Do empty legs fly to high elevation airports? 10.2% land at 3,000 feet or higher
- ✓ 10.2% of distinct empty leg listings landed at an airport 3,000 feet or more above sea level.
- ✓ 5.5% landed at 5,000 feet or higher.
- ✓ 89.8% landed under 3,000 feet.
- ✓ No single operator supplied more than 35.0% of the legs in any band.
- ✓ Every figure is a share of distinct listings shown to customers of SkyAccess, the empty leg marketplace, and no total is quoted.
Do empty legs fly to high elevation airports? On SkyAccess, the empty leg marketplace, 10.2% of distinct empty leg listings with departures from November 1, 2025 through October 31, 2026 landed at an airport 3,000 feet or more above sea level. 5.5% landed at 5,000 feet or higher, 4.7% between 3,000 and 4,999 feet, and 89.8% under 3,000 feet. All figures are shares of distinct empty leg listings shown to customers of the marketplace, so they measure supply, the repositioning flights operators list for sale, and not passenger numbers or bookings.
This is a landing-elevation analysis, not a route ranking. For the busiest routes, see the Empty Leg Index for October 2026, which ranks corridors every month.
Contents
- Do empty legs fly to high elevation airports?
- Why do some empty legs land at high elevation?
- What do these elevation shares measure?
- What does airport elevation mean for a search?
- How were these figures calculated?
- What do people get wrong about empty legs and high airports?
- Where can you go deeper on empty leg data?
- Frequently asked questions
Do empty legs fly to high elevation airports?
Some do: 10.2% of distinct empty leg listings landed at an airport 3,000 feet or more above sea level, and 5.5% landed at 5,000 feet or higher. 4.7% landed between 3,000 and 4,999 feet and 89.8% under 3,000 feet. The shares use the distinct legs whose arrival airport has a stored elevation, which is almost every leg.
The table gives each elevation band of the arrival airport as a share of all distinct empty legs with a known arrival elevation in the window. Elevation is the height of the airfield above sea level, as stored for each airport, so the bands describe where legs land, not where they depart.
| Arrival airport elevation | Share of listings |
|---|---|
| Under 3,000 feet | 89.8% |
| 3,000 to 4,999 feet | 4.7% |
| 5,000 feet or higher | 5.5% |
Why do some empty legs land at high elevation?
An empty leg is a repositioning flight: the aircraft flies back to its base or on to its next pickup. High fields serve mountain resorts and the cities of the interior West. When a charter trip starts at one of them, the empty leg that brings the aircraft in lands there; when a trip ends there, the aircraft often flies out empty, which shows up on the departure side instead. Ranked by share, the bands ran under 3,000 feet, 5,000 feet or higher and 3,000 to 4,999 feet.
What do these elevation shares measure?
Elevation here is the stored field elevation of the arrival airport in feet above sea level, grouped in three bands: under 3,000 feet, 3,000 to 4,999 feet, and 5,000 feet or higher. A share is the number of distinct empty legs landing in that band divided by all distinct empty legs with a known arrival elevation in the window. The figures say nothing about runway length or how an aircraft performs on a given day. The figures also do not show how many legs were booked: a listing counts whether it sold or not. Each listing is the whole aircraft, offered by the operator that flies it under an FAA Part 135 certificate or its international equivalent, and the operator confirms every booking.
What does airport elevation mean for a search?
Search the high fields for a mountain trip. 5.5% of listings landed at 5,000 feet or higher, so a trip to the mountains has legs of its own to choose from.
Ask about baggage for a high field. Thin air at a high, hot airfield can limit what an aircraft carries on a given day, and the operator confirms every booking; 10.2% of listings landed at 3,000 feet or more.
Check the board through the day. New legs are added to the board throughout the day and others are booked.
Price the whole aircraft. Empty legs are priced for the whole aircraft, not by the seat, and taxes and fees are shown at checkout. Prices are often 25 to 75% below a comparable full charter, a range sourced from Avinode marketplace data.
How were these figures calculated?
Source: the database of SkyAccess, the empty leg marketplace, read-only queries run on November 3, 2026: one checking the mix of listing sources, one producing the figures, and one repeating them without the listing sources whose monthly volume changed sharply during the window. Window: departures from November 1, 2025 through October 31, 2026, the twelve full months before this analysis. Only listings shown to SkyAccess customers on the empty leg marketplace are counted. Each empty leg is counted once: listings that share origin airport, destination airport, departure time, tail number and aircraft model are one leg, and deleted, cancelled and internal-only listings are excluded. Elevation is the field elevation stored for each arrival airport, in feet above sea level, grouped under 3,000 feet, 3,000 to 4,999 feet, and 5,000 feet or higher; almost every leg had an arrival airport with a stored elevation, and the few without one are left out. Every figure is a share of distinct legs, and no total is quoted. Concentration check from the same query: in every band, no single operator supplied more than 35.0% of the legs. Recomputed without the listing sources whose monthly volume changed sharply during the window, no share in this post moved by more than 0.2 percentage points and no ranking changed. Counts reflect listings on the marketplace, not flights flown, bookings or passengers.
