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Flying Fox is the largest yacht consistently offered for charter in the world. Built by Lürssen in Bremen, delivered in late 2019, 136m LOA, 22 guests in 11 cabins, asking €4M to €4.5M per week in Mediterranean peak as of May 2026, plus 30 to 35 percent APA and VAT where applicable. She is managed by Imperial Yachts. She books 12 to 18 months ahead for the prime Mediterranean summer window and slightly further out for the Caribbean Christmas and New Year weeks. If a broker has just quoted her and the rate or the lead time surprised you, that is the actual market.
This piece is the detail. What the rate buys, what it does not buy, what the APA actually covers across a week at her scale, the crew profile and what they deliver, and the framing question every Flying Fox inquiry should answer before signing: is a 22-guest, 136m charter the right answer to your trip?
Specs that drive the experience
136m LOA, 22.5m beam, 5.5m draft, 9,022 GT. Steel hull, aluminium superstructure. Built by Lürssen, exterior design by Espen Øino, interior by Mark Berryman. The build year is 2019 and the most material refit to date was.
The 9,022 GT figure puts her firmly above the 5,000 GT threshold at which she falls into the higher SOLAS commercial-shipping safety regime, with the corresponding crew certification requirements and lifeboat capacity. Practically, this means the crew profile is closer to a small cruise vessel than a typical yacht. There are deck officers, multiple engineers including watchkeeping engineers, a medical officer, and a chief stewardess running an interior team of. Total crew is 54.
The draft at 5.5m is the constraint readers underestimate. Flying Fox is shut out of multiple Mediterranean anchorages a 100m yacht can use. The Saint-Tropez bay is fine. Pampelonne is fine. The classic Capri anchorage on the southern side is workable but tight. The Eolian volcanic group is more selective: Filicudi and Alicudi are fine, Vulcano on the leeward side is fine, but the close-in Stromboli anchorage where you watch the volcano at night is too tight at 5.5m draft on a 22.5m beam. Plan the itinerary with this in mind. A 110m at 4.8m draft gives you more anchorages.
Twenty-two guests across 11 cabins. The two-cabin master suite is the largest on any charter yacht in the world, with. Below the master, the layout splits between an adult deck with VIPs and doubles and a separate kids' wing on the lower deck. The kids' wing is one of the practical reasons Flying Fox draws multi-generational charter parties. It is also one of the practical reasons single-couple charters do not work on her: the yacht is built for 22 guests using 22 guests' worth of facilities. A couple chartering Flying Fox is paying for capacity they will not use.
Helicopter operations are two-pad with a certified hangar. She can carry one helicopter aboard, with a touch-and-go pad on the foredeck for a second machine. The medical centre on board is full hospital grade with a hyperbaric chamber, two beds, and a permanent medical officer. The cinema seats. The pool is the standard headline figure: 12m long, on the main deck aft, fed seawater and chilled. The beach club is 400-plus square metres with a full-height opening side wall, a transom that opens to a swim platform at sea level, a gym, a hammam, a sauna, and a massage room.
The rate, what it covers, and what the APA actually does
€4M to €4.5M per week Mediterranean peak (mid-July through August), €3.5M to €4M shoulder (mid-May to mid-July, September through mid-October), €3.5M to €4M Caribbean season (December through April). Christmas and New Year weeks Caribbean run higher, into the €4.2M to €4.5M range. Rates as of May 2026 through Imperial Yachts.
The rate covers the yacht, base crew payroll, base provisioning at her standard inventory level, and insurance. APA at 30 to 35 percent covers fuel, dockage, food and beverage above base, communications, helicopter fuel and operations, third-party services, port and clearance fees, and VAT where applicable.
On a 35 percent APA against a €4M base, that is €1.4M for the week. A typical Mediterranean charter on Flying Fox reconciles APA at 70 to 85 percent spent, with the balance refunded. The big swings are helicopter use (a single trans-coastal helicopter movement runs €15K to €40K depending on routing and aircraft) and the Monaco docking weeks. Monaco overnights for a 136m yacht run per night. A two-night Monaco stay during the May Grand Prix or September yacht show can absorb €80K to €120K of APA on dockage alone before anything else.
Crew gratuity convention on Flying Fox is 10 to 12 percent of charter fee, settled in cash to the captain at end of charter for distribution. On a €4M base, that is €400K to €480K. Plan accordingly. All-in for a Mediterranean peak week (charter fee plus realistic APA spend plus gratuity) lands around €6.2M to €6.8M.
