Wheels Up Experience has made several organisational changes within its Atlanta, Georgia-based operations team.

"The organisational changes align the team with our mission to achieve operational excellence and lead the industry in performance and reliability," says CEO George Mattson. "I am excited to work with this exceptional team of leaders in 2024 and beyond. With these additions, and Dave Holtz leading our operations, I am confident that we have the best team in the industry."

Holtz joined Wheels Up in March 2022 as chairman of operations, following a long and distinguished 42 year career at Delta Air Lines, including 10 years running the operations and customer centre. In his role as chief operating officer, he is setting the course for the company's operational improvement journey.

Rob Hamilton is SVP operations. He brings more than 25 years of Part 135 operations management experience to the company, previously serving as fleet general manager, and has been instrumental in Wheels Up's improved service metrics over the past year. With his new responsibilities he will lead the company's member operations centre team overseeing flight control, mission planning, member services and enterprise operations management.

Pat Busscher, SVP maintenance, joined Wheels Up in September following a distinguished 39 year career in maintenance and operations at Delta, including 10 years running maintenance control there.

Patrick Burns, SVP flight operations, joined the company at the beginning of February after a distinguished 25 year career at Delta Air Lines, where he had been serving as VP of flight operations and system chief pilot, leading its over 17,000 strong pilot group.

Todd Wesoloskie, VP flight operations, brings over 35 years of aviation experience in a variety of roles, including aircraft mechanic, flight engineer and pilot. He has led Wheels Up's pilot recruiting for the past five years and will work closely with Patrick Burns on flight operations.

Al Mann, VP safety, security and compliance, will continue to lead the company's in-house safety team, and brings over 30 years of experience to this critical position.

These changes bring to Wheels Up a group of aviation experts with over 250 years of collective experience including several Delta Air Lines executives who led the airline's efforts in becoming the most respected carrier in the world.

"Our entire operations team is committed to delivering exceptional experiences for every customer on every flight, a mission critical to our vision of becoming the best run private aviation company in the world," says Holtz. "To achieve this, I will lean on this team of industry-leading operators, whom I have previously worked closely with here at Wheels Up or during my career at Delta. With this leadership team in place, we look forward to executing the playbook we are familiar with and driving the continuous operational improvements that will be core to our success."