Wheels Up bets on simpler fleet as it navigates post-pandemic business travel
The firm is cutting costs and has switched to a two-type fleet in a bid to boost efficiency and stem losses.
US fractional aircraft ownership firm Wheels Up Experience no longer operates a mixed fleet of various turboprop and jet aircraft types.
The private aviation firm recently finished jettisoning those aircraft, replacing them with a smaller fleet now composed solely of Bombardier Challenger 300 midsize and Embraer Phenom 300 light jets. It has also shifted to a new membership model designed specifically around the two-type fleet.
Chief executive George Mattson set the shifts in motion in the last two years, though the changes came on the heels of several other shake-ups intended to right Wheels Up’s financial ship.
Whether the latest and ongoing overhaul will accomplish that goal, and when, remains unclear. Wheels Up is set to disclose more about its progress when disclosing its third-quarter results in the coming weeks.
The firm has been largely quiet since releasing its second-quarter returns, at which point Mattson struck an optimistic tone.
“Over the past two years, we have fundamentally reshaped Wheels Up as we create a strong, durable foundation for responsible growth,” he said in a 4 August shareholder letter. “We have streamlined and upgraded our fleet, improved operational reliability, unified our global sales and service teams and implemented efficiency and cost-reduction actions across our business.”
Based near Atlanta, the company, 36% owned by Delta Air Lines, went public with great expectations and a $2.1 billion valuation in 2021. That was during the pandemic, when private-jet travel was roaring. At-end 2021, Wheels Up owned or leased 180 aircraft.
Since then, demand has slipped and Wheels Up has struggled to adapt.
The firm accumulated losses of $1.9 billion between 2021 and 2025. That year, it brought in $736 million in revenue. Wheels Up lost another $190 million in the first six months of 2026, partly reflecting restructuring expenses and related “inefficiencies”. The company’s actual cash losses have been less.
In 2023, Wheels Up overhauled its flight network, shifting from a nationwide model to two regional networks, in the eastern and western US. Also that year, Mattson, a former Delta board member, took over as CEO, and investors including Delta provided Wheels Up with $400 million in financial aid.
Fleet restructuring
But more changes were needed, prompting Mattson in 2024 to set in motion the fleet restructuring. The company since has divested various aircraft types – Cessna Citation CJ3s, Citation Excels, Citation X, Hawker 400XPs and Beechcraft King Air 350 turboprops – and replaced them with only the Challengers and Phenoms.
Wheels Up said it completed the fleet revamp in April, 18 months earlier than planned and with $300 million in investment.
At mid-year, the firm had 40 aircraft – 11 Challenger 300s and 29 Phenom 300s – and expected to have 50 aircraft by year-end.
“We’re rapidly moving through recent fleet acquisitions, to repaint and refurbish aircraft to a standardised Wheels Up livery and cabin interior, so that every trip delivers the same branded, high-quality experience,” Mattson said in the investor letter.
Wheels Up has said the fleet changes provide a “consistent premium onboard experience” and have improved the efficiency and reliability of its operation. Its jets averaged 49.5 revenue-generating hours monthly in the second quarter, up 20% year on year, with a 99.4% flight-completion rate, up from 97.5% in the prior-year period. Wheels Up aims eventually for its jets to log an average 70 revenue-flight-hours monthly.
The firm also in the second quarter “substantially completed” a broad cash-saving initiative it expects will conserve $70 million annually through “operational efficiencies, productivity improvements and overhead reductions”.
Meanwhile in May, Wheels Up secured a $100 million loan from an investor group led by Delta, and $64 million under an aircraft-financing deal with a subsidiary of AIP Capital Partners. Additionally in July, Delta extended to September 2028 the availability to Wheels Up of a separate $100 million line of credit.
In September 2025, Wheels Up redesigned its membership plans again, shifting to a new “Signature” programme it describes as simpler and more flexible. The company had signed 1,200 members to the new plan as of mid-year.
Customers pay deposits to become members and monthly fees to access travel at discounted rates. Wheels Up alternatively offers charters to non-members, through partner operators.
Earlier this year Wheels Up also agreed to start using a new charter-booking and management system called BrokerOS, sourced from platform provider and regional aircraft operator Surf Air Mobility. The system will help Wheels Up offer “better charter options” and make “more-informed booking decisions”.
“With fleet modernisation now complete, we believe our streamlined premium fleets can help us grow more efficiently and move faster toward profitability as we drive simplification and scale throughout our operation,” Mattson said.
The post Wheels Up bets on simpler fleet as it navigates post-pandemic business travel first appeared on FlightGlobal.
Source: www.flightglobal.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.