Crew and operating philosophy
Captain. Imperial-managed yachts operate to a defined service standard that is closer to a hotel than to a private home. Service is structured, attentive, and visibly choreographed. If you want a crew that runs the yacht like an extension of your household with minimal visible structure, this is not the operational style. If you want a crew that delivers a luxury-hotel level of service with deeper guest-relations training than most hotels, this is exactly that.
The chef brief on Flying Fox is run by an executive chef supported by a sous, a pastry chef, and additional galley crew during charter weeks. Dietary brief should be submitted at least four weeks before the charter for a 22-guest party. The team will accommodate near-anything, but the prep window is real.
The friction
Three things. First, the at-anchor experience on the upper decks during high-traffic periods (Cap d'Antibes off-Cannes during the September show, Saint-Tropez in early August) is louder than the size of the yacht would suggest. The cause is generator load, helicopter operations from nearby yachts, and tender traffic. There is no fix at the yacht; this is a destination management problem. Second, the master suite terrace on the upper deck is fully exposed to the sun mid-afternoon. Sunshades deploy but the deployment process is visible from the master and breaks the line of the deck. Some clients prefer the lower deck VIP cabins for actual sleep and use the master suite as a daytime salon. Third, the cinema seats which is undersized for a 22-guest charter. Movie nights on Flying Fox often run two sessions.
What we have passed on
We have passed on a tour of the hyperbaric chamber, the IMAX-grade cinema audio system, and the helicopter hangar. These are real and they are not the reason to book her. We have also passed on the underlying owner narrative. The yacht's beneficial ownership has been the subject of, and the operating quality of her charter programme does not turn on owner identity. We point readers interested in that question to the financial press, not to a charter blog.
Comparables
The honest read is that Flying Fox is the only 130m-plus yacht consistently on charter. There is no peer. The next-largest charter yacht is, which has a fundamentally different operating philosophy. The relevant comparables are smaller:
Lana at 107m and roughly half the rate, 12 guests in 7 cabins. The right answer for a 12-guest party that does not need helicopter operations or the kids' wing.
Madsummer at 95m and roughly a third of the rate, 12 guests in 8 cabins. Different operating culture and a meaningfully different price ceiling.
If you are at the Flying Fox rate band and considering trading down, look hard at Lana first. If you are at the Lana rate band and considering trading up, the cabin count goes from 7 to 11 and the rate roughly doubles. The trade is real but it is not linear.
The booking pattern
Flying Fox is booked through Imperial. The Mediterranean July and August calendar is typically fully booked by the previous September. The Caribbean Christmas and New Year weeks are fully booked by the previous April. Shoulder weeks are workable at shorter lead times: a late-May Med week is realistic at 5 to 7 months, a late-September Med week is realistic at 4 to 6 months, an early-April Caribbean week is realistic at 4 to 6 months.
Cancellation slots open episodically. A Flying Fox cancellation in July, if you are on the waitlist, can come up at 90 to 180 days out. The rate on a cancellation slot is at posted, not discounted. The yacht does not discount.
Last updated
May 2026. We update Flying Fox availability, rate, and crew detail when material changes post through Imperial. The rate band above is current to this month.
FAQ
Is Flying Fox really the biggest charter yacht? As of May 2026, yes. Yachts above 136m exist in larger numbers each year, but consistent charter availability at her scale is a category of one for the foreseeable horizon.
What is the VAT structure on a Flying Fox Med charter? French and Italian VAT apply on the portion of the charter in each country's waters, with the French 50/50 offset available on qualifying itineraries. The structure is standard and your broker handles it. See our Mediterranean VAT guide.
Is Flying Fox suitable for a wedding or large event? The yacht can host events for up to guests with daytime use, but sleeps 22. For a 60-guest wedding with overnight accommodation, you charter Flying Fox plus shoreside.
Where does Flying Fox spend her winter season? Caribbean, typically running St Maarten to Antigua to St Barths to the Grenadines. She also crosses to in certain years.
Can I helicopter-commute to and from Flying Fox during my charter? Yes. The certified helipad supports the routine helicopter movements many charter clients want. APA pays for helicopter fuel and ground handling. Aircraft are chartered separately through the broker.
If you are planning a Flying Fox charter that includes the Monaco yacht show or Grand Prix weeks, the team at HotelsForKings has the Monaco list for pre- and post-charter nights ashore.