Semiprivate airline set to resume flights between Napa and Los Angeles (2024)

Aero, a semiprivate airline focused on high-income leisure travelers, has announced it will launch seasonal flights starting Sept. 20 between Napa County Airport and Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles County. The flights, targeted around harvest season, will continue through November.

If Aero’s Napa flights sound familiar, you are right.

Aero first entered the Napa market in May 2021 but ended the route four months later for reasons that included the pandemic and concerns about the stability of its business model.

Three years later, Los Angeles-based Aero is back servicing Napa County — on Fridays and Sundays, as before — with a new business strategy built around partnerships.

“We (first) launched the Napa service in the time frame that was very much still at the height of COVID,” said Aero CEO Ben Klein, adding at the time Aero had only two aircraft. Today, it has five.

When Aero first entered Napa, then-CEO Uma Subramanian told the Business Journal she believed expanding its flight service during the pandemic provided a safer alternative for air travelers because it flies small airplanes between private terminals without a “mass-like crowd travel experience.”

That belief did not pan out.

It became clear Aero needed to change its business strategy to one that would be based on partnerships, said Klein, who joined the aviation company in May 2021 as general counsel, and took the helm as CEO one year ago.

“When we left, we knew Napa was a good route. We just needed the time to do it correctly,” Klein said. “We’ve learned a lot since then and refined the business. So now is the time to come back to a route that we knew would perform well. And when we came back, we wanted to do it with a good partner.”

Aero has joined forces with Auberge Resorts Collection’s Solage and Stanly Ranch, its two hotels in the Napa Valley, to offer travel packages that include a 10% discount on Aero’s flights; daily breakfast at one of the properties; a $200 spa credit and more. Aero’s one-way fares start at $725 and can go north of $1,000.

Aero also has partnered with Sullivan Rutherford Estate in St. Helena and Eisele Vineyard in Calistoga to offer vineyard tours and wine tastings.

“We’re a small business and we have a certain marketing budget, so having those partners is really critical to get the route to show the kind of demand that we need,” Klein said. “As we grow and launch new routes, this will be the sort of model we’ll hopefully take forward.”

Those new destinations for now are being kept under wraps as they are finalized, he said.

Initially, Napa was the second destination in Aero’s domestic launch, which began in February 2021 with flights to Aspen, Colorado. That flight continues to be Aero’s most successful U.S. market to date, Klein said. Aero began in 2019 serving several European markets from London. Its current destinations also include Los Angeles; Sun Valley, Idaho; and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

As a semiprivate charter service, Aero works with fixed-based operators — companies that manage operations at private airports, handling aviation needs that include aircraft management and maintenance and concierge services.

Aero is a customer of Atlantic Aviation at the Napa County Airport, both entities confirmed. In 2021, Aero worked with Lynx, which Atlantic Aviation acquired in 2022.

Although Aero’s service focuses on leisure travelers, Klein sees additional opportunities for the Napa route.

“My hope is that we have people who are in Napa who want to travel to L.A., perhaps not just for leisure,” Klein said. “You can fly out on a Sunday night and return on a Friday if you were doing business in L.A. for the week or for the weekend.”

Aero’s partnership with Sullivan Rutherford also includes a curated wine tasting on the flight, Klein said, and Erewhon, an L.A.-based upscale supermarket chain, will cater an onboard cheese and charcuterie plate.

“We feel this is very much the private experience that you would get when you're charting your own aircraft for a fraction of the cost,” Klein said. “Right now, if you want to fly into the Napa County Airport, your option is either to have your own little Cessna or to charter a private jet. So, we’re really excited about what we can bring to the market.”

Cheryl Sarfaty covers tourism, hospitality, health care, aviation and employment. Reach her at cheryl.sarfaty@busjrnl.com or 707-521-4259.