Private aviation supplier Wheels Up postponed its second-quarter earnings call scheduled for Wednesday and announced that it was “actively involved in discussions around strategic business partnerships for the company.”
Wheels Up also announced that on Tuesday Delta Air Lines had provided a short-term capital infusion to the company. Delta in 2020 merged its Delta Private Jets business into Wheels Up. Further, the company has entered into a non-binding letter of intent with competitor Airshare to acquire Wheels Up’s non-core aircraft management business, according to Wheels Up.
A Wednesday U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing by Wheels Up stated that the company’s potential investments and/or capital raise were subject to market and other conditions beyond its control, and “absent the ability of the company to obtain this additional funding in the near-term, the company has concluded that there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern for any meaningful period of time after the filing of this Form 12b-25,” which allows for a five calendar-day extension of the filing of required SEC forms.
The company has gone through several changes in recent months. Last November, Wheels Up president Vinayak Hegde departed the company amid a “realignment” of its management structure. In March, the company began to layoff corporate employees and named former Air Partner CEO Mark Briffa as EVP and chief commercial officer. Wheels Up had acquired Air Partner for $107 million in 2022. Wheels Up In May, founder Kenny Dichter stepped down from his CEO role and the company announced a member-program revamp.
