Dave Harvey, who announced his departure as head of Southwest Business several days ago, will join Wheels Up, the private aviation provider, as chief commercial officer. According to a Wheels Up announcement, he brings 25 years of experience spanning multiple disciplines to the role, including as chief sales officer for Southwest Airlines, managing the airline’s B2B segment. He is expected to start his new job on May 20; it was previously announced that he would leave Southwest on May 17.
In a statement, Harvey said that over the past eight months, Wheels Up “has made great strides towards its goal of becoming the best-run private aviation company in the world and building a strategy in support of its vision of delivering premium aviation solutions for every customer on every flight, across both the commercial and private aviation ecosystems.”
Harvey said, “I look forward to working with George [CEO George Mattson] and the entire Wheels Up team to build and drive an integrated commercial strategy, supported by an industry leading operation, that profitably delivers flight experiences worth repeating to our customers.”
In 2020, Delta Air Lines merged its Delta Private Jets business into Wheels Up. In August 2023, Wheels Up received a $500 million “lifeline” from Delta and investment firms Certares and Knighthead after it announced there was “substantial doubt” it could continue without additional near-term funding.
Mattson was previously on Delta’s board of directors and joined Wheels Up last October. In February, Wheels Up reorganized its operations team, adding and promoting several former Delta executives.