Wheels Up revenue slips 4%YoY amid broader improvement
On-demand private aviation services provider Wheels Up announced its third-quarter financial results wherein it reported a 4% year-over-year dip in revenue to $185.5m owing to lower contribution from its discontinued Connect and Pay-As-You-Fly members programmes.
However, the company’s total gross bookings were up 5%YoY reaching $266.6m growth in on-demand charter offerings from the company’s corporate and individual core members.
“Last month marked one full year since we announced our fleet modernisation strategy, a crucial part of our overall business transformation that is reshaping our programs, aircraft, and operations to better serve our customers. We are encouraged by the financial and operating performance of our new fleet and customer feedback has been strongly positive,” said George Mattson, CEO, Wheels Up.
Wheels Up also booked higher cost of revenue during the third quarter translating to a gross loss of $1.3m compared to a profit of $14.5m in comparable period of last year. The company attributed this to the non-recurring fleet modernisation expenses.
“The Q3 fleet modernisation charges primarily consist of incremental aircraft rent and maintenance costs incurred as we exit our legacy fleets,” Mattson told CJI. “Normal course aircraft rent and maintenance expenses are classified as cost of sales, so the costs identified as part of our fleet transition follow the same classification.”
Fleet migration also took a toll on Wheels Up’s adjusted contribution margin which has seen significant improvement during the previous quarters. In absolute terms, the adjusted contribution margin – revenue generated from a flight minus its associated variable costs – declined 18%YoY in the third quarter to $23,500. This translates to adjusted contribution margin of 12.7% – a reduction of 210 basis points.
The company has been upgrading its fleet composition to improve its operational performance. At the end of third quarter of 2025, Premium Phenom and Challenger jets comprised approximately 30% of the company’s controlled fleet. In total, premium jets make up for 44%, legacy jets 34% and turboprops 22% of the company’s fleet. This modernisation has been at the heart of the company’s recent transformation strategy initiated by Mattson.
Overall, this has been expensive for the company in the short-term despite being a non-recurring expense. At the end of third quarter, Wheels Up net loss amounted to $83.7m – an increase of 45% from last year’s $57.7m loss.
However, Mattson is confident that the fourth quarter results is when they expect transformation to begin delivering results.
“We expect our fourth quarter financial results to be the best since starting our transformation two years ago, setting the stage for accelerating improvement as we close the year and head into 2026,” he told CJI.
Nine-month figures show ‘transformation’ delivering results
While the quarter saw modest decline in revenue and a significant increase in net losses, the company’s nine-month performance shows positive signs and an improvement across all fronts.
Wheels Up maintained its nine-month revenues at $552.6m – a modest decline of 5%YoY from $587m during the same period of last year.
Despite this, the company is already reaching near break even as it has managed to shrink the gross losses from $13m last year to just $0.2m at the end of nine months of 2025.
This has been a consequence of significant expansion in adjusted contribution margin which has ballooned 50% year-over-year to $69,011 from $46,071. This growth is reflective of company’s operational efficiency improvements and overall better per flight revenue and cost controls.
Similarly, the company has also been successful at containing the net loss during the nine months at $265m – an increase of 5%YoY last year’s tally of $252m.
In case the company sees growth in the fourth quarter, it may be able to successfully deliver on its 2025 stabilisation goals which it communicated at the start of 2025.
Wheels Up also launched its Signature Membership in September this year promising availability and access 365 days a year for its Phenom 300 series and Challenger 300 series aircraft.
“The Signature Membership launched in early September is performing well, accounting for nearly 20% of total Membership Fund sales in September and October, with strong sequential week-over-week performance,” Mattson told CJI.
“About two-thirds of those were conversions from existing members, reflecting strong adoption among premium customers seeking flexibility and choice across our modernised fleet. New memberships sold to date are roughly split 50/50 between the Fixed and Dynamic Plans, reflecting distinct use cases and strong demand for each.”
