How does an aircraft leaseback work, and is it profitable?

An aircraft leaseback is an arrangement in which an owner puts their aircraft on the flight line of a flight school or flying club, the school rents it to its students and renters by the hour, and the owner receives part of that rental revenue while keeping the aircraft. We read what nine schools and clubs publish about their own leaseback programs on 23 October 2026, and worked out with our ownership cost model what a leaseback does to an owner's yearly bill.

Short answer: in a leaseback the school brokers the rental of your aircraft and pays you a share of the revenue (70 to 80% at the three programs that publish a split), what is left of the revenue after the aircraft's costs and the school's fee, or your own hourly rate with the club's markup on top. You keep paying the costs. For an older Cessna 172 worth $100,000 that its owner flies 50 hours a year, a 70% split of a $184 rental rate barely covers what each extra hour costs the owner ($120 to $133): it saves $930 a year at 100 rental hours and costs $1,129 more at 300. At an 80% split the same aircraft costs its owner $2,770 to $4,391 a year less. A leaseback lowers the cost of owning; in our example it does not make a profit.

Three ways a leaseback pays the owner

1. Revenue split

   ELEV8, Flyboy, HQ Aviation

   Renters pay the school. The school keeps its share (20 to 30%) and pays the rest to the owner.

   The owner pays the costs out of that share — at Flyboy all of them, fuel included.

2. Net rental

   Santa Monica Flyers, T&G, Colorado Springs, American Flight Schools, Cape Fear

   The school collects all rental revenue and pays the running costs out of it, and its management fee where it charges one.

   What is left goes to the owner. At T&G, Colorado Springs and Cape Fear, when the costs are higher than the revenue, the owner pays the difference.

3. Owner’s rate plus markup

   Countrywide Flyers

   The owner sets a base hourly rate; the club adds its own markup to what the renter pays.

   The club adds its markup on top of the owner’s rate; the owner keeps the operating costs.

How a leaseback works

AOPA describes the usual arrangement as one in which "the school brokers the rental of the aircraft to pilots who will pay on a per-hour basis", with the school earning a management fee, much like a property manager (AOPA, 2012). Its flying club newsletter puts it this way: "In a typical leaseback, an owner makes an airplane available to a flight school at an agreed per-hour rate. The school usually looks after all maintenance and inspections, and charges the owner the full amount." (AOPA You Can Fly).

The programs we read pay the owner in one of three ways:

• A revenue split. ELEV8 Aviation in Gulf Shores, Alabama pays "G5/G6: 75% owner, 25% ELEV8." and "G7 or newer: 80% owner, 20% ELEV8." for its G5/G6 and G7 (Cirrus) aircraft. Flyboy Aviation in Florida "remits 70% of those funds to the aircraft owner", and HQ Aviation, a helicopter school at Denham near London, works with an "80/20 revenue split in favour of the owner on hire and training income". Out of that share the owner pays the costs: at Flyboy, "Aircraft owner is responsible for all expenses: fuel, insurance, monthly ramp fees, maintenance."
• Net rental. The school collects the revenue, pays the bills and hands over the rest. T&G Flying Club near Cleveland: "We collect all the revenue. We pay all the expenses. At the end of each month we write you a check if revenue exceeds expenses. If expenses exceed revenue, we send you a bill." Santa Monica Flyers, The Flight School at Colorado Springs and American Flight Schools describe the same model, though at Santa Monica the owner pays the maintenance shop directly; Colorado Springs takes a percentage of the revenue as its fee, Santa Monica an hourly one.
• The owner's rate plus a markup. At Countrywide Flyers in Orlando the owner can "Set your base hourly rate." and "Countrywide Flyers adds the club markup and manages the customer-facing side."

Cape Fear Coastal Aviation in Wilmington, North Carolina, publishes its whole agreement: rental revenue "calculated based on a total of rental hours rented times the rental rate per tachometer hour", less a "MANAGEMENT FEE: $1,199.00 PER MONTH" and the owner's expenses. Unlike Flyboy, it pays for the fuel: "Owner shall not be required to pay for fuel or oil for the Aircraft when used by Cape Fear Coastal Aviation for its use". And if a month's revenue does not cover the expenses, the "Owner shall pay any deficiency".

