Startup Fleet Club plans to charter as yet unnamed certified US carriers to provide exclusive membership-based VIP shuttles between South Florida and New York and Colorado for wealthy US holiday home-owners, the company confirmed to ch-aviation.

Aimed at residents of eight exclusive residential communities in South Florida, the services will depart from private jet terminals at Miami International to Vail/Eagle in Gypsum, Colorado, and to Islip in Long Island, New York, the latter chosen for its proximity to The Hamptons. Long Island flights are set to start in December with a B737 and Colorado flights in March 2023 using a B757. Flights will operate on a set schedule twice or three times weekly, increasing around holidays, with fewer off-season, reports Private Jet Card Comparisons.

This follows permission granted to Fleet Club by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) on February 4, 2022, for an exemption to its charter rules enabling it to offer charter passenger flights using a certified Part 121 carrier. In its April 2021 application, Fleet Club had sought to charter a B737-700 from Sun Country Airlines' existing charter fleet.

However, these plans appear to have changed: "We will be using different carriers for each city pair, and we choose the best carrier based on the specifics of each route. Sun Country will not be our carrier for the Miami routes in 2023, however, we have had terrific experience chartering 737s with Sun Country over the past few years. We will be making an announcement about our carrier partner for MIA - ISP/EGE. We will be flying a B737NG MIA-ISP and a B757 for EGE," a company spokesperson said.

Fleet Club's plans follow in the footsteps of precedent-establishing twice-weekly shuttle services between Oakland International and Kona in Hawaii by Kona Associates. Similar membership-only flight clubs are operated by the Yellowstone Mountain Club since 2014; the Baker’s Bay Associates since 2012; and Kona Express of Hawaii since 2018.

According to the regulatory filing, Fleet Club is a Delaware limited liability corporation established in 2021. Flights will be available to a maximum of 375 invited members, their families, household staff, and invited guests. Members must have investable assets in excess of USD5 million.

The business model relies on members paying substantial up-front initiation fees, plus annual dues thereafter, but not being charged per flight. The company’s capital comes from the membership fees which fund the operation and upkeep of aircraft and associated management fees. Fleet Club expects to contract out back-office functions such as reservations, finance, and member relations.

According to the company website, Fleet Club (trading as The Fleet Clubs) is the brainchild of Chief Executive Officer Bernard Schwartz, a US entrepreneur who cut his teeth in the luxury hospitality sector and also co-founded US hospitality management and development company APICII.

Looking forward, Schwartz sees opportunities to add more routes but declined to elaborate. Eventually, he'd like to buy aircraft and outfit them with custom interiors, he told Private Jet Card Comparisons.