Here are two invoices for the same trip: Fort Lauderdale to Atlanta and back, same class of light jet, same passengers, same weather. One reads about $15,000. The other reads about $9,500. The difference isn't a discount, a points program, or an empty-leg lottery ticket — it's a different legal structure. This article walks through every line of both invoices, and then — because we'd rather lose a lead than mis-sell a lease — the honest list of what the cheaper structure asks of you in return.
(New to the terminology? Read Dry lease vs. charter: what's the difference? first — two minutes. Short version: in a charter, an operator flies you and holds operational control. In a dry lease, you rent the airplane itself, hire your own pilot, and hold operational control under Part 91. Renting the car versus hiring a car service.)
The worked example: FXE → ATL, round trip
Roughly 580 nautical miles each way — call it 3.5 flight hours round trip in a Citation CJ1. Here's the dry-lease side, using our published rates and real-world costs you pay directly:
- Aircraft (dry lease): 3.5 hrs × $1,750/hr block rate = $6,125
- Fuel: ~3.5 hrs × ~130 gal/hr × ~$4.50/gal (contract pricing) ≈ $2,050
- Pilot: one day, hired and paid directly by you ≈ $1,300
- Total: ≈ $9,475
Now the charter side for the same airplane class. A typical light-jet charter runs around $4,000 per hour, all-in-ish:
- Charter: 3.5 hrs × ~$4,000/hr = $14,000
- Federal excise tax: +7.5% = $1,050 (charter is commercial air transportation, so excise tax is baked into every charter trip)
- Total: ≈ $15,050 — before the landing, handling, and crew fees most charter quotes add on top
Same jet class, same trip: about 37% less on this example. And the comparison is deliberately conservative — real charter invoices usually grow after the quote (fuel surcharges, de-ice, daily minimums, repositioning), while the dry-lease side above already includes everything except ramp fees both structures pay. Don't take our example's word for it: run your own route in the estimator — every assumption is editable, including ours.
Where does the $5,500 go?
Nothing sinister — charter's costs are real, they're just someone else's costs. When you charter, you're renting the operator's certificate, their crew payroll, their availability promise, their empty repositioning legs, and their margin. Roughly: the operator's overhead and margin make up most of the gap; commercial taxes and fees do the rest. Charter is a service business priced like one. A dry lease strips the trip down to its direct costs — aircraft, fuel, pilot — because under Part 91 you are the operator. You keep the middleman's margin because there is no middleman.
The math over a year (this is where it gets decisive)
One trip saving ~$5,500 is nice. The structure really pays at annual scale. Fly 25 hours a year — a handful of family trips and a few business runs — at our example's per-hour gap and you're keeping roughly $35,000–40,000 a year. At 50 hours, it's roughly $70,000–80,000 — every year. This is why the people who dry-lease tend to be the people who already know exactly what charter costs: they've seen enough invoices to do this math themselves.
And below roughly 15 hours a year? Charter honestly might be right for you, and we'll say so — the fixed effort of setting up a lease isn't worth it for two trips. We'd rather tell you that now than sign a lessee who'd be better off elsewhere.
The honest part: what a dry lease asks of you
The savings are structural, and so are the responsibilities. Signing a dry lease makes you the operator, and that means:
- You hire and pay the pilot. Not us — ever; that's the legal line between a dry lease and a charter. We can point you to qualified independent pilots who know the aircraft, but you choose, engage, and pay them directly (typically $1,000–1,500/day). Most lessees end up flying with the same pilot every trip — which, ask anyone who charters, is a feature.
- You carry the insurance. Your policy, or named coverage recognizing your operational control, confirmed before the first flight.
- You hold operational control. Go/no-go, routing, schedule — yours. You can delegate the flying to your pilot; the responsibility stays with you.
- Scheduling is non-exclusive. You request dates and we confirm availability. In practice it's easy — but nobody gets a guarantee, because guarantees are how lease paperwork starts impersonating a charter operation.
If that list reads like a burden, charter is the right product and we'll happily point you to a certificated Part 135 operator. If it reads like control — you're our kind of lessee.
Frequently asked, honestly answered
Is the $1,750 rate real? It's our published, indicative block rate for the Citation CJ1 ($1,950 pay-as-you-go), firm when the aircraft is finalized. Rates published in the open — the aircraft page has all of it — because "price on application" is a charter habit we don't keep.
What about taxes? Both structures pay taxes — different ones. Charter's price carries the 7.5% federal excise tax because charter is commercial transportation; lease payments carry their own, different treatment (in Florida, state sales tax can apply to lease payments, depending on the structure). Neither escapes the tax man, and the gap in the math above comes from the operator's margin — not the tax line. Confirm your specifics with your tax advisor; we don't give tax advice, and anyone in this business who does should worry you.
Finding a pilot sounds hard. It's one hire, once. We share a list of qualified independent pilots who fly this type; you pick and pay them directly, or bring your own. The CJ1 is also single-pilot certified — where your insurance allows, one pilot instead of two trims the daily crew cost.
The bottom line
Charter sells you a trip with everything included — at retail, plus tax. A dry lease hands you the airplane at direct cost and asks you to bring the crew. If you fly more than a couple of times a year, the structure that puts you in control is also the one that costs dramatically less. That's not a promotion. It's just the math.
All figures are illustrative estimates, not quotes — based on our indicative rates and typical costs; actual costs vary with route, fuel, crew, and terms. Charter figures reflect typical light-jet market rates. Tax treatment should be confirmed with your own tax advisor, and lease structures with qualified aviation counsel. Palm Aero Group is not a charter operator and holds no Part 135 certificate — here's exactly how a compliant dry lease works.