A private aviation firm in Florida is hoping to introduce its membership model to yachting. The AeroVanti Club’s members pay a monthly fee in exchange for discounted rates on its fleet of Piaggio aircraft. The company today launched the AeroVanti Yacht Club which carries a $995 monthly fee but offers different styles of yachts for daily or weekly charters at reduced rates.
“We launched AeroVanti because we believe you can experience both luxury and value in private aviation,” said AeroVanti Founder and CEO Patrick Britton-Harr in a statement. “Now, we’ve set out to completely redefine the modern yacht club.”
The three vessels, which will be based in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, include the 108-foot Sunseeker Casino Royale, the Buddy Davis sportfisherman Permit, and the racing sailing yacht En Garde. They are meant to provide a range of different experiences. The company said its rates–$2,995 a day for Casino Royale, for instance—are lower than charter yachts of the same size, but offer the same turnkey experience with full staff and amenities. Removing a charter broker from the equation, says AeroVanti, results in lower rates.
The flagship Casino Royale appeared in the 2006 James Bond movie of the same name, as the floating lair of the villain, Le Chiffre. Permit, by contrast, is a classic 50-footer that can be day-chartered for fishing tournaments in the Gulf of Mexico or weekly farther south. En Garde is a 50-foot sailboat from Cookson Yachts in New Zealand that races for the AeroVanti Sailing Team. The company says it can re-create the racing experience for landlubbers wanting to know what competitive sailing feels like.
AeroVanti’s membership model isn’t new to yachting. Firms like Freedom Boat Club and Barton & Gray are set up in a similar fashion, though targeting different audiences. Freedom’s members use vessels up to 20 feet for an hour or two, and their bases extend across the US and Southern Europe. Barton & Gray, by contrast, has a fleet of more upscale Hinckley motoryachts and recently introduced its own 48-foot motoryacht. It has bases across New England, the Southeastern US and Bahamas. Its boats are all skippered.
AeroVanti said it would open charter operations on March 31.
