Av8 Signs Five-Year Wheels Up Phenom 300 Landing Gear Deal

By James Calloway

Av8’s five-year Wheels Up landing-gear agreement covers the operator’s Phenom 300 fleet, while the MRO reports more than 300 FAA-PMA approvals for the aircraft platform.

What does the agreement cover?

Av8, a Victor Sierra company, will provide landing-gear exchange support and overhaul for Wheels Up’s Phenom 300 aircraft under a five-year preferred-vendor agreement. The MRO will also offer flat-rate pricing. It disclosed no rate, included-service scope, turnaround commitment or service-level guarantee.

Victor Sierra President Bryan Stamp said:

“This agreement is another great addition to the long-term trust we've built with major operators. A five-year partnership from a fleet this size reflects the trust Wheels Up has placed in our team.

Under this agreement, Av8 will provide landing gear overhaul and exchange support through our exchange pool. This is exactly the model that has made these relationships work.”

Stamp invoked a fleet “this size,” but the announcement gives no aircraft count.

The contract gives Wheels Up access to Av8’s landing-gear exchange pool. Av8 calls that pool the biggest in the industry. The announcement provides no inventory count, location or aircraft-part compatibility list.

Wheels Up operates one of the world’s largest Phenom 300 fleets, according to the announcement. It did not publish the fleet count. Av8 has acquired a new pool of rotatable inventory and says it can support Wheels Up’s operations without interruption as soon as the agreement starts. No start date appears.

Av8 also describes the warranty as the longest ever created for Phenom 300 landing gear. It gives no duration, coverage limit, exclusion or claims process. The flat rate could give Wheels Up a firmer maintenance budget, but the missing price prevents comparison with other MROs or an estimate of cost per exchange.

What is certified, and what is promised?

Av8 cites three technical assets:

• More than 300 FAA-PMA approvals for the Phenom platform.
• An in-house portfolio of RSDER-approved repair procedures.
• A newly acquired pool of rotatable inventory.

The approvals are already in hand. The five-year service and its claimed operating benefit are not operating results.

The announcement draws a clear line between approvals already held and service promises that start with the agreement, although it does not publish the data required to test either side. It names the FAA and cites RSDER approval, but identifies neither the landing-gear OEM nor any lessor.

Av8 also does not connect individual approvals to its exchange units. It does not say which approvals apply to particular Wheels Up aircraft. Nothing in the announcement shows an exchange completed or an aircraft returned to service under the agreement.

What changes for Wheels Up?

For Wheels Up, the agreement sets a five-year route for landing-gear overhaul and exchange support. Av8 says that route can keep operations moving as the fleet grows. It does not add aircraft, and the announcement quantifies neither expected exchanges nor added maintenance capacity.

Wheels Up Chief Operating Officer Dave Holtz said:

“In Q2 2026, Wheels Up achieved the highest completion rate and on-time performance in our company's history, and partnerships like this one are how we sustain that standard as the fleet grows.

Av8's support brings added predictability to our Phenom 300 operations, and we look forward to working with their team as we continue to scale our modernized fleet.”

Holtz supplied no completion rate, on-time percentage, flight count or measurement method. His statement sets a company record, not an independently verified benchmark. It also makes the agreement’s operating value depend on whether Av8 can preserve that performance as demand rises.

The cost case remains incomplete. Flat rates can make maintenance budgets more predictable, but the announcement does not state whether they include labor, shipping, exchanges or warranty work. Network capacity depends on available units and repair throughput; neither figure appears.

The agreement still lacks the data needed to test its principal claims:

• The number of Phenom 300 aircraft covered and the expected exchange volume.
• Exchange-pool inventory, component coverage and turnaround times.
• Rate scope, warranty duration and warranty exclusions.
• Numerical completion and on-time performance figures.

The first operational test will be whether Av8 can supply exchange units and predictable turnarounds while Wheels Up sustains the cited completion and on-time performance as its modernized fleet grows.