What we doWet Lease
Our aircraft. Our crew. Your flight number.
Twin Otters and ATRs, leased complete with crew, maintenance and insurance.
The short version
A wet lease (also called ACMI: aircraft, crew, maintenance, insurance) gives an airline capacity without having to buy, crew or maintain another aircraft. We provide all four. You sell the tickets, the flights carry your code, and you pay the direct operating costs: fuel, airport fees, handling and navigation charges.
How it works
| We provide | You provide |
|---|---|
| Aircraft | Your flight numbers and ticket sales |
| Pilots (and cabin crew where needed) | Fuel |
| Maintenance, line and base | Airport, handling and navigation fees |
| Insurance | Catering, where applicable |
| Operations control, 24/7 | Your passengers or cargo |
When it makes sense
Seasonal peaks.
Capacity for months, not years.
New routes.
Try a route before committing an aircraft to it.
Special types.
Floatplanes and STOL aircraft that few airlines keep in their own fleet.
Cover.
When your own aircraft is in maintenance, or unexpectedly on the ground.
Proof
Air Tahiti, the Marquesas.
A Twin Otter on inter-island routes to Ua Pou and Ua Huka since 2022.
Read the case study
Air Tetiaroa, French Polynesia.
Papeete to The Brando from 2017. One of the first passengers was Barack Obama.
Nordic Seaplanes, Denmark.
Float Twin Otters under Zimex's Swiss AOC since 2017.
Read the case study
It's a long way to Tahiti.
To get a Twin Otter to French Polynesia in 2020, our crew flew it there from Switzerland: 12 legs, 82 flight hours, 19 days and a lot of Covid tests. The longest leg, Oman to Sri Lanka, took 12 hours.
The ferry flight
Questions
What exactly is a wet lease?
A lease of an aircraft complete with crew, maintenance and insurance, also called ACMI. We provide all four; you sell the tickets and the flights carry your code.
Which costs does the airline pay?
The direct operating costs: fuel, airport fees, handling and navigation charges, plus catering where applicable.
Which aircraft can we lease?
Twin Otters and ATRs, including floatplanes and STOL aircraft that few airlines keep in their own fleet.
How short can a lease be?
Short enough for a seasonal peak: capacity for months, not years. A lease also works as cover while your own aircraft is in maintenance.
Can you bring an aircraft to the other side of the world?
Yes. In 2020 our crew flew a Twin Otter from Switzerland to French Polynesia: 12 legs, 82 flight hours, 19 days.
Seven more ways to say yes.
- Humanitarian & Remote OperationsTwin Otters, crews and support for places without much else.
- Special MissionsSurveillance, survey and other unusual jobs, with aircraft modified in-house.
- Express CargoATR freighters that fly while the network sleeps.
- Passenger Charter48 seats, based in Basel, going where you need.
- MaintenanceWe fix what we fly. And what you fly.
- TrainingType ratings taught by people who were flying last week.
- Aircraft & PartsTwin Otters and parts, bought, sold and kept flying.