Private jets rarely fly full circuits. A charter takes a passenger from Geneva to London, and the aircraft then has to get back to its base, or on to the next pickup, with nobody on board. That repositioning flight is an empty leg. Because the operator is flying it anyway, the seats or the whole aircraft are often offered at a fraction of normal charter pricing.
For flexible travellers, empty legs are the most accessible way into private aviation. The catch is timing: the flights are announced at short notice and are often gone within hours.
How empty legs work
An empty leg exists when a one-way charter leaves an aircraft in the “wrong” place. There are three common cases:
- Return legs. A client flies one way and does not need the return, so the aircraft flies back empty.
- Positioning flights. The aircraft must reach an airport where the next client is waiting.
- Maintenance and crew moves. The aircraft needs to reach a base or a maintenance slot.
The operator cannot choose the route or the date, which is why empty legs follow the market rather than a timetable. You will see more flights between busy business and leisure hubs such as London, Paris, Geneva, Nice, Milan, Ibiza and Dubai, and fewer on thin routes.
What you actually pay
Empty legs are usually offered in one of two ways:
- Whole aircraft. You book the jet for your own group. Prices are lower than an equivalent charter because the operator is already flying the leg.
- By the seat. On some flights individual seats are sold, so a solo traveller or a small group can fly private for a lot less than chartering the aircraft.
Prices differ by aircraft category, route and how close the departure date is. Always confirm the price, the exact departure time and the operator’s terms before you commit, because an empty leg is subject to operator confirmation and can change or be withdrawn.
What to know before you book
- Be flexible. The route and date are fixed by the operator. Flexibility of a day or two on either side widens your choice a lot.
- Check both airports. Private flights use smaller airports. Make sure the departure and arrival airports work for you and check ground transfer time.
- Look at luggage and passenger limits. A very light jet has fewer seats and less baggage space than a heavy jet.
- Ask about the return. The empty leg is one-way. If you need to come back, plan the return separately.
- Act early. The best flights are requested within hours of being listed.
Why speed matters, and how to get it
The main problem with empty legs is that nobody is going to email you when one appears on your route. Most people check broker websites and refresh the page. Flights come and go between visits.
Empty Legs Radar is a free Telegram bot from RentJet that does the checking for you. You tell it which route you want and which dates suit you, and it sends a message when a matching empty leg is listed. There is no app to install and no registration: you pick the departure city, the destination (or “anywhere”) and the dates inside Telegram.
According to RentJet, the bot checks the available flights on a schedule of every ten minutes, lets you follow up to five routes, and sends one message per flight. Each alert shows the route, the date and departure time, the aircraft category and model, the price per seat and for the whole aircraft where both are offered, and a link to request the flight.
If you would rather browse than wait for an alert, RentJet also keeps a live page of current empty leg deals that you can filter by route, date and flight type.
A simple routine
- Decide the two or three routes you would actually fly.
- Set them up once in the bot with a flexible date range.
- When an alert arrives, open the flight, check the aircraft, the time and the price, and send a request quickly.
- Keep a second route as a back-up, because the first flight you want may already be gone.
Empty legs will not replace a booked charter when you need a specific time. For travellers with some flexibility they are a practical way to fly private at a lower price, and the people who get them are usually the ones who hear about the flight first.
Empty leg availability and prices change quickly and are subject to operator confirmation.