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Wheels up

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Was that really necessary?

No i wasn't and the person is simply a jerk who will be remembered.

My guess is that he doesn't wash his hands after using the john and then gladly shakes everyone's hand or eats his fried chicken with his fingers. Total clown!
 
LOL Why do people get so bent out of shape when someone states the truth..And its more like 95% I thought Jetz was being kind!!

Have you turned 15 yet? If you have, try taking some man lessons and see if you can get yourself straighten out....you may be able to get some friends...heck, maybe even a spouse...if you work real hard.
 
Updates

What is the word at WU? Imagine if we keep this thread to a discussion of WU and not other carriers or throwing personal attacks around how informative this could be. :erm:

How is the flying, schedule, ops and training going? How many aircraft now in the fleet of 350's and when are the jets coming?
 
No i wasn't and the person is simply a jerk who will be remembered.

My guess is that he doesn't wash his hands after using the john and then gladly shakes everyone's hand or eats his fried chicken with his fingers. Total clown!

boy aren't we testy you must resemble that remark..Maybe you should lay off the fried chicken
 
I hope it works but this guy is a real pitch man. Reminds me of bill Schultz at CitationAir.
 
Uber of flying

I see what their new call sign will be: UBER

Wheels Up CEO: We are 'the Uber of flying'

Tue 07 Jan 14 | 12:16 PM ET

The following transcript has not been checked for accuracy.

how does the business work? it's simple. we're further dem advertising the privative asian space and bringing it to more people. for $15,750 you guys -- a year. first year. second year, that includes first year's dues. second year it's $7200. if you pay that monies and become a member you have access to our closed freet fleet of king air 350is. we purchased 105 of them. biggest order of them, beechcraft. you're competing with who, net jets? net jets and markey jet which we built are natural competitors. they run a great business. the pilot forced air is unbelievable. we have the net jet's former director of safety and security. they view it and we're build that in a bigger way. you founded marquise jet, it's important to to mention that, and sold it. to warren buffett and berkshire. we have a lot of crew over there. it was a great experience. it set me up to do wheels up. ken, first of all, thank you. scott, kenny was able to send a plane down for me and my family to florida to fly us up here. the deal with textron announced a week or two ago which seems on paper to be a huge deal for the aviation industry but really for you. how does that change where your business is going? it must be a huge positive. huge positive. first off, scott donnelly pulled off a once in a generation deal. only six people who makes airplanes in the world. he put together two across the street by each other, beechcraft and cessna. two great leaders. to put these two together and what it meals for wewheels up is we have it for $950 an hour or the fastest commercial jet in history. we have that range of product for ur wheels up members. i was just in wichita on friday talking to scott earnst and his team and we have the strategy to come to market using the king and cessna product together which will make great news for wichita, kansas. you said you have 105? we ordered 105 king air 350is. we took delivery of nine of them between november 1st and the end of this year. we're taking 18 more in '14 and we'll have 35 by the end of '15. not everybody obviously has the money to fly private. but if you i have you are democratizing private aviation, does that bringing overall prices down? just another player along with marquee and net jets? we're changing the industry level. their entry level is $11,000 an air. the king air 350i which was a plantno in commercial format brings down the pricing to $3950. that's significant. we also developed an app that allows you to hitch, to split, to private shuttle, and wh uber is the black wheels car business, we are the uber of flying. i left the office. we have a group in that's helping us develop that app and it's going to be game over. wheelsup.com? if you're stuck in florida we can't guarantee anything because we're busy with our members but check out wheelsup.com and we will talk to you. murph wouldn't be on the set
URL:http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000233823

This transcript is generated by automated closed captioning, has not been edited, and may not be entirely accurate.
?2011 CNBC.com
 
Who will crew

Who will crew the new blue WU birds. New birds or old birds, the new blue WU birds crewed by whose nerds?

:laugh:
 
Who will crew the new blue WU birds. New birds or old birds, the new blue WU birds crewed by whose nerds?

:laugh:

Um... :erm:

Weed is now legal to use in many states. Is the above post the new norm? I hope not.
 
Tweet.

Who will crew the new blue WU birds. New birds or old birds, the new blue WU birds crewed by whose nerds?

:laugh:

Heard that Dr. Seuss Aviation was taking over the new birds.

Call sign: BLUEJAY.
 
Dichter the savior of Kansas

Posted on Thu, Jan. 16, 2014
Wheels Up CEO one of Wichita aviation?s biggest customers, supporters
By Molly McMillin
The Wichita Eagle
Barry Alvarez was the new head football coach at the University of Wisconsin when Kenny Dichter, then a junior, came into his office.

