Private jet company Wheels Up has identified the Middle East region as a key area of growth.
The US-based company recently merged with Aspirational Consumer Lifestyle Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) headed by Ravi Thakran, former group chairman of LVMH South and Southeast Asia, Australia and Middle East.
Plans are in place to launch Wheels Up on the New York Stock Exchange in the second quarter of this year with a valuation of $2.1 billion, followed by expansion outside the US, including the Middle East, according to Thakran, who said the idea was to create “the Airbnb and Uber of the skies”.
Ravi Thakran, former group chairman of LVMH South and Southeast Asia, Australia and Middle East.
He told Arabian Business: “The Middle East is an absolutely clear opportunity in front of us and will be one of the first ones we will be starting working on.”
Thakran, a former chairman emeritus of the Asia business for L Catterton, the private equity firm that includes LVMH and Groupe Arnault as partners, explained that the deal to acquire Wheels Up included around $240m from Aspirational and $550m from private investment in public equity (PIPE), with investors such as Fidelity, Franklin Templeton and Durable Capital.
He said that, according to a study from McKinsey, only nine percent of people who can afford to fly private are actually flying privately, while less than five percent of the time private jets are being used.
“The Middle East was so far basically a market of full-ownership aircrafts; basically families own their own aircraft and they use it for their own family, they don’t like somebody else using it,” he said.
Wheels Up delivers world-class safety, service, and flexibility through on-demand flights, membership programs, corporate solutions, aircraft management, whole aircraft sales, and commercial travel benefits through a strategic partnership with Delta Air Lines.
Thakran said the company, which was founded by Kenny Dichter and Bill Allard in 2013 owns over 120 aircraft, manages a further 140 and has access to another 1,400 aircraft. Last year, the company flew more than 150,000 passengers.
And Thakran believed the Middle East is the perfect destination for imminent expansion.
He said: “I believe that the region is changing. The new generation in the region is, first of all mostly western educated and they’re coming with a new set of ethos. All the youth in the region is walking around with a super computer in their hand, they are very proud of the connectivity they have. I believe the new generation would not mind a solution like Wheels Up, they would, in fact, love the optionality.
“There’s a great concentration of aircraft and great infrastructure, particularly the UAE which has invested huge amounts of money creating this aerospace hub which is something phenomenal.”
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