The difference between wet rate and dry rate aircraft billing for flight schools and flying clubs — how each model works, which fits your operation, and how to price it correctly.
When a flight school or flying club sets an hourly rate for an aircraft, one of the first decisions is whether to bill on a wet rate or dry rate basis. The choice affects student costs, revenue predictability, and fuel accounting — and the right answer depends on your operation's fuel purchasing arrangements and fleet composition.
A wet rate includes fuel in the hourly charge. The school or club buys fuel in bulk, and the per-hour rate is set to cover the aircraft's fuel burn at that bulk price plus a margin.
Example:
Students pay $160/hr and don't think about fuel. Simple.
Fuel prices fluctuate. If you lock in a wet rate and fuel prices spike, your margin gets squeezed. Most schools using wet rates review pricing quarterly and adjust as needed.
A dry rate charges for aircraft time without fuel. Students fuel the aircraft themselves (or fuel is billed as a separate line item), and the hourly rate covers everything else.
Example:
Dry rate billing introduces variability. A student who did a cross-country and fueled at a remote airport at $7.50/gallon has a different cost than one who fueled on-field at $5.80. Billing accurately requires tracking actual fuel consumed, not just estimated burn.
Some schools handle this by selling fuel from their own pump at a set price and requiring members to fuel from that pump only. This effectively turns a dry rate into a wet rate with a transparent fuel line item.
Many flight school management systems, including Aloft360, let you bill dry rate plus a separate fuel line item. This gives you the best of both:
An invoice might look like:
Flight — N1234C | 1.4 Hobbs hrs × $115/hr = $161.00
Fuel — 11.2 gal | 11.2 × $6.20/gal = $69.44
CFI instruction | 1.4 hrs × $65/hr = $91.00
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Total = $321.44
This level of transparency builds trust with students because they can see exactly what they're paying for.
Whether wet or dry, your hourly rate needs to cover:
| Cost Component | How to Calculate |
|---|---|
| Fuel (wet only) | Avg burn × avg fuel price per gallon |
| Oil consumption | ~$3–5/hr for typical GA aircraft |
| Maintenance reserve | Historical annual MX cost ÷ annual hours flown |
| Annual inspection reserve | Annual inspection cost ÷ hours flown per year |
| Engine reserve | Engine overhaul cost ÷ TBO hours |
| Insurance | Annual premium ÷ hours flown per year |
| Hangar/tiedown | Monthly cost × 12 ÷ hours flown per year |
| Avionics/upgrades reserve | Estimated upgrade cost ÷ years |
| Depreciation | If you want to preserve aircraft value over time |
Most small flight schools significantly underestimate engine and maintenance reserves when setting rates. If your 172 is running at 800 hours/year and your engine overhaul will cost $30,000 at 2,000 hours, that's $15/hr in engine reserve alone, before you touch maintenance, insurance, or fuel.
If you operate a mixed fleet (e.g., 172s for primary training, a Piper Arrow for complex/HP), each aircraft should have its own rate card. The Arrow burns more fuel, has higher insurance premiums, and has different maintenance costs than a 172.
Trying to average costs across a mixed fleet creates cross-subsidies that frustrate your most active users (they're paying for aircraft they're not flying) and under-charge the users of the more expensive aircraft.
In Aloft360, each aircraft can be configured with:
When a flight is logged, the invoice generates automatically using the aircraft's rate card. If the rate changes, you update it in one place and it applies to all future flights.
For more on billing automation, see the Aloft360 flight school features page. And for the scheduling side of running a school or club, see our guide on flying club scheduling software.