KurtR

Programs
Partnerships
Business Models

oenophilist

Some people on my JS flight say they are members of Wheelsup too. They said it is very good for underserved airports. But I am not familiar with the business model.

Any Flyertalkers members?

Kagehitokiri

all wheelsup has is split charters? which depends on 'getting' others to split.

possible to minimize cost with cheapest/shortest, but also no limit on possible cost.

Herb687

Wheels Up's core business is selling lift on its proprietary fleet of King Air 350s and Citation Excels.

It functions like other jet card or membership programs. You pay your membership fee and have access to lift at a set hourly rate. Putting funds on deposit in advance vs. pay-as-you-go may give you a slightly better hourly rate and better guarantees on minimum call-out time to get an airplane, peak day concessions, etc.

Wheels Up owns its proprietary fleet though it is not an AOC and dry leases its fleet to the actual operator/AOC-holder Gama Charters.

They have alliances where funds on deposit can be used towards charters they arrange on larger aircraft not in the Wheels Up owned fleet.

The core business model is chartering a whole airplane on your schedule, not sharing one on someone else's.

It looks like they are now moving into having some new offerings that duplicate JetSmarter offerings (empty legs, shared shuttles, etc.).

Kagehitokiri

im only seeing split charters. which predates JS (by a long time) but think WU is only current one.

Herb687

While it looks like Wheels Up is adding some new offerings that mirror what JetSmarter does, that was not historically their business model.

Historically, Wheels Up functioned similarly to other jet card/membership programs (i.e. Marquis Jet Card, Delta Private Jets, Sentient, etc.). You join the program for a membership fee and then have guaranteed access to lift, subject to terms and conditions on peak day availability, minimum call out time, etc. for which you pay a set hourly rate depending on aircraft type.

Again, the traditional Wheels Up business model is chartering whole aircraft on your schedule. Just like Marquis, DPJ, Sentient, etc. (Sentient having gone through quite a few changes over the years and going back and forth between being an actual operator controlling a fleet and just acting as a middle man with no proprietary fleet)

Just as Marquis predominantly sources their lift from NetJets (Marquis is now owned by NetJets; they weren't always), Wheels Up is going to first source lift from its proprietary fleet of King Air 350s and Cessna Citation Excel/XLSs. Those King Airs and Excels are owned by Wheels Up but dry leased to Gama Charters who is the certificate holder that operates the flights.

Kagehitokiri

that is my point, the only thing WU is doing now is >
person A buys (or proposes?) charter, allows other to join, splitting cost of charter
(that is not a shuttle, is not scheduled, and is not selling seats)

WU is not doing free empty legs are they?

more operators seem to be selling empty legs directly, which can make sense

btw how does JS sell [some] seats on shuttles? is it because it is to members?
IIRC there are/were some kind of US regs about reselling seats on charters
or perhaps it just had to do with owners of planes and their operators?

KurtR

WU has put together a program called 8760 - which is offering empty legs with TMC and Apollo jets.
1. The "membership" is $6,000/ yr..... And $300 per flight however it's always the full aircraft.
2. They are partnered with TMC which was an operator dropped by JetSmarter at first due to heavy cancellations ( I was a victim).

TMC is now owners by the same parent company as XOJet and I saw the new shuttles on IAD and Boston are on TMC jets??? Maybe TMC is going to leave WU partnership and try again with JSM???

On a positive note, my friend had a partnership on WU and he said the company offers all its members great tickets to multiple venues if you are an 8760 member.

Sykes

Yeah, the "8760 Experiences" from Wheels Up are pretty great - suite access to Bruce Springsteen, Adele, Kanye, Beyonce, and Billy Joel concerts in the app right now, although most are sold out now. They also have pretty decent partnerships (e.g. MLife Platinum status, Hertz President's Circle, and 2 nights free at a bunch of different resorts).

The empty legs are pretty sparse compared to JetSmarter and seem to be substantially based on the East Coast. I've had demo access to the app for about a week and haven't seen a flight I'd consider taking.

Kagehitokiri

ah, $300 per flight

much from/to DC area?

how much per seat in suites at concerts?

KurtR

You get two seats per membership to their own suites.

Kagehitokiri

WU has their own suites? so free seats? interesting.

speedbird001

I don't get the WU model. You pay an initiation fee plus annual dues and then pay for a block of time. I am not aware of anyone else charging initiation and annual dues.

Kagehitokiri

dues = membership operations like jetsmarter (may be biggest now, but not first/only)

seems WU offers some (flights) besides charter >