SPAC called Wheels Up lets investors bet on private flying

Wheels Up, which sells flights on private jets, is set to become the first operator of business aircraft to trade publicly, enabling investors to bet on an industry showing signs of a rebound from the coronavirus pandemic. An agreement to merge with a special purpose acquisition company called Aspirational Consumer Lifestyle Corp. is expected to close in Q2, Wheels Up said Monday. The transaction valued Wheels Up at $2.1b and provides the company with as much as $790m in gross proceeds as it pursues its goal of “democratizing” private aviation. “If it’s as easy to order up a plane from Wheels Up as it is to order an Uber or book an Airbnb, that’s really what the strategic forward vision for the business is,” said Kenny Dichter, who founded the company in 2013. The deal offers shareholders exposure to an industry that is recovering more quickly than commercial flying from the plunge in travel demand caused by Covid-19. Business-jet operations in the US fell only 13% in December from a year earlier, paring a decline of as much as 75% in April. Domestic passenger totals at US airlines have been down 65% in recent months except for an uptick during the holidays. <br/>