to feel unhealthy, like what am<br />
I doing here just staring at a computer<br />
eight hours a day.” He started thinking<br />
that he wanted to do something he<br />
loved. Vintage cars.<br />
“That first car was everything I<br />
had.” He spent his life savings on it. He<br />
is 27 and was 25 at the time he bought<br />
the first car. “After I bought that I had<br />
to succeed,” he said.<br />
That first car was a 1965 Rolls<br />
Royce Phantom. Kallabat got a great<br />
deal on the car through an auction<br />
site. The Phantom is valued at more<br />
than $100,000. Kallabat bought it for<br />
much less—he asked us not to reveal<br />
the price; it was so low that at the time<br />
he thought it was a scam and commenters<br />
on the online auction site<br />
didn’t believe it was the actual selling<br />
price either.<br />
“The auction…the timer started going<br />
down. People are putting their bids<br />
in…I’m not even kidding, I went to the<br />
grotto at St. Thomas’ Church the night<br />
before and said a little prayer. I said,<br />
‘God, I know you don’t work like this,<br />
but just give me this car, I’ll do some<br />
good things for you.’”<br />
In April of 2021, the Phantom made<br />
its appearance on a trailer in Kallabat’s<br />
driveway. In July, the dream car<br />
made its debut at a Lebanese wedding.<br />
“That’s what kick-started it all,”<br />
From left: Heather Namy, Cynthia Barnhart , Thane Namy, Gloria Namy,<br />
Alana Namy, and Luke Namy.<br />
said Kallabat. The wedding was in<br />
downtown Detroit. It generated some<br />
beautiful photos, which Kallabat<br />
promptly put on his website and Instagram<br />
page. “And then the bookings<br />
boldly started coming in.” The first<br />
year he did about 20 weddings.<br />
In 2022, he got more exposure. He<br />
met a few photographers and wedding<br />
planners. He’s earned a few good reviews.<br />
Last year brought Vintage Luxury<br />
Rentals its first additional car, a<br />
’57 Plymouth Belvedere. He bought the<br />
Plymouth six years ago and just finished<br />
renovating it last year. He uses it<br />
as a back-up car for weddings.<br />
Kallabat does minor maintenance<br />
and says he can diagnose any issue.<br />
Major maintenance he takes to his<br />
buddy. “If it wasn’t for (Joel Kahl) there<br />
would be no business.” Kahl rebuilt<br />
the engine on the Plymouth and he rebuilt<br />
the engine on a ’37 Packard, the<br />
fleet’s next ride.<br />
Kallabat met Kahl on Woodward<br />
Avenue a few years ago. Without him,<br />
Kallabat says, the mechanic costs<br />
would have priced him out of business.<br />
The latest members of Vintage Luxury<br />
Rentals’ fleet met Kallabat’s need<br />
for a convertible and increased bookings.<br />
The fleet is now four cars.<br />
“In late 2022, I noticed my bookings<br />
going through the roof,” said Kallabat.<br />
At that point, he had just the<br />
Rolls and the Plymouth. He did<br />
about 50 weddings that year but says<br />
he could have done about 60 more.<br />
So he bought a ’54 Bentley R Type<br />
that came from England with right<br />
hand drive and a 1937 Packard Super<br />
Eight, which he calls the “crown jewel”<br />
of his fleet.<br />
At first, Kallabat did all the driving.<br />
He now uses independent drivers<br />
who earn a 20 percent gratuity from<br />
customers, plus a little extra from Kallabat.<br />
Vintage Luxury Rentals has four<br />
drivers it regularly schedules.<br />
Much of Kallabat’s business is<br />
weddings. The cars are intended for<br />
special occasions, with the minimum<br />
rental for Detroit area events starting<br />
at $1,000 for four hours and $200 for<br />
each additional hour, plus a 20 percent<br />
gratuity for the drivers. The pricing<br />
is all-inclusive; there’s no extra<br />
charge for gas or mileage.<br />
Destination weddings pay a flat<br />
rate for a full day, plus driver lodging<br />
and expenses. Vintage Luxury Rentals<br />
ships the cars to places such as Grand<br />
Rapids, Cleveland and Petoskey.<br />
As for Kallabat, he’s single, but, he<br />
says, “I’m Chaldean, so the pressure is<br />
on.”<br />
Appreciation for beautiful automobiles<br />
stretches wide. One of Kallabat’s<br />
favorite parts of being in the business<br />
of bringing the cars to people is stepping<br />
beyond weddings. He has donated<br />
his services to people in unfortunate<br />
circumstances and regularly allows<br />
people to photograph themselves and<br />
family members with the cars.<br />
One of his cars was used by Wish<br />
Upon a Wedding, a group that organizes<br />
vow renewals for the terminally<br />
ill. In one case, Kallabat took a man<br />
suffering from kidney failure to dinner<br />
free of charge.<br />
BC Flight<br />
For those who seek to take their royal<br />
experience to the skies, BC Flight can<br />
provide a lift. Founded in 2022 by CEO<br />
Thane Namy, BC Flight is a broker—<br />
meaning the company contracts with<br />
operators who provide private jets of<br />
varying sizes along with credentialed<br />
pilots and flight crew. BC Flight takes<br />
care of the client’s needs from arrival<br />
at a small airport to luggage handling<br />
and food and drink aboard the plane.<br />
As an “indirect air carrier” with a<br />
network of operators who operate the<br />
aircraft, Michigan-based BC Flight has<br />
access to several hundred aircraft at<br />
any given time.<br />
“We coordinate everything for<br />
them,” says Namy. “We meet them at<br />
the airport, escort them onto the tarmac<br />
right up to the plane, they drive their<br />
car right up to the plane, an attendant<br />
parks their car and takes their luggage.<br />
“You get there about 10 minutes<br />
before the flight takes off and within 5<br />
to 10 minutes you are airborne and on<br />
your way. No hassles, no TSA, no parking<br />
lots.”<br />
Namy says, “You can be a broker<br />
and operator or … or both.” BC Flight<br />
started out as a broker but want to acquire<br />
“a couple of light jets by the end<br />
of the year.”<br />
25 years ago, Namy got his pilot’s license.<br />
He was a few hours short of his<br />
commercial rating when he started a<br />
telecommunications business, which<br />
did really well. Soon he was married<br />
with children, but never lost his passion<br />
for planes.<br />
When his son was diagnosed with<br />
autism at age 4, a lot of airlines were<br />
“booting families because their special<br />
needs kids were acting up on the<br />
plane.” They didn’t really understand<br />
special needs, so it happened quite a<br />
bit, said Namy.<br />
Namy needed a solution for air<br />
travel with his son. He had no idea<br />
how the private system worked. He<br />
38 CHALDEAN NEWS <strong>JUNE</strong> <strong>2023</strong>
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