What 9 leaseback programs publish

Operator	Owner is paid	Who pays the costs	Fee
ELEV8 AviationGulf Shores, Alabama · flight school	75% of revenue to the owner (Cirrus G5/G6), 80% (G7 or newer)Fee: in the split (25% or 20%)	Owner pays upkeep; aircraft goes on the school’s commercial policy, “typically” at a higher premium	in the split (25% or 20%)
Flyboy AviationBrooksville-Tampa Bay (BKV), Florida · flight school	70% of rental revenue, paid weekly, bi-weekly or monthlyFee: in the split (30%)	Owner pays everything: fuel, insurance, ramp fees ($100 a month), maintenance	in the split (30%)
HQ AviationDenham, London, UK · helicopter school	80% of hire and training income, settled monthlyFee: in the split (20%)	Owner pays insurance, maintenance, reserves and hangarage (its worked Robinson R44 example)	in the split (20%)
Cape Fear Coastal AviationWilmington (KILM), North Carolina · flight school	Rental revenue per tach hour, less the fee and expensesFee: $1,199 a month	Owner pays inspections, overhaul, insurance on the school’s fleet policy and hangar; not the fuel and oil the school uses	$1,199 a month
Countrywide FlyersApopka (X04), Orlando, Florida · flying club	Owner sets a base hourly rate; the club adds its markup on topFee: club markup on top of the owner’s rate	Owner keeps operating cost responsibility	club markup on top of the owner’s rate
Santa Monica FlyersSanta Monica, California · flight school	A monthly check for the net rental feesFee: hourly, amount not stated	Fuel, oil, cleaning, tie-down and liability insurance come off the revenue; maintenance paid by the owner to the shop	hourly, amount not stated
T&G Flying ClubCleveland (Cuyahoga County and Burke Lakefront), Ohio · flying club	A check when revenue exceeds expenses, a bill when it does notFee: not stated	Club pays maintenance, fuel, insurance and hangar out of the revenue	not stated
The Flight School at Colorado SpringsColorado Springs, Colorado · flight school	A check when revenue exceeds expenses, a bill when it does notFee: a percentage of revenue, not stated	School pays upkeep out of revenue; maintenance at cost	a percentage of revenue, not stated
American Flight SchoolsColorado and California · flight school	What is left of the revenue after operating expensesFee: not stated	Operating expenses come off the rental revenue	not stated

Who pays what

In the programs we read, the costs of the aircraft stay with the owner — paid directly, or taken out of the revenue before the owner sees it. The one exception we found is fuel and oil at Cape Fear. ELEV8: "all expenses for upkeep remain the owner’s responsibility". Cape Fear's agreement makes the owner responsible for "the Annual inspection, 100 hour inspection and other inspections required for Airworthiness", for the engine overhaul, the hangar and the insurance on the school's fleet policy.

Three costs grow because the aircraft now flies for hire:

• The 100-hour inspection. A school that provides the aircraft for paid instruction needs one every 100 hours: under 14 CFR 91.409(b) "no person may give flight instruction for hire in an aircraft which that person provides, unless within the preceding 100 hours of time in service the aircraft has received an annual or 100-hour inspection" (eCFR). An aircraft that only rents to pilots who fly it themselves does not, as does a flying club need a 100-hour inspection works out.
• Insurance. At ELEV8, Flyboy and Cape Fear the aircraft moves onto the school's fleet policy. ELEV8 says this "typically results in a higher premium due to training and rental use".
• Wear. More hours bring the engine overhaul closer; above about 167 hours a year our calculator moves the engine reserve from a yearly amount into the hourly cost.

Is an aircraft leaseback profitable?

What the aircraft costs its owner in a year, with and without a leaseback

Without a leaseback: $24,638 a year.

Owner keeps 70% of the rental revenueOwner keeps 80% of the rental revenue

School flies	Net cost to the owner (change)
100 hours a yeareach costs the owner $120	$23,708 (saves $930) $21,868 (saves $2,770)
200 hours a yeareach costs the owner $128	$24,460 (saves $178) $20,780 (saves $3,858)
300 hours a yeareach costs the owner $133	$25,767 (costs $1,129 more) $20,247 (saves $4,391)

For the example aircraft — a Cessna 172N/P built in 1980, worth $100,000, at US prices — our ownership cost calculator puts the owner's year at $24,638 when the owner alone flies it 50 hours, insurance and depreciation included. Every hour the school flies on top of that costs the owner $120 at 100 rental hours a year, $128 at 200 and $133 at 300: fuel, oil and maintenance per hour, a reserve for the engine once the hours outrun its calendar limit, and one $1,700 100-hour inspection for every 100 hours.

