The value of Delta’s 36% stake in Wheels Up dropped from $118 million to $42 million, according to the airline’s Q3 2026 financial results.
Delta Air Lines cited Wheels Up 13 times in its most recent 10-Q filing.
The 182-page SEC filing reported Delta’s third-quarter 2026 financial results.
The Atlanta-based airline reported operating revenue of $20.2 billion.
Operating income was $1.5 billion, with an operating margin of 7.2 percent.
Pre-tax income was $1.1 billion, with a pre-tax margin of 5.3 percent.
Operating cash flow was $1.7 billion.
As for Wheels Up, the 13 mentions were the same as in Delta’s second-quarter 10-Q.
In terms of commentary, Delta noted, “During the nine months ended September 30, 2026, Wheels Up drew under the terms of the revolving working capital credit facility that was entered into in 2023, and $83 million was outstanding as of September 30, 2026.”
The repayment date is September 20, 2028.
Delta added:
‘In May 2026, Wheels Up entered into a new $100 million term loan credit agreement, of which we contributed $57 million, with other shareholders making up the remainder. The scheduled maturity date of the term loan is May 29, 2029. The term loan also has capacity to be increased by up to an additional $100 million. We also agreed to extend the contractual transfer restrictions on our investment in Wheels Up until May 2027 and thereafter will remain subject to certain, more limited transfer restrictions. Both loans are reflected as an investing outflow in our cash flows statement and loan receivable on our balance sheet. Following these transactions, we continue to conclude that Wheels Up is a variable interest entity and that we are not the primary beneficiary. Based on this assessment, Wheels Up is not consolidated in our financial statements.’
Delta’s interest in Wheels Up remained static at 36%.
Delta also has interests in Air-France/KLM (3%), China Eastern (2%), Aeromexico (19%), Korean Air Lines (15%), LATAM (11%), Unifi Aviation (20%), and WestJet (13%).
Unifi is a ground handling company; the others are airlines or airline groups.
The value of Delta’s stake in Wheels Up took a big hit during the quarter.
It dropped to $42 million from $118 million.
UP closed at $3.81 with a market cap of $131 million.
DAL ended trading today with a market cap of over $54 billion.
During Q2, NetJets owner Berkshire Hathaway increased its stake in Delta.
Berkshire’s interest climbed 44% to 57.3 million shares, valued at about $5.4 billion at the end of June.
Earlier in the year, Berkshire had taken a stake in Delta valued at $2.6 billion.
Wheels Up has yet to report its Q3 financial results.
In Q2, GAAP revenue fell 4% year over year to $182.0 million.
Net Loss was $107.2 million, Adjusted EBITDA loss was $26.2 million, and Adjusted EBITDAR loss was $19.9 million, although the latter two metrics improved year over year.
Earlier this week, both companies got some good news from Condé Nast Traveler.
Its readers selected Delta as their favorite airline, with Wheels Up placing sixth in its annual Readers’ Choice Awards.
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