Wheels Up cuts staff to save $30m in costs

Wheels Up has announced it is cutting staff to save $30m annually to deliver EBITDA profitability next year.

The company said the cuts will not apply to pilots, frontline maintenance and customer-facing roles. In a stock exchange filing it said: “These actions are consistent with our previously communicated Path to Profitability Plan and will help us realise the cost and organisational synergies resulting from acquisitions we’ve made over the past two years.”

Wheels Up will spend a total of $14m in severance payments, employee benefits and share-based compensation, $7m of which has already been incurred in the fourth quarter of last year. The remaining $7m will be spent by the end of this quarter.

In an email to staff, Kenny Dichter, CEO, Wheels Up said: “I am intensely aware that these reductions have a very human and emotional impact, and we always strive to treat everyone with the integrity and respect inherent in our Wheels Up values. At the same time, these are necessary business decisions that require us to be mindful of costs as we enhance our operations and continue to invest in the customer experience.”

In November, the company scrapped the role of president to “streamline” the organisation and announced a loss of $86.8m for the first nine months of the year. It will report its full year results on March 9.^.