Las Vegas Weekly

March 23, 2010 · 2:28 PM

Exclusive photos: Vince Neil’s Las Vegas-based Vince Neil Aviation

By Robin Leach

Marley Taylor, Vince Neil and Lia Neil unveil the Vince Neil Aviation fleet at Henderson Airport.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

If you’ve ever dreamed of traveling like a rock star, our very own Vince Neil is now ready to make that dream come true. The Motley Crue frontman and our hometown hero is in the midst of launching Vince Neil Aviation to be headquartered right here in the private terminal at McCarran International Airport.

The first three planes in his new fleet are a Hawker 700, a Lear 35 and a Gulfstream, and he invited Vegas DeLuxe and contributing photographer Tom Donoghue for the rollout ceremony at Henderson Airport.

“The planes are now all finished, they are all tricked out exactly how you think a rocker’s tour plane would be, complete with painted flames on the fuselage and the zebra-striped interior furnishings!” Vince laughed.

He brought wife Lia and her best girlfriend Marley Taylor of Zowie Bowie as the models for his Web site and sales brochure photo shoot, and Tom captured all the behind-the-scenes images exclusively for us.

Vince told me: “The Hawker holds eight people and makes the trip to New York from Las Vegas nonstop. The Lear 35 holds seven and goes nonstop to Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Aspen and into Mexico and Canada, but cross country to the East Coast requires one fuel stop.

“I even took the third plane -- the Gulfstream -- hopping through South America on my most recent solo tour there, and we stopped in Aruba on the way home to Vegas for a four-day-weekend vacation. I’ve booked it myself next week for concerts in Mexico.”

Vince used his other toys -- a black 2008 Lamborghini, a 1932 Ford hot rod and his special Count Kustom chopper -- for the photo shoot. The chopper was made by his good friend Danny Koker, who not only builds motorbikes and cars here in Las Vegas for rock celebrities but also is Vince’s partner in his Tattoo Shop at The Rio and the Dr. Feelgood’s Bar & Grill on West Sahara.

Over the next few days, the new Web site VinceNeilAviation.net will be up and running with rates and all the other information on his charters.

“Now Lia and Marley don’t come along as the flight attendants,” he laughed, “ but we take care of everything from pilots to flight attendants to whatever you might need.” Vince explained that he’d started his new airline to complement his other entrepreneurial enterprises that include his imported tequila, his Dr. Feelgood’s chain of rock bars and his Vince Neil Ink tattoo shops.

“I was always chartering planes. If it wasn’t to go out on tour, it was to go see family in San Francisco. Now it’s difficult to drive our dogs back and forth, so we’d fly them with us rather than leaving them in a kennel. So I said after all this time, why don’t we get our own and make some money at the same time. Now when I’m not using them for work, other people can fly them for the rock and roll experience,” he said.

Vince releases his new solo single “Tattoos & Tequila” on April 6, and his new CD Tattoos & Tequila follows in May. Check out an advance download sample, the video and his screensaver at VinceNeil.net.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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