Private aviation flight company Wheels Up is quickly closing in on having a fleet of 50 King Air 350i. Since February of this year the company has added five King Air to its fleet and recently announced it plans to add four more come June; bringing the fleet to 49 total. Additional announcements included new routes and a new less expensive membership option.
Kenny Dichter, CEO of Wheels Up, says the company is looking to offer new routes by the summer such as Boston-N.Y., N.Y.-D.C., L.A.- San Francisco and L.A.-Las Vegas. All bookings will be handled by the Wheels Up app.
The new membership tier is called 8760 Membership (number of hours in a year). The membership has a $5,950 initiation fee and $5,950 annual membership fee. In comparison, the standard membership is $17,500 initiation and $8,500 annually.
The difference between the two memberships is that 8760 members flights are not on a guaranteed basis but “as available.” They can still request to share a ride with traditional members and make use of the Wheels Up app. The program aim is to increase Wheels Up membership total (it currently stands at 2,300) by offering a more affordable tier and thus have more opportunities for ride sharing. The Wheels Up fleet currently consists of 45 King Air 350is and 15 Citation Excel/XLSs.
“Wheels Up members now have an increased pool of like-minded members to view and join the flights they post for ride-sharing, further reducing their cost of flying,” Wheels Up CEO Kenny Dichter noted.
Wheels Up continue to add King Air month to month from a 2013 agreement with Beechcraft to purchase 105 total King Air 350i The deal was valued at $1.4 billion (at the time).