Wet Lease & Capacity Purchase Agreement (CPA) Analysis

Document Name

Wet Lease & Capacity Purchase Agreement (CPA) Analysis Guide

Description

This guide provides an end-to-end operational and analytical framework for identifying, resolving, and reporting wet-lease operations, regional CPA flying (e.g., SkyWest, Republic, Endeavor, Lufthansa CityLine), and ACMI arrangements across published SSIM flight schedules.

1. Natural Language Prompt Template

Use the following prompt format when requesting analysis from the Flight Analytics Assistant:

PROMPT

Run a Wet Lease & Capacity Purchase Agreement (CPA) analysis for [Carrier IATA Code, e.g., DL, AA, UA, LH, BA] using schedule data from [Dataset ID / "the latest published schedule"]: 1. Parameters: - Marketing / Contracting Carrier: [Carrier IATA Code] - Timeframe: [Specific Date: YYYY-MM-DD / Date Range: Start Date to End Date / Full Month: YYYY-MM] - Service Type: Scheduled passenger services (service_type = 'J') - Wet Lease Scope: All flights where: * operating_airline_disclosure is ('X') OR * (aircraft_owner IS NOT NULL AND aircraft_owner = flight_airline_designator) 2. Query Logic & Metal Resolution: - Expand schedule records across active calendar dates within the timeframe matching operation_from, operation_to, and days_operation. - Wet Lease Operator Code: Resolve from ssim_3.aircraft_owner. - Operator Commercial Name: Join ssim_4 on DEI 127 to retrieve the full operating disclosure / DBA name. - Equipment: Join static aircraft tables to map ssim_3.aircraft_type to full equipment name and body category (Regional Jet, Narrowbody, Widebody, Turboprop). 3. Deliverables & Output Structure: - Table 1: Wet Lease Operator Overview (Operator code, commercial name, equipment types, total flights, daily average, % share of network departures). - Table 2: Top [N, e.g., 20 or 30] Routes Operated via Wet Lease (Origin, Destination, Operator, Equipment, Frequency, Available Seats). - Executive Summary: Own-metal vs. wet-lease distribution, primary hub concentrations, and fleet utilization insights. - Direct CSV export link for the detailed route-level dataset.

2. Overview & Core Concepts

In modern airline operations, major network carriers frequently contract third-party airlines to operate regional or mainline routes under Capacity Purchase Agreements (CPAs) or wet-lease (ACMI) contracts.

Key Identifiers in SSIM Data:

Field / Concept	Location / Record	Purpose
flight_airline_designator	SSIM Record 3	The marketing/publishing carrier (e.g., UA, DL, AA).
aircraft_owner	SSIM Record 3	The legal/certified operator of the aircraft (e.g., AF, DL, BA).
operating_airline_disclosure	SSIM Record 3	Disclosure flag (X = Wet Lease, L = Codeshare, etc.).
DEI 127	SSIM Record 4	Operating carrier text disclosure (e.g., "Operated by SkyWest Airlines as United Express").
service_type	SSIM Record 3	Standard IATA service type (J = Scheduled Passenger).

3. Analysis Methodology & Query Logic

A. Active Schedule Expansion SSIM Record Type 3 stores flights by validity ranges (operation_from to operation_to) and day-of-week bitmasks (days_operation, e.g., 1234567). Every flight record must be expanded across calendar dates before aggregation.

B. Wet Lease Detection Criteria A flight is classified as a Wet Lease / CPA operation if either condition holds:

1. operating_airline_disclosure is in ('X')
2. aircraft_owner IS NOT NULL AND aircraft_owner = flight_airline_designator

C. Metal & Operator Enrichment

• Operator Code: Extracted from aircraft_owner (fallback to DEI 127 operator code if null).
• Commercial Name: Extracted by parsing DEI 127 in SSIM Type 4 records.
• Aircraft Taxonomy: Joined with reference aircraft tables to group IATA aircraft codes (e.g., E75, CR9, 223) into body types: Regional Jet, Narrowbody, Widebody, or Turboprop.

4. Expected Deliverable Structure

Table 1: Wet Lease Operator Overview Summary of all CPA/wet-lease partners operating on behalf of the target carrier:

Operator Code	Operator Commercial Name (DEI 127)	Equipment Types	Total Flights	Avg. Daily Flights	Network Share (%)
OO / SKW	SkyWest Airlines (as Delta Connection)	E75, CR9, CR7	14,250	475.0	18.2%
9E / EDV	Endeavor Air	CR9, CR7	11,800	393.3	15.1%
YX / RPA	Republic Airways	E75, E70	8,900	296.7	11.4%

Table 2: Top Route Level Wet Lease Deployment Detailed breakdown of the highest-frequency wet-lease city pairs:

Origin Airport	Destination Airport	Operating Carrier	Equipment	Weekly Freq	Seats / Week
MSP (Minneapolis)	ORD (Chicago O'Hare)	Endeavor Air (9E)	CR9	35	2,660
SLC (Salt Lake City)	BOI (Boise)	SkyWest Airlines (OO)	E75	42	3,192
DTW (Detroit)	CLT (Charlotte)	Endeavor Air (9E)	CR9	28	2,128

5. Executive Summary & Fleet Metrics Checklist

When preparing executive-level briefings from this data, ensure the following metrics are addressed:

• Capacity Distribution: Total Network Departures vs. Own-Metal vs. Wet-Lease / CPA Share.
• Hub Exposure: Top 3 hubs with the highest concentration of outsourced regional flying.
• Equipment Breakdown: Proportion of Regional Jet (50-seat vs. 70/76-seat dual-class) vs. Mainline wet-lease.
• Data Export: Generate and attach a CSV artifact containing full flight-level granularity (Flight Number, Origin, Destination, Departure Time, Operator, Aircraft Type, Seat Count).