Wheels Up Focused on Fleet Growth with Premium Services

With a fleet transition completed 18 months ahead of schedule and a fresh capital infusion, private flight operator Wheels Up is focused on doubling its Phenom and Challenger fleets and growing its Signature membership program introduced last fall, CEO George Mattson said. But Mattson also told AIN that once that scaling is complete, “We will continue to look for opportunities to expand into new categories that we currently serve on a charter basis, including larger-cabin aircraft.”

The operation has transformed in the past three years since Mattson took over the helm in the wake of the May 2023 departure of founder Kenny Dichter. This transformation also came as Delta Air Lines expanded its stake in the struggling operation in 2023 with a $500 million rescue package.

Since then, Wheels Up has streamlined its fleet, eliminating four jet types and adding two new ones, Embraer Phenom 300s and Bombardier Challenger 300s, that serve as the focus of the company’s in-house operations. In sum, he said the company has moved more than 200 aircraft in and out of the operation over the last 18 months.

In April, Wheels Up announced that it had completed that transition 18 months ahead of schedule. “With the smoke clearing from all that change, we are very excited to be operating a simplified, scaled, best-in-class fleet going forward,” Mattson told AIN.

Helping boost its ambitions was a round of capital raising that Wheels Up announced earlier this month as it released its first-quarter results. That capital included a $100 million term loan from Delta and another tranche of financing arranged by AIP Capital. Collectively, that capital produces about $165 million in liquidity, but Wheels Up has the ability to further expand the Delta facility.

Longer Cash Runway

“The new financing reinforces a strategy that was already well underway,” Mattson explained. “The capital gives us the runway to continue to scale our fleet. We expect to double the size of our Phenom and Challenger fleets this year, with the focus right now on scaling to meet growing Signature membership demand.”

Rolled out late last year, Wheels Up’s Signature program has grown to 800 members, representing one-third of its total membership base. This growth has fueled the drive to expand the Phenom and Challenger fleets, Mattson said, adding that results have validated the shift to more premium services and streamlined fleets.

“The transition away from unprofitable flying has been a core component of our transformation strategy, and these metrics confirm that our customer-centric approach and fleet of more efficient, more in-demand aircraft is working,” Mattson said, noting that the revenue from the Phenoms and Challengers doubled year over year as the company expanded its models in the fleet from 21 to 36. Also backing this up is the growth in the Signature membership program.

“Our current focus is on delivering the best possible experience on our Phenom and Challenger fleet, which is where we’ve seen the strongest customer satisfaction,” he said. Mattson noted that some of its King Air customers, who were the original foundation of Wheels Up, have shifted to the Phenom.

“That said, members and customers who want access to turboprop options or other aircraft types can still access those solutions through our network of safety-vetted, third-party operators,” he said. “As one of the leading global charter brokers in the world, we can get our customers any off-fleet aviation solution they need—here in the U.S., or around the world.”

This ability was further enhanced by Wheels Up’s acquisition of Air Partner in 2022. The company has recently completed rebranding that operation to Wheels Up. Along with Signature, Wheels Up is seeing success in other areas, including growing the corporate segment in partnership with Delta at 25% per year, and seeing its charter business increase by 20%.

Importantly to the company, as all of the changes have occurred, Wheels Up has seen the results of its operational improvement.

Efficiency Boost

“Back in 2023, on day one post the Delta-led investment, we said that our top priority would be to be the best-run private aviation company in the industry, and that we would leverage the Delta partnership to do that,” Mattson said. “To that end, we moved our headquarters to the newly opened Member Operations Center in Atlanta and began consolidating disparate operating certificates into a single operation. This started the flywheel of continuous improvement that has allowed us to transform our operational performance over the last three years.”

As a result, the company is experiencing fewer than 1% cancellations and 2% extended delays, while on-time performance is topping 90%. “On half our days, we have 100% completion,” he added, noting that the company reached those numbers as it was filtering aircraft in and out.

Thus far, the spike in fuel prices hasn’t notably affected its operations. Wheels Up has been able to pass on fuel increases through surcharges without any change in demand, Mattson said. “Demand remains strong, supported by a solid economic backdrop and strong performance in the financial markets.”

While Wheels Up's financial performance has continued to improve, with fleet modernization and other costs, it posted an $83 million net loss in the first quarter. However, bookings and revenues were strengthening. “Fleet modernization created significant cost inefficiencies, and that masked a lot of the improvement taking place in the underlying business,” Mattson remarked. “With jet fleet modernization now complete, we expect those inefficiencies to dissipate in the coming quarters, and for the superior unit economics of our new fleets to deliver bottom-line profitability as we scale.”