AeroVanti names former Piaggio exec Paolo Ferreri Interim COO

Start-up Piaggio P.180 operator AeroVanti is seeking more growth as it adds executive talent to its leadership team

Start-up AeroVanti Club has named Paolo Ferreri as Interim COO.

He served as CEO and Chairman of Piaggio America Inc. from 2019 until June of last year.

Before that, he held various positions with Piaggio since 2010.

According to the announcement, “Ferreri joins AeroVanti at a time of incredible momentum and record growth of more than 400% year-over-year.”

AeroVanti is building a fleet of the Italian-made high-speed turboprops, offering low hourly rates of card providers.

“When we launched AeroVanti, we set out to completely disrupt the private aviation model, proving that luxury travel can be delivered at a competitive price point and an incredible value,” said AeroVanti CEO Patrick Britton-Harr.

He added, “Not only have we delivered upon that, but we’re positioned to continue to scale in an unprecedented manner both operationally and financially. Paolo’s experience, along with his deep aviation insight and connections, makes him uniquely suited to help AeroVanti achieve that success from an operational perspective.”

AeroVanti has had its share of zigs and zags since its launch in 2021.

It quickly split with Brazos Valley Air, which was supposed to serve as its operator.

It has been flying members under Part 91F instead of the typical Part 135 charter and jet card rules.

Early joiners complained that the service, which at its entry-level is offered on an as-available basis, was not dependable.

Turnaround

Since then, AeroVanti says it raised $100 million from Lafayette Aircraft Leasing, a little-known entity.

According to Britton-Harr, it also reversed course. After originally planning to outsource most services, it has been building an internal team.

Recently it has scored several exclusive partnerships. They included the University of Maryland, the University of Central Florida, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

It was named to lists of top start-ups by the Baltimore Business Journal and the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

In a written statement, Ferreri said, “My experience with Piaggio, an aviation pioneer in its own right, perfectly prepared me to lead AeroVanti’s operations during this exciting time in the company’s history.”

AeroVanti expects to rack up 12,000 flight hours for members this year, according to the company.

While that includes on-and-off fleet, the number would put it in the top 20 U.S. operators, ranked by fractional and charter flight hours.

AeroVanti also recently launched a yacht club.