Wheels Up (WUP, Teterboro) has finalised a previously announced USD332 million revolving financing facility with Bank of America, which allowed it to complete the acquisition of seventeen Embraer Executive Jets Phenoms from GrandView Aviation.
"Our fleet transition starts today with the strategic acquisition of GrandView's Phenom fleet and the immediate introduction of the Phenom fleet into our programmatic member as well as charter offerings as we head into the peak holiday travel season," CEO George Mattson said.
The revolving financing facility is backed by credit support from Wheels Up's shareholder Delta Air Lines.
GrandView Aviation's fleet of eleven Phenom 300s, one Phenom 300(MED), and five Phenom 300Es will continue to operate under the company's Part 135 certificate for now. The transfer to Wheels Up's own certificate is planned for the first quarter of 2025. GrandView Aviation does not operate any other aircraft on its Part 135 fleet.
In turn, Wheels Up's Part 135 fleet comprises 105 aircraft, including thirty-eight Beech King Air B300s, twenty-seven Hawker 400XPs, nine Citation Excels, seven Citation XLS, and twenty-four Citation X. The operator plans to transition from the Citations and Hawkers to Phenoms and Challenger 300/350s as part of its ongoing restructuring. It recently entered into an agreement to sell of its owned Citation X jets, although it will lease some of them back to support the transition to the Challenger 300/350 fleet.
The company posted a USD252.1 million net loss for the first nine months of 2024.
