US private aviation start-up and membership programme AeroVanti Club has selected an industry veteran to lead its operations, positioning the firm for continued expansion in the private aviation sector. Paolo Ferreri, who served as chief executive and chairman of Piaggio America, has joined as interim COO.

Ferreri joins AeroVanti at a time of momentum and record growth of more than 400 per cent year-over-year. AeroVanti completed 6,000 flight hours last year and is on track to complete 12,000 flight hours this year, even though the company is just two years old.

“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 incredible value,” says CEO Patrick Britton-Harr. “Not only have we delivered upon that, but we are 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.”

Also in 2022, AeroVanti had multiple M&A events to support its expansion, two historic fundraising rounds of more than $100 million, including a Series A, and exclusive partnerships with the University of Maryland, University of Central Florida and the World Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. AeroVanti was recently named on the Baltimore Business Journal’s ‘Top 10 startups to watch in 2023’ and Tampa Bay Business Journal’s ‘Top 23 Startups to Watch’ lists.

“I’m thrilled to join the leadership team at AeroVanti,” states Ferreri. “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.”

Before leading the American sector of Piaggio, Ferreri served as VP of customer support for parent company Piaggio Aerospace, maker of the Piaggio P180 Avanti.