Gama Aviation, Wheels Up and Beechcraft Revitalize US Business Aviation Market With King Air 350i Offering.

Tuesday 20th May 2014

Gama Aviation's US subsidiary Gama Charters Inc., Beechcraft and Wheels Up, the revolutionary membership-based US private aviation company, announce the deliveryof the 16th Beechcraft King Air 350i for the Wheels Up program.  The unique collaboration of the three companies has been a tremendous success since its debut just nine months ago, refreshing the business aviation industry with the most successful new product offering in years and creating jobs on the ground, in the factory and in the air.

Wheels Up launched in August 2013 with a game-changing membership-based program that greatly reduces the upfront investment needed to fly privately. The backbone of the Wheels Up program is the exclusive King Air 350i offering. Wheels Up launched its program in the third quarter of 2013 by announcing a deal for 105 King Air 305i from Beechcraft, the largest turboprop order in business aviation history. Wheels Up expects to take delivery of 27 aircraft by the end of 2014 with the remaining aircraft to be delivered through 2018.    Gama Charters, the US subsidiary of Gama Aviation, dry leases and serves as the sole operator for the Wheels Up King Air aircraft and has hired 100 pilots to-date to service the private fleet, with an additional 20 infrastructure personnel in operations, maintenance control and quality assurance recruited to focus on the Wheels Up King Air offering.

"We are excited to report that as Wheels Up has expanded, so have we, as the exclusive operating partner for this aircraft," said Tom Connelly, President of Gama Charters, the US subsidiary of Gama Aviation.  "By June 30th we will have accepted and put into operation a total of 19 King Air aircraft for Wheels Up, with 8 more King Airs expected to be in service by year's end. Our pilots are now flying Wheels Up members in the Northeast - centred around Teterboro, New Jersey - the Southeast centred around West Palm Beach, Florida - and the Southwest, centred around Van Nuys, California."

"Partnering with Gama Aviation on the Wheels Up closed-fleet King Air 350i program has been a win-win all around," stated Wheels Up Founder and CEO Kenny Dichter.  "We selected Gama Charters as the exclusive operator of the King Air fleet based on their focus on safety, a like minded entrepreneurial spirit and culture and their commitment to a passenger first approach that permeates their entire business. We have seen an overwhelmingly positive response to the King Air 350i for both personal and professional uses.  Our members love the plane, expressing an appreciation for all of its safety, comfort and performance benefits."

"We are delighted with the opportunity to work with Wheels Up," said Gama Aviation CEO Marwan Khalek. "Knowing the commitment that Wheels Up has made to its members in terms of safety, service and overall experience, we are honoured to be trusted with helping to fulfil that great promise. The turnkey service we provide is an area at which we excel - be it our long running medevac services for the Scottish Air Ambulance, our private aircraft management clients, our fleet contracts right through to our special mission capability that keeps vital eyes in the sky."

"The relationship is working extremely well," added Mr. Connelly.. "There is a lot of energy, and dynamism in both teams.  Working so closely, you can't help but admire the drive and vision of Kenny Dichter, Dave Baxt, Bill Allard and the rest of the Wheels Up management team."

About Gama Aviation:

Gama Aviation is a global business aviation services organization, founded in 1983 in the United Kingdom by Marwan Khalek and Stephen Wright. Gama Aviation currently employs over 500 people and operates over 80 business aircraft around the globe at 25 operating bases across four continents.

Gama Aviation's global headquarters are located at Farnborough Airport in the UK, with its American subsidiary, Gama Charters Inc.'s headquarters in Stratford, Connecticut, its Middle East and North Africa headquarters in Sharjah and its Asian headquarters in Hong Kong. Its companies and affiliates hold EU-OPS, FAA and UAE GCAA Charter Certificates, EASA, FAA and GCAA Part 145 Maintenance Approvals, EASA Part 21 Design and Manufacture Approvals and collectively offer business aircraft management, charter, maintenance and design, travel, valeting, FBO Executive Handling and aviation software services.

The group remains majority owned by its founders; in 2007 the group received an equity investment from Growth Gate Capital Corporation, Crescent Enterprises and a small number of other strategic partners.

About Wheels Up:

Wheels Up is a revolutionary membership‐based private aviation company that greatly reduces the upfront investment needed to fly privately. Created and led by Kenny Dichter, the Founder of Marquis Jet and original innovator of the 25‐hour fractional jet card, Wheels Up has identified a need for one company to offer a total private aviation solution. With a modest initiation fee and reasonable annual dues, Wheels Up offers members "mission‐appropriate" aircraft, ranging from the King Air 350i to the Global 6000, through partnerships with industry leaders such as Beechcraft, Cessna, Jet Aviation, JetSuite, Heliflite, VistaJet and Gama Aviation. Wheels Up is developing proprietary cutting‐edge booking and rideshare applications, and provides members with unmatched accessibility, flexibility, and the finest personalized service. With an 8,760‐hour (referencing the number of hours in a year) culture, Wheels Up membership includes Wheels Down, the ultimate in client entertaining engaging members through exclusive events and opportunities to meet luminaries from the worlds of entertainment, sports, politics and business.

Wheels Up acts as agent for the Wheels Up members, and is not the operator of the program aircraft; FAA licensed and DOT registered air carriers participating in the program exercise  full operational control of the program aircraft. Any aircraft owned by Wheels Up will be dry leased to the operating air carrier to facilitate operations by that carrier.

www.WheelsUp.com