Wheels Up to accelerate King Air deliveries

Wheels Up will take more King Air 350is in the first half of next year than it originally planned.

Founder and chief executive Kenny Dichter said in an interview with The Eagle Wednesday morning that the New York-based private aviation membership company had first planned to take six of the Wichita-built aircraft manufactured by Textron Aviation Beechcraft between January and June 2016, a rate of about one airplane a month.

“What was six will now be nine,” he said.

The company, which in 2013 announced an order for up to 105 of the airplanes, completed its first round of deliveries of 35 King Airs in September, and expects to take five more of the twin-turboprop aircraft this month, Dichter said.

“That leaves us with 40 in the fleet,” he said.

The 350i is the largest of the King Air series, and has a list price of $7.3 million.

This story was originally published December 9, 2015 at 11:24 AM.