Private air and charter company Wheels Up's corporate membership fund sales reached a quarterly record of $62 million, an increase of more than 15 percent year over year, according to a Wednesday morning Wheels Up earnings release. The company's overall revenue declined 4 percent year over year.
For the third quarter, corporate also represented 49 percent of all membership fund sales, up 12 points year over year, according to the company. The private carrier and Delta Air Lines, one of its investors, share a sales team across more than 45,000 corporate clients, according to Wheels Up.
During the quarter, the company launched its Signature membership program, which requires a 12-month commitment. Since its Sept. 3 introduction, those memberships represented nearly 20 percent of total block sales for September and October "with strong week-over-week performance." About two-thirds of Signature Membership sales have come from existing customers converting to the new membership type, according to Wheels Up.
"Signature membership sales of our new fleet offerings are off to a very strong start, and we expect to see accelerating growth of corporate and individual Signature membership sales in the fourth quarter and coming year," Wheels Up CEO George Mattson said in a statement.
The company also appointed three new hires during the quarter to report to chief sales officer Mark Briffa.
Wheels Up Q3 Metrics
Wheels Up third-quarter revenue decreased 4 percent year over year to $185.5 million. The company cited the reduction in flight revenue from discontinued Connect and Pay-As-You-Fly members which offset an increase in revenue from increased corporate and individual "core members."
Gross bookings increased 5 percent from a year prior to $266.6 million, driven by 14 percent growth in on-demand charter offerings, according to Wheels Up. Private jet gross bookings were up 3 percent to nearly $209.7 million. The company's quarterly net loss was $83.7 million, compared with a net loss of $57.7 million for the same period last year.
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