Aircraft Lease - Dry Lease

Dry Lease

A dry lease is a leasing arrangement whereby an aircraft financing entity, such as GECAS and ILFC (lessor), provides an aircraft without insurance, crew, ground staff, supporting equipment, maintenance, etc. Dry lease is typically used by leasing companies and banks, requiring the lessee to put the aircraft on its own AOC and provide aircraft registration. A typical dry lease starts from two years onwards and bears certain conditions with respect to depreciation, maintenance, insurances, etc., depending also on the geographical location, political circumstances, etc.

A dry lease arrangement can also be used by a major airline and a regional operator, in which the regional operator provides flight crews, maintenance and other operational aspects of the aircraft, which then may be operated under the major airline's name or some similar name. This saves the major airline the expense of training personnel to fly and maintain the aircraft, along with other considerations. Fedex Express uses an arrangement of this type for its feeder operations, contracting to companies such as Empire Airlines, Mountain Air Cargo, Swiftair, and others to operate its single and twin-engined turbo-prop "feeder" aircraft. DHL has a joint venture in the United States with Polar Air Cargo, a subsidiary of Atlas Air, to operate their domestic deliveries.

In the United Kingdom, a dry lease is when an aircraft is operated under the AOC of the lessee.