Wheels Up Is Still Down

Wheels Up Experience's fourth-quarter revenue decreased by $162 million year-over-year, to $246 million, but the company did stem its losses by 64 percent, the company said during a recent earnings call.

"We made significant progress over the past quarter to improve our business for a sustainable future," said CFO Todd Smith. "We are continuing to optimize our cost structure and fleet to focus on profitability. With improving liquidity in the fourth quarter and our partnership with Delta, we believe we are well positioned to continue to invest in our business for the long term."

The company touted its partnership with Delta Air Lines, as well as $40 million of investor capital from Kore Capital and Whitebox Advisors.

Wheels Up also recently restructured its executive leadership team.  Former chairman of operations Dave Holtz last month was promoted to COO. Before his time at Wheels Up, Holtz ran the operations and customer center at Delta Air Lines, which owns a substantial stake in Wheels Up.

Meanwhile, the company reported that flight-related revenue for the full year rose 30 percent, to $1.2 billion.

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Wheels Up said it is hoping to increase its profitability via a higher mix of charter and corporate flying, cost reductions, stabilization of its deferred revenue balance, and normalization of working capital.

"In our first full quarter since the strategic investment, we have made strong progress on a number of key fronts," said CEO George Mattson. "Operationally, we continue to drive performance and strengthen our team. Commercially, we are rebuilding our sales pipeline, restoring customer confidence, and are seeing strong momentum in our joint efforts with the Delta sales teams," 

According to Wheels Up, it has already seen increased customer service satisfaction scores and improvements from streamlining operational costs. 

The earnings call comes after Delta previously led a consortium of investors to rescue it from reported financial troubles. In a 2023 financial filing, the air charter company reported a working capital deficit of $720.8 million. Delta previously owned a minority stake in the company.