Dry lease: the aircraft without crew, maintenance or insurance
Dry lease freighter aircraft
In a dry lease the lessee takes the airframe and nothing else. Crew, maintenance, insurance and operational control are theirs, and the aircraft is registered under their own AOC. This is a fleet decision measured in years, not a way to cover next month — and we source it rather than operate it.
Submit a requirement any time — no account needed · first response usually within 60 minutes · 24/7 for AOG and time-critical. Optional: business account for status tracking
Dry lease in short
A dry lease hands over the aircraft alone. Crew, maintenance, insurance and operational control sit with the lessee, who must hold an AOC and register the aircraft under it. Terms usually run for years, which makes a dry lease a fleet decision rather than a way to cover a short capacity gap.
- Includes
- Aircraft only, no crew or maintenance
- Operated by
- Lessee, under the lessee's own AOC
- Typical term
- Several years, rarely under twelve months
- Our role
- Introduction and sourcing, never the lessor
Scope of service
Dry Lease
Aircraft, engines and records; personnel, maintenance and cover all sit with the lessee.
- Market search for available freighter airframes with lessors and operators
- Matching type, build year, engine variant and maintenance status to your operation
- Preliminary review of return conditions, reserve rates and maintenance reserves
- Assessment of whether dry lease, wet lease or charter fits the task
- Handover to your technical and legal teams for the contract phase
Where a broker helps in a dry lease
Airframe only
Aircraft, engines and records; personnel, maintenance and cover all sit with the lessee.
Own AOC required
Without an air operator certificate and registration of the type, a dry lease cannot be flown commercially.
Long commitment
Terms run from twelve months to six years or more, with return conditions as the central negotiation point.
Direct to operator
One brokerage layer, not three.
In air cargo charter it is common for a requirement to travel through several intermediaries before it reaches the aircraft operator. Each layer adds its own commission to the same flight. We work directly with operators, so the quote you see carries one commercial layer.
Typical chain
- 01Shipper or forwarder issues the requirement
- 02Broker A takes the enquiry, adds margin
- 03Broker B or C is asked for capacity, adds margin
- 04Operator finally quotes the flight
With Cargo Charter Network
- 01You submit the requirement once
- 02We approach operators directly from our network
- 03You receive comparable options with one accountable contact
No stacked commissions
The requirement is not passed sideways to other brokers who each need to earn on the same lift.
No cost on top for you
We are remunerated by the operator. Our involvement does not add a separate fee to your charter price.
Faster and cleaner information
Payload, dimensions, ready date and airport constraints reach the operator unchanged, instead of being relayed through several desks.
Real comparison, not one option
Because we source across operators ourselves, you see the realistic market for that routing rather than whatever one intermediary could reach.
Availability, pricing and acceptance always remain with the operating carrier. Where a requirement can only be served through a partner, we say so before you decide.
How we work
Broker, not operator
Cargo Charter Network does not operate aircraft and employs no flight crew. Every flight is performed by a licensed operator we source, compare and coordinate.
Operator selection
Operators are checked for AOC validity, insurance, aircraft configuration and route authority for the specific mission before a price is put in front of you.
One accountable contact
The same person handles sourcing, contract, permits, handling and flight watch, so there is no handover gap between quote and arrival.
What we will not do
We do not quote capacity that has not been checked with an operator, and we do not confirm acceptance of restricted commodities before the operator has accepted them in writing.
Requirement enquiry
Send the requirement to the desk
Route, ready date and payload are enough for us to start checking operators.
Requirement data stays confidential; supplier identities and margins are never shared.
How to submit a requirement
How a requirement is handled.
You send the requirement straight to the desk — no account needed. We work it against operators immediately and come back with compared options.
- 01
Send the requirement
Route, ready date, weight, dimensions, commodity and handling notes — no account, a few minutes.
- 02
We check
Availability, payload and route permissions are checked directly with operators.
- 03
Receive options
Compared operator options with payload, slots, handling and timeline — one accountable contact.
- 04
Account (optional)
For status tracking and document exchange in the portal. Account verification is usually the same business day.
No supplier identities, margins or internal sourcing data are shared. Requirement data is treated confidentially.
Aircraft
- 01B737-800BCF and A321P2F for regional lift
- 02B757-200PF and B767-300F for mid-size programmes
- 03A330-200F, B777F and B747-400F for long-haul volume
- 04IL-76TD and An-124 for ramp and outsize loading
Availability is subject to route, payload, permits and operator acceptance.
Capacity structures
Four ways to buy the capacity
The same requirement can be bought as a whole aircraft, as a share of one, as reserved space on a running rotation or as leased capacity with crew. The structure decides the price far more than the aircraft type does.
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01
Full charter
One shipment fills a deck, or timing and commodity rule out sharing
You control the schedule, the loading plan and the routing.
