We lease aircraft from a third party. To be honest we could have probably bought those aircraft twice over, if we owned them.
This is always a conundrum.
When I first started in 1982 we leased a Rallye from ATS at Biggin Hill - they gave us free hours when we did any above 400 p.a. The plus here was that we got another aircraft when the main one was on Annual. Then we were offered the aircraft to buy. This was great until the main spar rotted - common problem with Rallyes. This cost us to repair and off-load. We then bought a PA28. Again, costs sometimes threatened to overwhelm us.
Then I went to work for a big chain of flying schools in the London area. They had a mix of aircraft they leased back from owners and aircraft from a partner leasing company. They went bust big-time in 2008.
Now, at my present location, we leased aircraft up until 3 years ago. The plus here is a guaranteed fixed cost. The downside was that the only maintenance done was to keep the aircraft airworthy - cosmetically not brilliant, especially inside. Then we had an opportunity to acquire a PA28 at a very good deal. We've been lucky I'd say with this aircraft in that we haven't had any major problems and have been able to save up for a complete refurbishment, whist charging the same price we were for the previous aircraft out of which we made no money.
There are no rights and wrongs with this. The old adage about 'if it flies or floats it's cheaper to rent' ~(leaving out the rude bit!) isn't always true. Careful management and a small dose of luck help.
TOO