Empty legs
The same aircraft, at a quarter to three quarters off
In short
What is an empty leg flight?
An empty leg is a flight an aircraft has to make anyway with nobody on board — flying out to collect its next passengers, or home after a drop-off. Operators sell those flights at roughly 25% to 75% below a normal charter, because the alternative is flying them empty. The aircraft, the crew and the service are identical to a full-price charter.
What you give up is control. The route, the date and often the departure window belong to somebody else’s trip, and the flight can be cancelled outright if their plans change.
Where the discount comes from
An aircraft in the wrong place
A client charters London to Nice. The aircraft’s next booking starts in Geneva, so it has to fly Nice to Geneva regardless — with or without passengers on board. That middle sector is the empty leg, and the operator will take a quarter to three quarters of the normal price rather than fly it for nothing.
Which is also why the terms are what they are. The route, the date and the departure window belong to the two charters on either side of it. If the first client moves their trip, the sector in the middle moves or disappears with it.
Why we do not publish a list
Every broker’s public empty-leg list is mostly fiction by the time you read it. These flights appear with a day or two of notice, sell within hours, and disappear the moment the original charter shifts. A page of them is a page of prices that no longer exist, and it wastes your time to look at.
What works is the opposite direction: you tell us the route and the window you would accept, and we tell you the moment something matches. Operators release these legs to brokers before they reach any public listing, so being on the list that gets asked first is worth more than browsing one that is already stale.
When an empty leg is worth it
- Your dates can move. A day either side multiplies what is available to you many times over.
- You are flying a busy corridor. London–Nice, Geneva–London, Dubai–Riyadh, Teterboro–Palm Beach. Dense traffic means constant repositioning.
- You have a fallback. If the leg is cancelled the day before and you must still travel, the saving evaporates into a last-minute full charter.
- The group is small. You take the aircraft that happens to be repositioning, not the one sized to your party.
The aircraft is the same
You are not buying a lesser flight
An empty leg is discounted because of when and where it flies, not because of what it is. The aircraft, the crew, the catering and the terminal are identical to the full-price charter that created it — the operator is simply recovering cost on a sector it had already committed to.
Tell us the route you would take at a discount
Send the city pair and how flexible your dates are. We will come back the moment something matches — and if nothing does, we will quote the trip properly instead of leaving you waiting. Reply usually within 15 minutes.
Questions
About empty legs
- What is an empty leg flight?
- An empty leg is a repositioning flight an aircraft has to make anyway — flying empty to collect its next passengers, or home after a drop-off. Operators sell those seats at 25% to 75% below a normal charter. The trade-off is rigidity: the route, date and often the departure window are fixed by someone else’s trip, and the flight can be cancelled if the original charter changes.
- How far in advance do I need to book?
- Four to six hours is usually enough for a domestic or intra-European leg if an aircraft is already positioned nearby. Intercontinental flights need longer for crew duty time, overflight and landing permits. The genuine constraints are seasonal: Nice and Ibiza in July, Geneva in ski season, and Riyadh at any time because of permit lead times.
- How much does it cost to charter a private jet?
- Roughly $3,200–$4,800 per flight hour on a light jet, $6,000–$8,500 on a super-midsize, $8,000–$11,500 on a heavy jet and $12,000–$18,000 on an ultra-long-range aircraft, plus ground handling at both ends. A short European hop such as London to Nice typically lands between $14,000 and $25,000; Dubai to London on a heavy jet is usually $65,000 to $105,000. Prices move with where the aircraft happens to be that week, which is why we quote a real number per request rather than a rate card.
- When do I have to pay, and what do I get first?
- Nothing is charged until you have the aircraft in writing. Before you pay we send the operator name, the tail number, the aircraft type and year, and the operator’s safety rating. Payment follows that confirmation, and flight documents arrive within the hour. For crypto payments we wait for one network confirmation on domestic legs and three on international ones.
- What happens to my money if the flight is cancelled?
- If the operator cancels or the aircraft goes technical, you are refunded in full through the same channel you paid, or we place you on a replacement aircraft — your choice. If you cancel, the operator’s cancellation terms apply; those terms are shown to you in writing before you pay, not buried afterwards. Crypto refunds are returned in the same asset at the original invoiced USD value.