02
Part charter
Volume fills part of a deck and the ready date tolerates consolidation
Cost is shared across shippers inside one build-up window.
03
Blocked space
Recurring volume on a lane that already has a rotation
A fixed allocation per flight, committed for a defined period.
04
ACMI / wet lease
Capacity is needed for weeks or months, not for one flight
Aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance leased against guaranteed block hours.
Fuel, ATC, airport charges, handling and de-icing sit outside an ACMI rate. On charter they are inside the quoted price unless stated otherwise.
Around the flight
What we coordinate besides the aircraft
A charter is only as good as the ground scope attached to it. These items are quoted and coordinated as part of the mission, not left to the shipper.
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Customs and documentation
Export and import entries, transit procedures, temporary export for repair, preferential origin papers and the broker interface at both ends.
ULD build-up and packing advice
Pallet and container build-up, load spreading, lashing plans and guidance where packaging would fail an operator acceptance check.
Trucking and last mile
Pre-carriage, on-carriage, air-ride equipment where needed, low-loaders and permitted road routes for outsize crates.
Permits and slots
Overflight, landing and cabotage permits, airport slots, night curfew handling and diplomatic clearances where they apply.
Temperature and monitoring
Cool storage, active or passive units, cool dollies, data loggers and shock or tilt indicators read at each handover.
Supervision and escorts
Loading supervision, attendants for live cargo, security escorts and sealed handovers for high-value consignments.
Lease forms compared
Wet lease versus dry lease
The difference is not the aircraft, it is who carries the operation. Under a wet lease the operator flies with its own crew on its own AOC, holds the maintenance organisation and insures the hull, billing block hours against a monthly guarantee. Under a dry lease the lessee assumes all of that and pays a fixed monthly rent plus maintenance reserves.
The choice usually follows from what you already have. An airline with an AOC, crews and an engineering department adds long-term capacity far more cheaply per hour through a dry lease. A company facing a seasonal peak, an aircraft on the ground or a trial route takes a wet lease or a charter, because both start in days rather than months. The ACMI structure itself is covered on our wet lease page and in the knowledge article on ACMI.
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What the lessee actually takes on
The rent is only part of the cost. Registration in your own state, entry into your maintenance programme, type ratings and crew training, spares provisioning, hull and liability cover at the level the lessor demands, and monthly reserves for engines, landing gear and heavy checks all follow from the signature.
At the end sits redelivery, and it is where most disputes happen. Contracts specify a defined condition: remaining cycles before the next major check, paint, cargo system configuration, complete records. A lessee who reads those clauses only in the final year pays for them twice.
Our role stays brokerage
We are neither lessor nor operator. What we bring is market knowledge: which airframes are coming off contract, which owners are genuinely willing to lease, and which offers will fail on maintenance status. That filtering is the work we save you; contract negotiation, technical acceptance and registration you run with your own specialists.
Tell us the type, the period, the payload you need and the register you fly under, and we report what the market actually holds — or that a wet lease would reach the same goal sooner.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Answers from daily desk work: payload, ready date, permits and cost drivers.
See all questionsThe lease of an aircraft without crew, maintenance services or insurance. The lessee operates the aircraft under its own air operator certificate and carries full operational responsibility.
A wet lease provides aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance and is flown on the operator's AOC. A dry lease provides the airframe only; everything else is supplied by the lessee.
Yes. Without an operator certificate and registration of the type, a dry-leased aircraft cannot be used commercially. Companies without an AOC should look at wet lease or charter instead.
In cargo, usually three to six years, occasionally from twelve months. Shorter periods rarely pay off because registration, training and acceptance absorb several months.
We broker. Cargo Charter Network owns no aircraft and is not a lessor; we search the market for available airframes and connect you with the owner.
Monthly rent depends on type, age, maintenance status and term, and is supplemented by reserves per flight hour. We quote figures only once a specific airframe has been checked in the market.
Talk to the desk
Urgent? Call the desk directly.
AOG and time-critical requirements can be raised by phone or email at any time — no account required.
- Phone
- +49 172 6111193
- Availability
- 24/7 for AOG and time-critical
- First response
- Usually within 60 minutes
Keep reading
Related services
Knowledge
- What is a cargo charter?How ad-hoc, full, part and series cargo charter work: pricing drivers, lead times, documen
- What is ACMI / wet lease?ACMI, wet lease, damp and dry lease compared: cost split, guaranteed block hours, regulato
- Cargo charter quote requirementsWhat a charter desk needs to price a freighter: route, ready date, weights, dimensions per
- Cargo charter cost driversCost guide
- How a cargo charter booking worksProcess guide
- Overflight and landing permits for cargo chartersCompliance guide
- Outsize and heavy air cargoLoading guide
- Temperature controlled air freightCool chain guide
Move the next mission
Send the requirement and the desk will come back with sourced options, or call now if it is time-critical.
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