A wet lease allows an airline to quickly expand capacity or cover grounded fleets without hiring new staff or buying planes. The lessee pays by block hours operated, while the lessor handles all the operational logistics, including pilots, cabin crew, and line maintenance. It is a fast but expensive way to maintain flight schedules during peak seasons or sudden equipment failures.
Heard on the job
We're short on widebodies for the summer schedule, so management signed a wet lease with a charter operator to cover the Atlantic routes.
Insider tip
The acronym ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, and Insurance) is the formal contract term for a wet lease.
Also heard as
- ACMI lease