Aircraft Leasing — Dry, Wet, ACMI and Damp
A lease is a legal and regulatory project, not a booking. The structure you choose decides who holds the certificate, who employs the crew, who carries the insurance and who owns the maintenance risk.
- Dry lease: aircraft only, lessee's operating certificate and crew.
- Damp and wet lease: aircraft with some or all crew provided by the lessor.
- ACMI: aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance under the lessor's certificate.
- Lessor and lessee matching across business jets and airliners.
- Delivery and redelivery condition scoping, records and inspection planning.
- Regulatory approval sequencing with the relevant civil aviation authority.
Private jet leasing: short-term and long-term
Individuals and companies who fly regularly but do not want to buy an aircraft can lease a business jet for a season or for several years. Short-term leases suit a defined busy period; long-term leases suit a steady annual flying programme. In both cases the aircraft flies under the certificate of a licensed operator, and the rate, crew arrangement and maintenance responsibility are set out in the lease, not assumed.
Dry lease vs wet lease
A dry lease provides the aircraft only: the lessee supplies the operating certificate, crew, maintenance and insurance. A wet lease provides the aircraft with crew, and usually maintenance and insurance, flying under the lessor's certificate. Private individuals normally take a wet or managed arrangement, because they do not hold an operating certificate of their own.
Choosing between dry and ACMI
If you hold an air operator certificate and want to add capacity under your own brand and control, a dry lease is usually right and the burden of crewing and maintenance sits with you. If you need capacity flying next month without building the operational apparatus, ACMI transfers that burden to the lessor at a higher cost per hour. Most disputes we see arise from choosing one structure and then behaving as if it were the other.
Delivery condition is where deals go wrong
Records completeness, maintenance status, hours and cycles remaining to the next major check, AD and SB compliance and cabin condition all need to be defined in writing before handover, with a redelivery standard that mirrors it. We scope this early. Available aircraft are listed on our aircraft for lease page, and owners considering a lease-out often also look at aircraft management.
What we are and are not
We act as an arranger and adviser, coordinating between lessor, lessee, technical inspectors and legal counsel. We are not a bank, an insurer or a law firm, and lease documentation should always be reviewed by your own counsel.
Financing the structure
Lease payments, balloon structures and sale-leaseback economics can be financed or refinanced through aviation-specialist lenders. Our aircraft financing page sets out the loan, lease and Islamic finance options we can introduce.