Cayman Airways is Wet Leasing Planes Now

[caydiver]

I have been on wet lease planes a few times over the 25+ years I have been flying on Cayman Airways. This goes back over several years. I have also been on many domestic US flights where the equipment has been changed do to any number of reasons. Replacement equipment can happen with any airline. My go to whenever possible is Cayman Airways. Experienced the debacle when US and Canadian carriers left visitors stranded here as Hurricane Dean approached. Cayman Airways flew round the clock to get visitors and residents who wanted to leave off island. I trust them over the others in a situation.

 

[AggieDiver]

The older planes with brittle metal were 737s. You are probably thinking of Aloha airlines in Hawaii where the rivets failed on the fuselage and the plane was ripped open during the flight, sucking a stewardess out of the plane. It was mainly a problem for planes that were doing many short hops up and down every day for many years. They now do inspections and maintenance to prevent further issues on the planes of that vintage. Wet leasing isn't that uncommon. Many of the flights from GC to Brac were on a wet leased Embraer 120 Brasilia for a while, when they were transitioning over to using the Saab.

 

[gr8jab]

Wet lease....you lease the plane and crew.
Dry lease....you rent the plane but provide the crew.

I flew on Caymans 737-200 a few times. Those are vintage aircraft!

The terminology 'wet' was originally because it included fuel. Whereas 'dry' means they pay extra for fuel. I'm not sure if 'wet' still includes fuel as well as a crew.

 

[Doctorfish]

by coincidence, there was an article on this subject in our local newspaper today. They suggested that wet lease meant aircraft + crew +/- fuel. Dry apparently means aircraft only. Wet generally short term, dry often longer.

 

[AggieDiver]

Yeah, the difference between wet and dry is usually whether the plane being leased is the same type as the one it is replacing for pilot qualifications. If the same pilots can fly it without requiring new training, the airlines will typically lease it dry, whereas if it is a different type than the pilots are qualified to fly, they will lease it wet to avoid having to spend money training crew for what is expected to be a temporary arrangement. I suspect that all the available 737s for lease probably went to SW and other domestic airlines fairly quickly, leaving Cayman to lease MD-80s that their pilots are not qualified in.