At the time, ?the program was flat on its back,? Alvarez said. In the year before, attendance in the 80,000-seat stadium had averaged 30,000 a game.

?Kenny came in and presented himself and said, ?I have a feeling you?re going to win, Coach. I know you want to fill the stadium, and I think I can help you with your plan.? He said, ?You have to start with the students.? ?

Dichter created a program for students called Bleacher Creature with club membership, corporate sponsors and a special section for members in the stadium.

He told Alvarez that if he put good products on the field, he would sell the stands, Dichter said.

He also worked with the athletic department to create pep rallies, including an appearance by sportscaster Dick Vitale.

It worked.

Dichter and Alvarez have been close friends ever since.

And Dichter has been marketing and ?hustling and muscling things a long time,? Dichter said.

Alvarez describes him as creative and innovative.

?His mind is always turning,? Alvarez said. ?He?s always trying to create something.?

Today, Dichter is the founder and CEO of New York-based Wheels Up, a membership-based aviation company serving private business aircraft passengers.

Five months into the business, Dichter already is one of Wichita?s biggest customers of business aircraft ? if not its biggest current customer.

?He?s going to be a big factor in Wichita,? said Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture.

Dichter is an advocate for Wichita, the ?center of the universe of aviation.?

He also feels a big responsibility.

?We know that every membership we sell and every block of hours that we sell and every flight has a direct impact on Wichita, Kansas,? Dichter said.

That translates into airplane sales ? and Wichita jobs.

Passion for the product

?I know how many jobs are related to the business,? he said. ?That?s how I feel. ? We carry that as a big responsibility, and we take it seriously. We have so much passion for the product that Wichita makes.?

In August, Wheels Up placed an order for 105 King Air 350i turboprops from Beechcraft Corp. ? the largest general aviation propeller-driven airplane order in history, Beechcraft said. That includes a firm order for 35 King Airs and options for 70 more as the company expands.

Nine were delivered in the fourth quarter of last year. Dichter expects to take delivery of 18 more King Airs this year and another 18 in 2015.

?Wheels Up members are reacting like we believed they would react,? he said. ?They absolutely love the airplane.?

He?s also working with Cessna Aircraft CEO Scott Ernest to take delivery of Cessna Citation business jets.

Those will be pre-owned, refurbished Citation jets outfitted with a special blue-and-white paint scheme and the word ?Up? on the tail, along with customized interiors and Wi-Fi.

Earlier this month, Dichter flew to Wichita to meet with Ernest about the plan. Details are being finalized.

Used aircraft on the market have been slow in moving, Dichter said.

A decline of used jets on the market will help Cessna sell its new ones.

Dichter projects taking delivery of about 30 Citations by the end of 2015. He also plans to buy new Citations as demand warrants.

?We believe there?s a customer out there that wants new, that wants it all,? Dichter said.

The relationship between Wheels Up and Cessna will be good for the city, said Ernest.

?Anytime we can introduce more customers to private aviation through Citation products will be good for Cessna and good for Wichita,? Ernest said in a statement. ?We believe the popularity of Citations among fleet operators is an endorsement of the value we provide to customers seeking dispatch reliability, safety, comfort and superior direct operating costs.?

By the end of 2020, Dichter expects the company to take delivery of 150 King Airs, 120 to 150 Citations and, through a partnership with Vista Jet, 35 to 40 Global 4000, 5000 and 6000 long-range business jets.

Currently, Wheels Up is ahead of its business plan.

It now has more than 200 individual and more than 20 corporate members.

Dichter projects 350 to 400 members by the end of March and more than 1,200 members by the end of the year.

?We?re growing fast and furious,? he said.

?Imposingly forthright?

Dichter was described recently by Corporate Jet Investor as a ?sports-loving, streetwise businessman; fast-talking, almost imposingly forthright.?

It?s an apt description. He?s a bundle of energy and knows no strangers.

?The wheels in his head are always turning,? Alvarez said.

It?s difficult to be in his presence without picking up the positive energy and joy he gets from business, Boisture said.

?If you?re doing business with Kenny, he expects it to be good; he expects it to be tough; he expects it to be profitable; and he expects it to be fun,? Boisture said.

At the same time, ?he?s a very thoughtful guy,? Boisture said. ?He?s a visionary, in my view. He?s able to see a different order of things that exists today, and he?s able to see a new order of things that responds to the current socioeconomic environment. He?s able to see them in such a way to have a vision of a different business. That?s what he?s doing with Wheels Up.?

