OnAir offers 3 possibilities when it comes to obtaining the use of an aircraft, namely rentals, leasing and purchasing. This section will discuss each in turn, their typical intended use case and the pros/cons of each method.

Rentals

Renting is intended to be used by players needing a short term use of a specific aircraft outside of that which they would normally operate or for casual players who make just one or two flights in a week. In summary:

Pros:

• No end date is imposed for a rental contract.
• Maintenance is paid by the owner, rent can be stopped when maintenance is required.

Cons:

• Most expensive way to operate an aircraft.
• Payment is based on flight hours.
• Minimum flight hours per day (Paid even if there was no flight) (Only Cumulus and Stratus).

Minimum flight hours per day: (Only Cumulus and Stratus, no minimum for Thunder)

On cumulus, you can decrease it further by choosing a Aircraft Rent Level:

• Low = divided by 4
• Medium = divided by 2
• Realistic = No decrease

What this all means is that if you take out a rental on an aircraft, you will be paying by far the highest operating cost per hour, but you can essentially end the rental contract at any point. The only restriction is that there are a minimum number of daily flight hours given during a rental agreement (This may be 0, particularly on Thunder world!).

If you try to end a rental without reaching the minimum number of daily hours and the aircraft is otherwise serviceable, you will have to pay out the difference in rental hours for that day.

If the aircraft is unusable due to deteriorated condition or requires an Annual / Workshop Inspection, any penalties are waived for ending the rental.

All aircraft needs a workshop inspection every 600 hours for heavy jets, 400 hours for jets or 100 hours for all other aircraft.

If the aircraft is serviceable but has not been returned to its starting location and/or does not contain at least the starting level of fuel in its tanks, then you will be charged a penalty to have the aircraft returned and refuelled (This will be higher generally than paying directly for it to be ferried and refuelled yourself!).

If you retain a rented aircraft and don’t fly it, you will still have to pay out the minimum flight hours in rent, so having rented aircraft lying around inactive is a sure way to make losses unless you are on Thunder World where the minimum flight hours for rented aircraft is always kept to 0.

Leases

Leasing is intended to be used when you do intend to use the same aircraft regularly but cannot yet afford to, or are unwilling to, purchase the aircraft outright.

Leasing fees are paid weekly and smaller companies will not be able to lease large airliners sustainably unless they operate a significant number of flight hours per week.

Pros:

• Discounts available for longer terms, e.g. 12 weeks = 5% discount, 24 weeks = 10%, 36 weeks = 15% and 48 weeks = 20%
• At the conclusion of the lease, the lessee will be given an offer to purchase the air‐craft outright at its estimated current value.
• Weekly payments, with no change in cost regardless of flight hours.
• No limit to the total number of leased aircraft.

Cons:

• 1 Month minimum duration.
• Maintenance is managed and paid for by the lessee.
• Requires sufficient number of flight hours to remain cost effective.
• A new lease will require an up-front payment of the first 3 weeks.

Purchasing

Owning an aircraft is intended for use when you regularly use the same aircraft for your flights and have sufficient funds to justify the purchase. Airliners are unlikely to be affordable in an early game situation.

An ownership fee is paid weekly, so small companies will be unable to remain profit‐able operating large airliners unless they operate it for a significant number of hours per week.

Pros:

• The ownership fee is paid weekly and is not based around flight hours.

Cons:

• Maintenance is managed and paid for by the player.
• Requires higher numbers of flight hours to remain profitable.