The empty leg is not a discount. It is a system.

Roughly a third of business jet flights in Europe are flown empty. They are the positioning legs described in our quoting guide: the aircraft going to collect a client, or going home after dropping one. Operators would rather earn something on those legs than nothing, so they offer them at a fraction of the normal price. That is the empty leg.

How the system works

The empty leg exists only because of the primary trip. If the primary client changes date, airport or aircraft, the empty leg changes with it or vanishes. Reputable operators disclose this and refund; some brokers do not, and sell an empty leg as if it were a guaranteed flight. Understanding this dependency is the whole game.

Who it suits

• Travellers with a floating departure window of several hours
• One way trips on dense corridors, where alternatives exist if the leg falls through
• Groups who can fill the cabin, since the price is per aircraft, not per seat
• Anyone who books late and can decide fast

Who it does not suit

A board meeting at nine, a wedding, a connecting airline flight: none of these should sit on an empty leg. Multi leg itineraries almost never line up. And a family with fixed school holidays will usually be better served by a normal charter booked early, where the positioning is shared across a round trip.

An empty leg is a good price on someone else's plan.

How to use them well

Tell us your corridors and your flexibility once. We watch the positioning flights of vetted operators across our network and alert you when one lines up. When it does, we confirm the primary trip status before you pay, and we always hold a fallback aircraft in reserve at a pre agreed price. That is the difference between using an empty leg and being used by one.