What do people get wrong about empty legs and high airports?
✗ Myth: “Empty legs never fly into mountain airports.”
✓ Reality: 10.2% of distinct empty leg listings with departures from November 1, 2025 through October 31, 2026 landed at an airport 3,000 feet or more above sea level, and 5.5% landed at 5,000 feet or higher.
✗ Myth: “Most empty legs land at high fields.”
✓ Reality: 89.8% of distinct listings landed under 3,000 feet in the same window.
✗ Myth: “Empty legs are sold by the seat.”
✓ Reality: Every empty leg on SkyAccess, the empty leg marketplace, is the whole aircraft at one listed price; taxes and fees are shown at checkout, and prices are often 25 to 75% below a comparable full charter.
✗ Myth: “The marketplace flies the aircraft.”
✓ Reality: No. The marketplace lists the leg; the certified charter operator that flies the aircraft offers it and confirms every booking.
Where can you go deeper on empty leg data?
Each page below measures the same listing supply from another angle, with its own window and method.
- the Empty Leg Index for October 2026: ranks the busiest corridors every month, the route view this post leaves out.
- which kinds of airports empty legs depart from: splits listings by the size class of the departure airport and its airline service.
- the private jet airport directory: lists departure airports and their empty leg pages.
- which aircraft types fly empty legs: breaks listings down by aircraft class, which sets cabin size and range.
- the live empty leg board: lists current departures, each one the whole aircraft at one listed price.
Frequently asked questions
Do empty legs fly to high elevation airports in the mountains?
Some do: 10.2% of distinct empty leg listings with departures from November 1, 2025 through October 31, 2026 landed at an airport 3,000 feet or more above sea level. 5.5% landed at 5,000 feet or higher.
What share of empty legs land under 3,000 feet?
89.8% of distinct empty leg listings landed at an airport under 3,000 feet. The other 10.2% landed at 3,000 feet or higher.
How is airport elevation measured here?
Elevation is the stored field elevation of the arrival airport in feet above sea level. Legs are grouped under 3,000 feet, 3,000 to 4,999 feet, and 5,000 feet or higher.
What counts as one empty leg in these figures?
Each empty leg is counted once: listings that share origin airport, destination airport, departure time, tail number and aircraft model are one leg, and deleted, cancelled and internal-only listings are left out. Only listings shown to customers of SkyAccess, the empty leg marketplace, are counted.
Do these figures count bookings or passengers?
These figures do not count bookings or passengers. A listing counts whether it sold or not, so the figures describe supply, the repositioning flights operators list for sale, and not passenger numbers.
Is an empty leg priced by the seat?
Empty legs are not priced by the seat. Every empty leg on SkyAccess, the empty leg marketplace, is priced for the whole aircraft; taxes and fees are shown at checkout, and prices are often 25 to 75% below a comparable full charter.
Which period do these figures cover?
The figures cover departures from November 1, 2025 through October 31, 2026, the twelve full months before this analysis. The read-only queries behind them ran on November 3, 2026.
Did leaving out the listing sources that changed sharply move the figures?
The figures held when those sources were left out. Recomputed without the listing sources whose monthly volume changed sharply during the window, no share in this post moved by more than 0.2 percentage points and no ranking changed.
Where can I see which routes carry the most empty legs?
The Empty Leg Index for October 2026 ranks corridors every month and names the busiest routes. This post is a landing-elevation analysis, not a route ranking.
Do empty legs fly to high elevation airports? Across distinct empty leg listings with departures from November 1, 2025 through October 31, 2026, 10.2% landed at an airport 3,000 feet or more above sea level and 5.5% at 5,000 feet or higher. 89.8% landed under 3,000 feet. On SkyAccess, the empty leg marketplace, every listing is the whole aircraft, offered by the certified charter operator that flies it, and new legs are added throughout the day. The figures cover departures from November 1, 2025 through October 31, 2026 and count distinct listings shown to customers, not bookings or passengers.
Browse current departures on the SkyAccess empty leg flights page.
Liked this post? Share with others!