Wheels Up reports strong finish to 2024
Wheels Up ended 2024 on a high note, with its fourth quarter financial results demonstrating significant progress in the company’s turnaround. The private aviation company reported substantial improvements in profitability metrics despite sales falling.
According to the company’s latest financial report, Wheels Up recorded $204.8m in revenue for the three months ended December 31, 2024. This was a 17% decrease compared to the $356.4m reported in the same quarter of 2023.
Wheels Up achieved a dramatic turnaround in its gross profit, posting $15.4m in the last three quarter of 2024 compared to a loss of $18m in the same three months of 2023 – a positive swing of $33.5m. The company’s adjusted contribution reached $39.6m, up from just $2.8m a year earlier, because of significant operational improvements.
The adjusted contribution margin expanded to 19.3% in the quarter, a substantial increase from just 1.2% in the previous year’s fourth quarter. It achieved this rise in margin despite a smaller customer base, with active members declining 46% year-over-year to 5,369 from 9,947, and active users decreasing 32% to 7,286.
Particularly encouraging was the improvement in key metrics from the third quarter of 2024 to the last one. Revenue increased from $194m in the third quarter to $205m in quarter four. This is the first quarter of sequential revenue growth in nearly two years when Wheels Up changed its offering to get to profit. Total gross bookings surged to $314m in the last quarter of the year from $255m in the third quarter. This was helped by strong global charter sales by Air Partner.
“We had our first sequential revenue increase in almost two years in the fourth quarter. So we do feel like we’ve stabilised revenues. We also had our first quarter of year over year increase in gross bookings,” said George Mattson, CEO, Wheels Up in a call with Corporate Jet Investor.
Must read: The fall and restructuring of Wheels Up
The company also made significant progress in reducing its adjusted EBITDA loss. This improved to just $11m in Q4 from $20m in Q3 2024 and $38m in Q4 2023. December was reported as the best month in the company’s history, with Wheels Up achieving nearly breakeven adjusted EBITDA performance.
Overall, net loss in the fourth quarter stood at $88m, representing continued improvement in the company’s financial trajectory.
“After several quarters of consistent improvement, we ended 2024 in a much stronger financial position than we began. The fourth quarter was our lowest Adjusted EBITDA loss since going public, with the month of December achieving nearly breakeven performance. This was also our first quarter of sequential revenue growth in nearly two years, thanks in part to record margins and further enhancements to operational efficiency,” said Mattson.
While live flight legs decreased by 11% to 12,731 compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, total gross bookings actually increased by 9% to $313.9m. The company maintained its 98% completion rate while on-time performance fell to 80%, compared to 87% in the previous year.
The company’s improved operational efficiency is also evident in its cash flow metrics. Net cash provided by operating activities was $37.9m in the last quarter of 2024. This was a dramatic improvement from the negative $3.8m in the same period of 2023 – representing a swing of $41.7m.
For the full year 2024, Wheels Up reported revenue of $792.1m, down 37% from $1.25bn in 2023. However, the company narrowed its net loss to $339.6m from $487.4m in the previous year, an improvement of 30%. Adjusted EBITDA loss improved by 19% to $117.9m.
Mattson expressed optimism about the company’s future, noting: “The combination of long-term, foundational improvements to our operation and commercial engine and the early positive signs from our fleet modernization has provided solid momentum as we enter 2025 and work toward our long-term objective of building a resilient business model with a strong balance sheet and consistent profitability.”
Wheels Up added 18 Phenom 300s in the last quarter as part of its acquisition of the Grand View Aviation fleet. It will add two Challengers this quarter. The company’s total fleet fell from 185 aircraft at the end of 2023 to 154 aircraft. At the end of 2024 it was operating 44 turboprops, down 20 from the end of 2023.
