wet lease
An agreement in which an airplane, including crew, maintenance and insurance, is leased to another organisation, usually for a short period of time.
wet lease: plane rental that includes the crew flying it
A wet lease is a short-term aircraft rental agreement in which the lessor supplies not only the airframe but also the flight crew, maintenance personnel, insurance, and often fuel. The lessee receives a ready-to-operate aircraft and pays a per-flight-hour rate or daily fee. This differs fundamentally from a dry lease, where the lessee receives only the aircraft and is responsible for all crewing, maintenance, and certification.
Wet leases typically run from weeks to a few months, though longer arrangements exist. Common scenarios include airlines needing temporary capacity during peak seasons, routes requiring aircraft types they do not own, or emergency substitution when an airline's own fleet is grounded for maintenance or accident investigation. Regional carriers often wet-lease larger jets from major carriers for seasonal international routes.
Operational and regulatory considerations
The lessor retains operational control and all regulatory responsibility for the aircraft. The lessor's air operator certificate (AOC) covers the flights, not the lessee's. This means the lessor must ensure compliance with all maintenance schedules, airworthiness requirements, and duty-time regulations for crew. The lessee's role is to specify route requirements and accept or reject the aircraft based on its condition and crew qualifications.
Costs are transparent and bundled. A wet lease might run 8,000 to 15,000 USD per flight hour for a regional turboprop, or 12,000 to 25,000 USD per hour for a narrow-body jet, depending on aircraft type, utilization, and market conditions. Insurance, landing fees, and handling are typically negotiated separately or included in the hourly rate. Fuel is usually the lessee's cost, though fuel surcharges or inclusive rates are common.
The term wet originates from the oil industry and maritime practice, where a wet lease meant the lessor provided human labor and consumables, not just the asset itself. In aviation, the aircraft and its operating crew are the consumables. Wet leasing is less common today than it was before the 2008 financial crisis, when cash-strapped carriers used it extensively to manage fleet volatility. It remains essential for emergency situations and niche operations where ownership of specialized aircraft is uneconomical.