Empty leg flights

What an empty leg flight actually is

An empty leg is a flight the aircraft has to make with nobody on board. Someone charters a jet one way — London to Nice on a Friday — and the aircraft is then in Nice with no passengers and a job somewhere else on Monday. The flight back, or on to wherever it is needed next, happens either way. The operator would rather sell it than fly it empty.\n\nThe trade calls the same thing several names and they all mean this: an empty leg, a one-way, a repositioning flight, a ferry flight, a deadhead. You are not buying a discounted version of your own trip. You are buying someone else's positioning flight because your plan happens to fit inside it — same aircraft, same crew, same private terminal at both ends.

What an empty leg costs, and why we do not quote a percentage

Every listing on this page carries its own price, for the whole aircraft rather than a seat. That price is what the operator will take today, and it moves: the cost of the flight is already on their books, so anything above the fuel and the crew hours is better than flying it empty. How much better depends on how close departure is and how much they want it gone.\n\nThe industry advertises empty legs as a fixed percentage off. We do not, because a percentage is meaningless without saying what it is measured against — off a full charter of the same aircraft on the same day? off a list price nobody pays? A number with no stated base is not information. The listed price against a quote for the same leg on a normal charter is a comparison you can actually check, and we will put the two side by side if you ask.

What you give up for the price

The route is fixed at both ends. The aircraft is going where it is going, and a leg that lands 200 km from where you need to be is a car journey you did not plan. The date is the operator's, usually with a window of a day or two rather than a departure time you choose; some will shift by a few hours, most will not shift by a day.\n\nIt is one-way. There is no return unless a second empty leg happens to exist, and counting on one is how people end up buying a full charter home at short notice. And an empty leg is only as firm as the booking that created it: if the original client moves their Friday to Saturday, the empty leg moves with them or stops existing. Until the contract is signed and paid, treat it as likely rather than certain.

Where empty legs come up most in Europe

They cluster where traffic runs heavily one way. The Riviera corridors produce the most in Europe: London to Nice and back, Geneva to Nice, Paris to Nice, Milan and Zurich into Nice through the summer. From May to September the flow is south at the end of the week and north at the start of it, which is exactly when the opposite direction goes empty.\n\nThe Alps invert it between December and March — Geneva, Sion and Chambery fill on Saturdays and empty on Sundays. The Balearics run hard from July into September, Barcelona and Geneva into Ibiza. Out of the UK the aircraft sit at Luton, Farnborough and Biggin Hill, so legs from London appear more often than from anywhere else in the country. Departure from a regional field is usually possible only if a tail happens to be sitting there already.

How to actually catch one

The list above is the current export and it turns over constantly — legs appear a few days out and are gone within hours when the route is good. Refreshing this page is the slow way to use it.\n\nThe fast way is to tell us the pair of cities and the spread of dates you could accept, and let us watch the market for you rather than the other way round. We see legs before they are published, and a leg that fits a client we already know about does not usually reach a public list at all. Flexibility is the whole currency here: give us a three-day window instead of a date and your chances change completely. If nothing comes up in time, you get a normal charter quote and nothing has been lost but the waiting.

What this service is not

• Not a seat sale. You charter the whole aircraft, at the listed price, whether two of you fly or eight.
• Not your schedule. The departure window belongs to the operator's next booking, not to your calendar.
• Not a round trip. The return is a separate flight at a normal price unless a second empty leg exists.
• Not guaranteed until signed and paid. The trip that created the leg can move, and the leg moves with it.
• Not always the cheaper answer. On a short busy corridor a light jet quoted normally can beat a large empty leg you do not need.

Frequently asked questions

What is an empty leg flight?

A flight an aircraft has to make with no passengers on board — repositioning after a one-way charter, or returning to base. The operator sells that leg rather than flying it empty. Also called a one-way, a ferry flight or a deadhead.

How much does an empty leg flight cost?

Each leg on this page is listed with its own price for the whole aircraft. It is below what the same aircraft would cost chartered normally on that route, because the operator is paying for the flight either way — how far below depends on the route and how close departure is. Ask us and we will show the empty-leg price against a normal quote for the same leg.

Are empty leg flights worth it?

They are, if your dates and your route can bend. You fly the same aircraft from the same private terminal for less. You give up control of the schedule, you fly one way only, and the leg can move or disappear if the booking behind it changes. If your meeting is fixed to an hour, charter normally.

Can I change the date, the time or the route of an empty leg?

The route, no — the aircraft is going where its next job is. The time, sometimes by a few hours, depending on the crew's duty day and the airport's slots. The date, rarely. Tell us your window up front and we will only show you legs that fit inside it.

What happens if an empty leg is cancelled?

Before a contract is signed, a leg can vanish without anything being owed either way, and that is the normal risk of the format. Once signed, the charter agreement governs it exactly as it would a full charter, and if the operator cancels, what is owed back to you is written in that contract. We do not put you on a leg without telling you how firm it is.

Are there empty leg flights from London and the UK?

More than from anywhere else in the country, because the aircraft are based at Luton, Farnborough and Biggin Hill. London to Nice, Geneva, Paris, Milan and Ibiza are the corridors that produce them most often. From a regional airport a leg exists only if a tail is already parked there.