A renter pays $184 an hour for a Cessna 172 at the median of the 11 US operators in our rental rates table. At a 70% split the owner receives $128.80 of that — almost exactly what the hour costs. The leaseback saves $930 a year at 100 rental hours and $178 at 200, and at 300 hours it costs $1,129 more than not leasing at all. No program we read publishes 80% for a Cessna 172 — ELEV8 pays it on newer Cirrus aircraft and HQ on helicopters — but at an 80% split the owner would receive $147.20 an hour and the aircraft costs $21,868 a year at 100 rental hours, $20,780 at 200 and $20,247 at 300: $2,770 to $4,391 less than without a leaseback. The split at which the school's hours just pay their own costs is 65% at 100 hours and 72% at 300.

To try your own split, open this example in our aircraft ownership cost calculator: rental is switched on with the school's 100 hours and the owner's $128.80 an hour as the rental rate. Change the rate, the hours, the aircraft and its value to match the offer you have. The calculator does not add the extra 100-hour inspections, so it shows $1,700 a year less for each one.

So in our example a leaseback lowers the cost of the hours the owner flies, but it never makes the aircraft pay for itself. Schools say it can do more: The Flight School at Colorado Springs writes that "Leasebacks can often generate positive cashflow—even after all expenses have been paid!", and HQ Aviation's own example for a Robinson R44 flying 400 hours a year ends at a "Net income to owner before depreciation: approximately 11,000 to 44,000 GBP". The same Colorado Springs page warns: "Typically, investing in training aircraft is not a good financial investment unless you’re training or time-building." Seeking a leaseback "as a cash flow investment, however, will likely lead to disappointment." Two things in our example are on the kind side: it leaves out the higher premium of a commercial policy, and it assumes the school really flies the hours — Flyboy: "We can't guarantee how many hours the aircraft will fly per month". And it leaves out the purchase itself: AOPA Finance warns that "Lenders may also place restrictions on aircraft age, total time, and the number of leaseback hours flown per year" (AOPA Finance). Tax effects are left out too; they depend on your situation and need a tax adviser, not a blog.

Before you sign

• The split or the fee, and what comes off before it. A 10-point difference in the split decided between roughly breaking even (from $930 saved to $1,129 lost) and saving $2,770 to $4,391 in our example.
• Who pays the fuel. At Flyboy the owner does, at Cape Fear the school does. At $56 an hour in our US fuel assumption, that alone moves the result by about $5,600 a year at 100 rental hours.
• Your own flying. ELEV8: "you have priority and can request to take your plane instead". T&G lets owners fly "for the cost of fuel alone (typically around $50-75/hr)".
• The term. Cape Fear's agreement: "This Agreement shall run for a period of 12 months", then month to month. AOPA advises a flying club leasing an aircraft that "We recommend that a lease should be at least one-year in duration."
• Large repairs. Cape Fear must make an effort to get the owner's approval for work estimated above $3,000, but its agreement lets required repairs go ahead without it.

A leaseback to a flying club can work the same way (T&G's is net rental), but AOPA notes that a club lease differs from a flight school leaseback: "a club lease should be an exclusive lease", and many club leases include a base lease fee, "typically paid monthly". The aircraft partnership is the alternative most owners weigh it against: partners split the fixed costs and nobody pays a management fee — see rent, share or own a plane and aircraft partnership software.

Keeping the hours straight

Every number in a leaseback statement starts with the hours flown. In Pilot-Next each booking is settled on the Hobbs or the Tacho of that aircraft, so every hour an aircraft flies is settled on its own meter, and the 100-hour inspection can be set as a maintenance plan on hours that turns Due Soon and then Overdue as the meter moves. Renters book within the booking rules you set, and their hours become an invoice on their account balance — see aircraft rental software.