Although the Big Apple is a widely popular destination spot for many tourists, and also an active hub for businesses, it has gained a peculiar reputation for losing airlines, or at least their headquarters that were once based in the city.
The latest company to join this pattern is Wheels Up, the private jet flight provider, which confirmed that its headquarter’s lease was going on the market last week.
Last year, Wheels Up opened an operations center in Atlanta, where Delta Air Lines, its lead investor, is based, along with the company’s CEO since last fall, George Mattson. Now, the private flight provider will be permanently relocating its headquarters there.
“With the opening of our Member Operations Center near DeKalb-Peachtree Airport just outside of Atlanta, we need less space in New York City and a more convenient location for those commuting to the office in the city,” a Wheels Up spokesperson reported.
This development has made the company an addition to a considerable roster of airlines that have departed from NYC.
Eastern Air Lines, which has long been associated with Miami, had its headquarters in the city up until 1975. The company’s base was in Rockefeller Center, the sight of the yearly lit Christmas tree and home of the NBC network, including sets for the Today Show and Saturday Night Live. This past location was likely due to the previous investments in the airline made by the Rockefeller family.
TWA is another airline business that has relocated from NYC, moving its offices 45 miles north of the city in 1987 after Carl Icahn gained control of the airline.
In the East Side of Manhattan, on Third Avenue below 42nd street, was where TWA used to be with American Airline’s headquarters once right across the street from it.
American Airlines left the block in 1979, almost ten years before TWA, for a spot near the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, which has become its vital hub after the deregulation of the industry enabled airlines to expand at their will.
In regards to Wheels Up, its headquarters has been based in midtown Manhattan since it was founded in 2013, originally in Times Square and then in the Starrett-Lehigh Building, at 601 W 26th Street with extravagant views of the Hudson River, until now.
While Wheels Up is leaving the city for now, NYC is still home to the offices of the widespread airline, JetBlue, in Queens. Last week the company granted two seats on its board of directors to Icahn, who has been accumulating stock in the company.
