NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kenny Dichter, Founder and CEO of Wheels Up, the revolutionary membership-based private aviation company, today announced a new initiative with Cessna Aircraft Company, a Textron, Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, to add a comprehensive jet lift solution, through the addition of Cessna Citation Excel and Sovereign jets to the growing fleet of offerings for Wheels Up members. The Cessna Citations will be outfitted with the Wheels Up distinctive sleek blue and white livery, “UP” on the aircraft tail, along with newly refurbished customized interiors to include Wi-Fi connectivity. The Cessna Citations will provide Wheels Up with light and midsize jets, enabling Wheels Up to achieve another milestone in building a total aviation solution with "mission-appropriate" aircraft options. Wheels Up expects to offer Cessna Citations to its members as soon as possible.
With this agreement, Wheels Up is creating a closed-fleet option of light and midsize private jets that complement the existing Wheels Up closed-fleet. Cessna will provide comprehensive maintenance on the newly added Cessna Citation aircraft through its ProAdvantage program and extensive service center network.
“We feel that we know the Cessna product better than anyone else in the industry; while at Marquis Jet we drove over $4 billion in revenue, the majority of which was on Cessna aircraft,” said Mr. Dichter. “To have Cessna, the industry authority in light, midsize and super midsize jets, working with Wheels Up is a significant achievement and a testament to the business model we’ve created.”
“We are very excited to be in business with Wheels Up because we strongly believe their new membership model is one of the futures of private aviation,” said Scott Ernest, President and CEO of Cessna. “Wheels Up opens up a whole new space of customers who can access the Cessna product.”
About Wheels Up
Wheels Up is a revolutionary membership-based private aviation company that lowers the upfront investment needed to enjoy flying privately – all while providing unparalleled flexibility. Wheels Up was created and is led by Kenny Dichter, the Founder of Marquis Jet and original innovator of the first 25-hour fractional jet card. Offering a member experience that is both high-tech and high- touch, Wheels Up has developed proprietary cutting-edge booking and rideshare applications, and offers the finest personalized service. With a modest initiation fee and reasonable annual dues, Wheels Up is designed to appeal to individuals and corporations currently flying privately. With an 8,760-hour (referencing the number of hours in a year) culture, Wheels Up membership includes Wheels Down, a corresponding lifestyle and event service engaging members through exclusive offerings around major sporting events, intimate concerts, culinary experiences and opportunities to meet luminaries from the worlds of entertainment, politics and business.
Wheels Up will act as agent for the Wheels Up members, and is not the operator of the program aircraft; FAA licensed and DOT registered air carriers participating in the program will exercise full operational control of the program aircraft. Any aircraft owned by Wheels Up will be dry leased to the operating air carrier to facilitate operations by that carrier. For additional information, please visit www.WheelsUp.com.
About Cessna
Cessna is the world's leading general aviation company. Since its inception in 1927, Cessna has designed, produced and delivered nearly 200,000 airplanes around the globe. This includes 6,500 Citation business jets, making it the largest fleet of business jets in the world. Today, Cessna has two principal lines of business: aircraft sales and aftermarket services. Aircraft sales include Citation business jets, Caravan single-engine utility turboprops, single-engine piston aircraft and lift solutions by CitationAir. Aftermarket services include parts, maintenance, inspection and repair services. In 2012, Cessna delivered 571 aircraft, including 181 Citation business jets, and reported revenues of $3.111 billion. More information about Cessna Aircraft Company is available at cessna.com.
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements which may project revenues or describe strategies, goals, outlook or other non-historical matters; these statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the risk that the initiative with Wheels Up will not be successful and will not result in future customers; volatility in the global economy; difficult conditions in the financial markets which may adversely impact our customers’ ability to fund or finance purchases of our products; [changes in aircraft delivery schedules or cancellation of orders]; and continued demand softness or volatility in the markets in which we do business.
