Empty legs are one of the best-kept secrets in private aviation. Here's how they work and why they can cut the cost of flying private by up to 90%.
Every time a private jet completes a charter, it often has to fly back to its home base — or reposition to the location of its next booking. That return or repositioning flight is called an empty leg: the aircraft is in the air, the crew is working, the fuel is burning, but there are no paying passengers on board.
For operators, this is a sunk cost. The flight happens regardless. So rather than let the seat go to waste, many operators list these legs at a steep discount — sometimes 50 to 90% below a standard on-demand charter price — in the hope of recovering some of the cost.
That's where Premiere Flight comes in. We aggregate these empty leg listings from verified operators across Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East, and make them searchable in real time. You can filter by route, date, aircraft type, and price, and book in minutes.
The trade-off is flexibility. Empty legs are tied to a specific aircraft, departure airport, and time window. If the underlying charter changes or cancels, the empty leg may disappear. But if your schedule has any flexibility — even a day or two either side — they represent outstanding value for money.
To give you a sense of scale: a one-way charter from London to Ibiza in a light jet might typically cost €12,000–15,000. The same route as an empty leg can list for €3,000–7,000. For a group of four or five people, that's often cheaper than business class.
Browse current empty legs on Premiere Flight and use the price filter to sort from lowest to highest. New legs are added daily — set up an alert for your preferred routes and we'll notify you as soon as something suitable goes live.