During the big snowstorm this month that canceled thousands of flights and stranded passengers, Dichter appeared on CNBC?s Fast Money saying Wheels Up might be able to help out.

Dichter urged those who were stuck someplace to give them a call.

The phone lines lit up.

Dichter grew up in Long Island, N.Y., loving basketball and lacrosse.

During his days at the University of Wisconsin, Dichter, a sociology major, began selling T-shirts out of his dorm room. That grew to three retail stores and a wholesale business.

In 1996, Dichter co-founded Alphabet City, a sports marketing and music company. Two years later, it was acquired by Robert FX Sillerman?s SFX Entertainment. Dichter stayed on until SFX sold to Clear Channel Communications in 2000.

It was with SFX that he met the who?s who of the sports and entertainment worlds. He was also introduced to the world of private aviation flying with SFX executives.

Dichter soon realized there were three ways to buy private aviation ? own your own airplane, buy a fraction of a plane from a fractional jet ownership company or charter an airplane.

?There needed to be a fourth,? Dichter said.

In 2001, Dichter came up with the concept of a jet card, called MarquisJet, allowing fliers to buy as little as 25 hours of flight time on a private jet.

Brick in the pyramid

?We created a brick in the aviation pyramid that didn?t exist that had all the creature comforts of fractional (ownership) without the long-term commitment, without the asset exposure, without having to be subject to the assets depreciating,? Dichter said.

At that time, Boisture, then president of fractional ownership company NetJets, met Dichter, who was working to persuade NetJets chairman Richard Santulli to let him sell the excess capacity on NetJets? fleet through the jet card business.

?At that point, we had significant excess capacity,? Boisture said. Santulli gave Dichter the go-ahead.

?He put together an extremely good team of salespeople and drove a tremendous amount of volume in a relatively short period of time,? Boisture said. ?The Marquis concept was so successful that it had literally filled up the excess capacity we had at NetJets. It was a big move on his part, and he made it happen.?

Dichter marketed MarquisJet to professional athletes, movie stars, musical artists and others who, because of their notoriety or the need to move around quickly, didn?t want to use public airports, said Alvarez.

At one time, MarquisJet cardholders included about 100 professional golfers.

?The list goes on and on,? Alvarez said. ?He could name-drop all day.?

In 2010, Dichter sold MarquisJet to NetJets, a Berkshire Hathaway company. Dichter stayed on as vice chairman for a year to help with the transition.

In those 10 years, jet card sales totaled $4 billion.

Along the way, Dichter co-founded Tequila Avion, a premium brand tequila, and Juice Press, a Manhattan-based grab-and-go organic, raw food and juice company.

He?s also created SportYapper, a global communications platform for talking sports; CYC, an indoor cycling studio; Cirrus, a fitness company specializing in exercise equipment; and Tour GCX Partners, a golf membership program that gives corporations and individuals access to private country clubs.

In August, Dichter announced the launch of Wheels Up with the big order to Beechcraft using the King Air as foundation.

Members pay an initiation fee, an annual membership fee and an hourly rate for the use of an airplane.

Fliers pay $3,950 an hour of King Air time, a price much lower than a jet, which makes private aviation affordable to a broader base of customers, Dichter said.

To launch the company, investment banking firm Jefferies put together $100 million in credit.

Wheels Up also has more than 300 investors, including members of the Forbes list of billionaires, entrepreneurs, professional sports team owners and players.

Dichter put up $10 million of his own money.

Building a business

For Dichter, the most fun part of business is building the organization and the system.

?The way I judge a successful business ? are my customers happy?? Dichter said. ?If the customers are happy, they?ll always allow you to make a fair profit margin ? for the service you?re providing them.?
 
Is Wheels Up already operating KA350s out on the West Coast? Thought I heard a Uniform Papa King Air the other day out West.

So, are the bases now BDL and VNY for the King Airs?

What about the latest on the Citations including timing, bases and hiring? Any news?
 
If anybody is interested in GAMA, I suggest talking to the pilots BEFORE you interview. And don't trust much of what they say in the interview. They have at least been completely wrong in the past, and maybe worse.
The pilots work a six on three off schedule, and it won't be changing anytime soon. Almost worse, if it were possible, the have no SOP's to speak of, and up to now at least have offered no IOE. For anybody. Including PIC's. Just get your type and go. The director of training is a balloon pilot, so I guess you can't blame him for not knowing better.

They just started demanding a training contract for new hires. I think they had to, because at least six PIC's have quit already, since October.

Go there if you want to, but go in with your eyes open.
 

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