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Empty Leg Flights Spain: 10,187 Private Jet Empty Legs Across 55 Airports

SkyAccess Editorial Team
September 27, 20267 min read
Last reviewed: October 2026

Updated September 29, 2026: counts now include each unique leg once, excluding exact duplicate copies and deleted, withdrawn or cancelled listings, and the rolling 12-month window now ends September 28, 2026. An earlier version counted duplicate copies of the same leg separately, which overstated the totals and ranked Malaga first. The figures below reflect that correction.

Spain logs 10,187 unique private jet empty-leg departures in SkyAccess marketplace data for the rolling 12 months to September 28, 2026. Those departures originate from 55 Spanish airports, spanning the Mediterranean coast, the Balearic and Canary Islands, and the mainland interior. Madrid and Palma de Mallorca, effectively level at the top, together account for 33.3% of national supply. For travelers who can flex their schedule, empty-leg prices run 25 to 75% below a comparable full charter, placing private aviation within reach of a much wider group of flyers.

What is an empty leg flight?

An empty leg arises when a charter aircraft repositions without a paying passenger, flying back to its home base after a client drop-off, or forward to pick one up. Rather than fly empty, operators list these legs on SkyAccess at sharply reduced prices. Spain’s coastal resorts, island airports and business cities all generate repositioning flights, and SkyAccess data shows Spanish departures in every month of the 12-month window.

How many empty leg flights depart from Spain?

Over the rolling 12 months to September 28, 2026, 10,187 unique empty-leg departures originate in Spain. This figure is a flow of unique legs listed to depart over that window; it is not a live-inventory snapshot. Of those legs, 6,533 were listed to airports outside Spain, in 77 other countries, and 3,654 were domestic. Spain ranks among the highest-volume European markets on SkyAccess: over the same 12 months it had fewer unique legs than France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy, and more than Switzerland.

Which Spanish airports generate the most empty legs?

Five airports drive the majority of Spanish empty-leg supply:

  • Madrid (LEMD): 1,700 unique empty-leg departures. Spain’s capital sends empty legs to airports in 50 other countries, led by France (291), the United Kingdom (147) and Portugal (128), with 79 bound for the United States.
  • Palma de Mallorca (LEPA): 1,693 departures, effectively level with Madrid. The Balearic Islands gateway sends more legs to Germany than any of the other four leading airports, with 251, behind only France (294) among its foreign destinations.
  • Malaga (LEMG): 1,381 departures. The Costa del Sol hub is the only one of the five where the United Kingdom is the leading foreign destination, with 170 legs, ahead of France (154) and Portugal (148).
  • Ibiza (LEIB): 1,375 departures, almost level with Malaga. The most seasonal of the leading airports (see below), Ibiza sends 35.3% of its legs to Spanish airports, the highest domestic share of the five, and France (266) is its leading foreign destination.
  • Barcelona (LEBL): 1,033 departures. Catalonia’s capital sends its largest foreign flow to France, with 250 legs, followed by the United Kingdom (86), Italy (79) and Switzerland (74).

These five airports together represent 70.5% of all Spanish empty-leg supply. The remaining 50 origin airports contribute the other 3,005 legs. Valencia (LEVC, 439), Alicante (LEAL, 291), Girona (LEGE, 269) and Seville (LEZL, 247) lead that group, which stretches across the Valencian Community, Andalusia, Catalonia and both archipelagos.

When do Spanish empty legs peak?

Monthly totals in this window also reflect the mix of listing sources, which changed sharply from July 2026, so the clearest seasonal signal is each airport’s share of Spanish legs from October 2025 to June 2026. Within that period, before the change, Spanish departures peaked in May 2026 at 1,543 unique legs and were lowest in November 2025, at 259. Ibiza is the most seasonal of the five leading airports: its share climbed from 5.7% in January 2026 to 22.6% in June 2026. Palma de Mallorca rose from 10.9% in January 2026 to 18.7% in May 2026. Malaga holds a steadier share, between 10.9% and 17.2% in every month of that period. Madrid and Barcelona lean the other way, with their largest shares in the cooler months: Madrid peaked at 23.1% of Spanish legs in January 2026 and Barcelona at 13.9% in November 2025, while both reached their lowest share in May 2026 (13.4% and 7.5%). The 12-month total spans all of these swings, which is why this page leads with it.

How to find Spain empty legs on SkyAccess

SkyAccess lists 5,000+ live empty leg flights across all markets at any given moment, from 900+ FAA Part 135 (and international equivalent) certified charter operators. To find Spanish departures, browse the empty leg flights search and filter by departure region. For airport-specific availability, the dedicated pages for Madrid-Barajas Airport (LEMD), Palma de Mallorca Airport (LEPA), and Malaga Airport (LEMG) surface current listings. Empty-leg slots are time-sensitive: a leg disappears once the aircraft confirms another booking, so acting quickly on a match yields the best outcome.

Data source: SkyAccess marketplace database, unique empty legs departing Spanish airports from September 29, 2025 to September 28, 2026. Listing records with the same departure airport, arrival airport, departure time, tail number and aircraft model count as one leg. Copies of the same flight recorded by two sources with different departure times are not merged. Deleted listings, cancelled flights and internal-only flights are excluded. Spanish airports include those in the Balearic and Canary Islands and Melilla. Published September 2026, updated September 29, 2026.

Frequently asked questions

How many empty leg flights originate in Spain?

SkyAccess marketplace data shows 10,187 unique empty-leg departures originating in Spain in the rolling 12 months to September 28, 2026. These flights depart from 55 Spanish airports, with Madrid (1,700 departures) and Palma de Mallorca (1,693 departures) leading the market.

Which airport in Spain has the most private jet empty legs?

Madrid-Barajas Airport (LEMD) and Palma de Mallorca Airport (LEPA) are effectively level at the top, with 1,700 and 1,693 unique empty-leg departures in the rolling 12 months to September 28, 2026. Together these two airports account for 33.3% of all Spanish empty-leg supply on SkyAccess.

How much can you save on Spain empty leg flights?

Empty leg flights in Spain typically run 25 to 75% below a comparable full charter on the same route. The actual discount depends on the specific route, aircraft type, and how closely your travel dates align with the listed departure.

This data is citable with attribution to SkyAccess. For same-day custom pulls, contact contact@skyaccess.com.

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