Wheels Up completes fleet overhaul early, narrows to two jet types

One private jet membership company has spent two years buying only two types of jets and selling any that don't match the new playbook. For anyone trading the Citation X, CJ3, Excel, XLS and Hawker 400XP, that is the tape worth reading.5x5 Trading, an IADA-accredited dealer, stated on Tuesday that it managed roughly 100 aircraft transactions for Wheels Up across both directions and finished a jet fleet overhaul 18 months earlier than planned. The overhaul narrowed Wheels Up's fleet down to just two types of jets, the Embraer Phenom 300 and the Bombardier Challenger 300/350.Wheels Up sold its Citation CJ3s, Citation Excel/XLS, Citation Xs, and the Hawker 400XP. The Citation X is a super-midsize jet, the fastest civilian aircraft ever certified, while the other three fall into the light and midsize category. Across the program, 5x5 handled close to 100 transactions in total, buying the Phenoms and Challengers while clearing out the older types. The dispositioned aircraft will spread across the light and midsize segments, while the Citation X lands in its thinner super-midsize market. Membership trips once based on the Citation X and Hawker 400XP jets will now be fulfilled through Wheels Up's partner operators.The retained pair maps neatly onto what left. The Phenom 300, a light jet, covers the ground the CJ3 and 400XP used to, and the Challenger 300/350, a super-midsize, steps in for the Citation X.The transactions from both directions signal strong demand for the retained aircraft and more supply for the exiting ones. By standardizing its fleet on the Phenom 300 and Challenger 300/350, Wheels Up has thinned available supply and supported those jets' values on the used market. The aircraft it removed do the opposite. The CJ3, Excel/XLS and 400XP add options for light and midsize buyers and should pressure prices there, while the Citation X will weigh more heavily on the super-midsize market given how thin its listings already are. One program tightened the market for two types and loosened it for four at the same time.Wheels Up is not remotely finished buying yet. With the fleet standardization in place, it said it plans to nearly double its Phenom 300 and Challenger 300-series fleets over the course of this year, with the disposition program supporting those purchases. Institutional demand at that scale can prop up values for two types while the four it walked away from drift lower. Note that any broker covering those segments will be trading against Wheels Up on both sides of the deal.