Charter & Fractional
Wheels Up Lays Off 11% of Its Pilot Staff
Headcount reduction was concentrated to its King Air pilots
Wheels Up King Air in Las Vegas
© Barry Ambrose/AIN

Wheels Up laid off 11% of its pilots today, citing a “staffing imbalance” caused by “a sharp decline in our pilot attrition rates in the first half due in part to a reduction of pilot hiring at the airlines and pilots choosing to stay at Wheels Up.” Layoffs were reportedly concentrated to King Air flight crewmembers and pared its estimated pilot ranks from 950 to 850.

“Aligning our pilot organization with the size of our fleet is critical to the success and health of our business, and the abnormalities in the industry over these last few months made appropriate staffing forecasting against regular attrition challenging,” Wheels Up said in a statement. “As we navigate through this difficult period of change, we want to once again acknowledge the pivotal roles that all of our team members play in ensuring our operation reflects the high standards we have set for ourselves, our members, and our customers.”

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