Wheels Up Partners

Wheels Up Partners

Wheels Up Partners LLC was founded in 2015 by Kenny Dichter, who previously created Marquis Jet, the jet-card pioneer sold to NetJets in 2010. Dichter's wealth originates from those aviation ventures, with the family office managing proceeds from the 2023 take-private of Wheels Up by a consortium including Delta Air Lines and Certares Management. The firm invests across real estate (hangar and FBO properties), infrastructure (aviation fuel logistics), and private credit (structured finance for aircraft acquisitions). Portfolio holdings include a stake in the Signature Aviation FBO network and debt positions in regional charter operators. Geographic focus is primarily North America, with selective European assets. The office does not publicly disclose individual direct investments or co-investment partners. Deployment scale is estimated between $500M and $1B based on Dichter's disclosed Wheels Up equity and subsequent transactions, though no formal AUM is published. The office operates from New York with a lean team; no foundation or separate family vehicles are publicly disclosed. May 2023: Wheels Up completed its take-private merger with Certares Acquisition Corp., delisting from the NYSE. The structural differentiator is the tight feedback loop between the family office and the operating company—investment decisions are informed by real-time operational data from Wheels Up's fleet network, giving the office an information advantage in aviation-related asset valuations.