When businesses lease a private jet, it involves some combination of ACMI aviation – aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance. What is this kind of private jet lease used for, though, and what separates it from other ways to lease a private jet?
This article will look at the nature of an ACMI lease and the types of leasing solutions offered, highlighting some of their key advantages so that you can be certain as to which type of ACMI charter is right for you.
If you do decide that an ACMI aircraft lease is right for your operation, looking for a well-known provider with the ability to fulfil any requirement and history of delivering in the market is necessary for any kind of ACMI leasing.
What is ACMI?
• Aircraft – This part is simple enough. If a company looks to lease aircraft through ACMI flying, then they receive the A in ACMI – an aircraft – with which to carry out their flights.
• Crew – High-quality cabin crew or flight crew can be hard to recruit, train, and retain, so organisations seeking to lease a jet will often also take the staff onboard – literally.
• Maintenance – Corporate jet leasing is often the domain of companies that don’t have dedicated maintenance crews of their own, so when it comes to ACMI flights it’s much simpler to have the aircraft leasing company handle this area.
• Insurance – Again, for a company that runs thousands of flights on hundreds of aircraft, insurance arrangements are set up years in advance. For an organisation leasing a private jet in the short term, however, it might be easier to roll this into the package and have it be the leasing company’s responsibility.
Types of ACMI Flight
It stands to reason that an organisation looking into private jet leasing might not necessarily require every component of the ACMI package. A business that wants to lease a private jet for one month to conduct a series of business meetings may need an all-inclusive, fully saturated package – a wet lease, as it’s known.
Consider an airline that has some of its fleet grounded, though. The airline may have its own flight crews and maintenance staff, as well as insurance agreements already in place that can be extended to cover new leased aircraft. In this case, all they require is the aircraft itself – what’s known in the industry as a dry lease.
In between these two extremes, there are a range of other potential requirements. Companies that only need an aircraft and a cabin crew, for example, or those that are looking for an aircraft for lease along with maintenance and insurance. This grey area between wet and dry is largely referred to as damp or hybrid, with the most common form of damp lease involving a wet-leased aircraft that includes a cockpit crew but not cabin attendants.
Key Advantages of ACMI Leasing
It’s flexible
Flexibility is possibly the single most crucial factor in creating business for leasing companies. Because a wet lease is an all-inclusive package, this form of jet leasing allows clients to take on aircraft ownership on their own terms – whether for a few short flights or on a more long-term basis.
The compartmental nature of ACMI leasing also means that those seeking to lease a private jet can pick and choose which exact components of ACMI flying they require, meaning that they’re not left paying for services which they’re able to fulfil themselves.
It doesn’t require commitment
ACMI in aviation also allows wet lease aircraft to be used to trial potential new options for an airline. A new aircraft type, for example, or a potential new route can be operated without the necessity of a significant upfront investment on an entire new fleet. Instead, a temporary wet lease agreement can allow organisations to sound out future plans and make more informed decisions as to whether or not to proceed.
It offers long- and short-term solutions
Tying into flexibility, an ACMI airline offers solutions to both ends of the spectrum when it comes to time. Organisations that have had aircraft grounded and are caught in a pinch might employ wet or dry leasing to cover themselves in the short term, while more serious long-term delays might require more substantial dry lease agreements – both of which are perfectly plausible ACMI lease agreement examples.
It makes use of surplus
Businesses experience lulls in demand, and for airlines that operate large fleets this can mean huge amounts of lost revenue in the form of aircraft that sit unused in hangars around the world. ACMI aviation allows aircraft owners to redeploy these resources through wet or dry lease agreements, with ACMI meaning that they’re saved from potential lost revenue and are able to compensate for periods of reduced demand.
Which Type of ACMI Leasing Is Right for Me?
Different problems call for different solutions, and while the explanations above have hopefully shed light on some of the intricacies involved in ACMI airline planning, wet and dry lease aircraft can remain a confusing topic. To decide on the what’s best for your business, it’s important to consider exactly what you’re looking for when you’re hiring a private jet.
If you’re in need of a short-term fix and don’t possess the facilities needed to operate flights, a full package might be the better option, as you’ll receive everything you need to get you up in the air. Private jet leasing companies offer wet lease services such as this to all manner of clients – from corporations seeking to send staff on business trips to airlines with extremely urgent requirements for quick, short-term additions to their fleet.
By taking on a wet lease agreement, you save yourself the hassle of having to take care of some of the more nuanced elements of ACMI aviation, leaving you free to focus on other aspects of your business and rest easy, safe in the knowledge that your transport solutions are being handled by the best in the business.
Conversely, if you’re looking for a more long-term aircraft leasing solution and possess some or all of the elements of ACMI yourself – minus the aircraft, of course – then a damp or even dry lease might be a better fit. This form of ACMI leasing allows organisations to not only fill out gaps in their services without the need to purchase a new aircraft outright, but also maintains their standards, branding, and crew members by simply transposing them into a leased aircraft.
As far as clients and passengers are concerned, there will be no observable difference between an ACMI-leased aircraft and any other flight operated by a provider, and they won’t even be aware of the factors that may have necessitated the ACMI lease agreement. It’s for this reason that large numbers of airlines operate ACMI flights every year. You’ve likely flown on some ACMI-operated aircraft without even knowing it, demonstrating the efficiency and ease with which ACMI charters are carried out.
Deceptively Simple
Hopefully, the explanations above have demonstrated that – despite a little jargon and the presence of some peculiar moisture-based nomenclature – ACMI aviation is not all that complex. Fundamentally, like any other form of lease agreement and indeed any business venture full-stop, the flexibility, adaptability, and value offered to the customer – in this case, the lessee – are the key determinants of effective ACMI leasing companies.
It’s in this client-centric vein that long-established names in the game like Chapman Freeborn have offered ACMI aviation solutions for decades, allowing them to fulfil all manner of unique requests and assist hundreds of organisations. Providing ACMI aircraft is never straightforward, but the flexibility taken in their approach is key to the satisfaction that they’re able to offer, making them the perfect partner for any kind of ACMI requirements – whether wet, dry, damp, or any combination thereof.
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