Two days after Dave Harvey announced his departure from Southwest Airlines, private aviation supplier Wheels Up announced he would join the company on May 20 as chief commercial officer. Harvey will relocate to Atlanta for the position, he wrote on LinkedIn.
“Over the past eight months, Wheels Up has made great strides towards its goal of becoming the best-run private aviation company in the world and building a strategy in support of it vision of delivering premium aviation solutions for every customer on every flight, across both the commercial and private aviation ecosystems,” Harvey said in a statement.
Delta Air Lines in 2020 merged its Delta Private Jets business into Wheels Up, and the company in the past year has experienced significant changes. In August 2023, the company received a $500 million lifeline from Delta and investment firms Certares and Knighthead after it announced there was “substantial doubt” it could continue absent additional near-term funding.
Current CEO George Mattson came on board in October after founder and former CEO Kenny Dichter stepped down in May 2023. Mattson previously was on Delta’s board of directors. Wheels Up in February reorganized its operations team, adding and promoting several former Delta executives.
