Wheels Up Doubles Down on Phenoms and Challengers

Wheels Up plans to double its fleets of Embraer Phenom 300s and Bombardier Challenger 300/350s this year as the private flight provider has found demand for its Signature Membership program stronger than expected, the company announced on Tuesday.

The company has been in a multi-year effort to streamline its fleets, phasing out its older Cessna Citation, Hawker, and Beechcraft King Air models. At the same time, it is leaning into the Phenom, which it first added with the acquisition of GrandView Aviation’s fleet in November 2024, and the Challenger 300, which it first introduced into its program in April 2025.

Wheels Up is not sharing how many Challengers or Phenoms it has in its fleet or where it plans to source them, but its last 10-K financial form at the end of 2025 stated the company had nine owned and leased Challenger 300s and 350s and 21 Phenom 300s at year's end. 

The U.S. operator cited the higher operational reliability, customer satisfaction, and unit economic performance of the models under its Signature program for the growth. This has surpassed its original expectations when it rolled out the Signature program in September, Wheels Up added.

"When we introduced our fleet modernization strategy in late 2024, we asked our team and our partners to trust a direction they could not fully see yet. Today, they can see it,” said Mark Briffa, chief sales officer. “Signature membership has exceeded our expectations; our premium aircraft are delivering a meaningfully better customer experience, and we have reached scale. This is the right time to accelerate, and that is exactly what we are doing, as we expect to complete the fleet transition a year ahead of schedule, driven by strong market response to our new program and fleet offerings."

Further, the company said it is closing sales of its Legacy Membership at the end of the month while Signature becomes its flagship offering. However, it stressed that all existing member contracts would be honored through their full term.

“Wheels Up's hybrid model remains intact: a focused, scaled premium first-party fleet complemented by a best-in-class global charter business supported by a broad, safety-vetted third-party charter operator network that provides enhanced availability and mission flexibility for all members,” the company maintained.