JET-SETTERS, say buon giorno to the Piaggio Avanti, the quietest and greenest light jet out there. And bringing you an entire fleet of them is Avantair. You wouldn’t guess it from the roomy cabin’s leather club chairs and fine veneers, but these are (comparatively speaking, at least) some budget wings. With a sleek, fuel-efficient design that translates to the lowest fuel charges in the industry, the Avanti has helped Avantair offer more bang for less buck—a relatively new concept in private aviation, according to CEO Steven Santo. When he founded the company in 2003, “no one looked for value in flying private,” Santo says. “It was more of an ego-driven, ego-satisfying thing.” A light jet that feels in many ways like a mid-size, the Avanti can do nonstop flights to Florida, St. Thomas and Turks & Caicos from the Tri-State Area—but is small enough to fly in and out of East Hampton and Caldwell, New Jersey, the latter a nifty alternative to runway congestion at Teterboro.
