You arrived at the flight and discovered another company – this is the reason

Those flying for summer vacation these days may be surprised by the type of plane that will actually appear at the airport. Did you book a flight with El Al and a Lithuanian plane appeared? Did you order Yisrayar and get the Czech Smartwings? Or why a named airline fly2sky Will you fly instead of the sky? The answer lies in the accepted practice in the aviation industry: wet lease. These are airlines that rent planes from other airlines, including the crew, maintenance and insurance, for specific periods of time. This happens especially in the summer, when more people fly on popular vacation routes.

What is a wet lease?

“It’s about optimal utilization of capacity,” explains aviation expert Laura Fromberg, editor-in-chief of the expert portal aerotelegraph.com. Airlines sometimes don’t have enough planes to meet this short-term demand, and prefer to lease them rather than buy them. This is because they do not need a fleet of aircraft that will stand idle in the winter when demand is lower.

El Al, for example, uses the planes of KlasJet, a Lithuanian company in order to be able to carry out its planned flight program and that of its subsidiary Sun Dor. Like it, the Arkie company also announced that it will start using the plane of the Bulgarian fly2sky company.

The planes often retain their original symbols and colors, but are sometimes painted in the colors of the airline that leases them. In this method, the crews belong to the original company, but the service on the plane should be similar to that offered on the aircraft of the chartering airline. At the same time, most of the crews will speak in English, as in the case of the Israeli airlines that sign the wet lease agreements with international companies, but there will usually be representatives of the airlines that speak the language of the passengers.

The wet lease, also known as ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance), has become a common practice in the airline industry, but in many cases passenger feedback indicates dissatisfaction with the experience of flying in older aircraft and the lack of control over their choice of airline. Also, in some cases passengers claim that the expensive tickets they purchased are not worth the service they ultimately received.

How do you know you are flying on a wet lease?

As a general rule, when booking the flight, the airline should state that the flight is operated by another company and state the name of the company and the model of the aircraft. However, if the wet lease is not specified at the time of booking, there is no guarantee that the flight will not eventually be operated by another partner, Fromberg says. “The flight operator can change at short notice, for example in case of capacity problems or technical difficulties.”

The difference between a wet lease and a codeshare

Do not confuse a wet lease with a codeshare agreement (Code Share), where an airline assigns its own code to another airline’s flight and sells tickets for it – but without providing the plane or the crew. “It’s more aimed at marketing flights,” says Fromberg.

This method makes it quite easy for an airline to offer more routes. A codeshare flight can be identified by having two or more flight numbers. The number listed first indicates which airline will ultimately operate the flight. In this context, if you wish to file a claim for compensation, for example in the event of delays, the airline that operated the flight is the one responsible for flights where a codeshare agreement is in place.

However, in the case of a wet lease, this is the airline through which you booked the ticket and which then uses an aircraft leased from another airline for the flight. For example, air, even if you flew in a plane fly2sky.