Uber-luxury Longboat resort adds seaplane drop-off option for guests

Certain guests of the St. Regis Longboat Key Resort may soon arrive to their reservations from above  — in a plane. 

The airdrop is a partnership between St. Regis and Tropic Ocean Airways, announced Jan. 6 via social media with a video portraying a couple boarding a dual-pontoon-equipped plane to arrive for their St. Regis reservation.

“New in 2026: arrive by seaplane to Sarasota’s most coveted barrier island. Our sanctuary of timeless glamour has never felt more exquisite,” posted St. Regis, an uber-luxury resort that opened in August 2024. 

Tropic Ocean Airways Director of Sales and Partnerships Patricia Summerfield says the service, beyond transportation, is experiential. 

"Everyone’s looking to elevate their adventures and vacations by doing something very unique, and this is something that is truly unique,” Summerfield says. “With this experience we can leave from the Miami seaplane base from the water and land on Sarasota Bay or we can leave from Palm Beach Rybovich, the super yacht marina, and land directly on the bay. So the opportunity for a water-to-water luxury arrival aligned with a brand such as St. Regis makes it truly unique.”

Image courtesy of St. Regis Longboat Key Resort

Seaplanes and floatplanes are a type of aircraft that don’t need runways to land, instead landing directly on the water by means of pontoons or a buoyant fuselage. The promotional video posted portrays a Cessna 208B pontoon plane taking off from a private airport, flying over Longboat Key and the St. Regis and landing on the water to drop off its guests. That model of plane can accommodate eight passengers.

Summerfield says the planes would land near Ken Thompson Park on City Island, where a boat piloted by a local charter captain would pick up the passengers and take them on a brief trip to shore. There, a St. Regis Bentley await the guests to drive them over the New Pass Bridge and to the resort. A personal butler will be awaiting to escort them to their cabana reservation with a chilled bottle of champagne ready to uncork. A sunset dinner reservation and “golden hour gong ritual” is also included in the package.

“It’s luxury from start to finish, and you get an aerial tour,” Summerfield says. “You get to see the state of Florida from above, and we also do flyovers over the hotel. Seaplanes typically fly at 2,000 feet, so you’re getting a beautiful aerial tour along the way.”

Summerfield says flights will begin as they are sold, with introductory rates starting at $5,000 for one-way flights originating from the airline’s home base of Fort Lauderdale Airport.

The airline is already fielding calls from interested parties.

“I have requests for it in January, so hopefully we’ll be able to sell one that’s coming in January,” Summerfield says. “Obviously this is part of announcing something really fun, bespoke and beautiful at the beginning of the new year. We’re hoping that this is a good time to launch and we’ll have people through the winter and the spring.”

This article originally appeared on sister site YourObserver.com.