Ski Season Empty Leg Flights: 9-Airport Data Analysis (Oct 2025 – Aug 2026)

Nine mountain airports tracked on the SkyAccess marketplace serve the peak winter ski destinations of the American West. Between January and March 2026, those nine airports received a combined 3,558 unique empty legs, a volume that is bookable today by any traveler planning next season. The number drops sharply after the slopes close, confirming the pattern operators and ski lodges already know: the repositioning window is narrow, and so is the discount window for passengers.

You can search live empty leg flights by airport on SkyAccess to see what is currently available into Aspen, Vail, or Jackson Hole.

Which ski airports received the most unique legs this past winter?

Aspen/Pitkin County (KASE) led all nine airports with 898 unique legs in the January through March 2026 period, followed by Eagle County Regional near Vail (KEGE) with 704 and Bozeman Yellowstone (KBZN) with 565. Jackson Hole (KJAC) recorded 491 legs over the same window.

Telluride Regional (KTEX) and Sun Valley (KSUN) each cleared 230 to 241 legs during peak. Steamboat Springs served via Yampa Valley (KHDN) saw 216. Lake Tahoe via Truckee (KTRK) posted 113 and Montrose Regional (KMTJ), which also serves Crested Butte, logged 100 unique legs.

How does ski season activity compare to the rest of the year?

January 2026 was the single busiest month for all nine airports combined. Aspen alone drew 291 unique legs that month, representing 0.87 percent of all unique legs across the entire SkyAccess platform in January. February held steady at 297 for Aspen. March 2026 was actually the peak for Aspen at 310 unique legs, and also the peak for Vail at 255. After March, both airports fall sharply: Aspen dropped to 113 in April and 37 in May. November 2025, the month before ski season opens, saw only 62 legs into Aspen, less than a fifth of the February peak.

That contraction is the clearest signal in the data. From 898 peak-quarter legs into Aspen down to 62 in November, the empty leg window is concentrated in a roughly 90-day period. Travelers who want to fly into Aspen at a discount need to watch the market in January, February, and March.

Where do these empty legs originate?

During the January through March 2026 period, Las Vegas (KLAS) was the single largest origin feeding Aspen at 48 unique legs, followed by Denver area airports (KAPA) at 47 and Van Nuys (KVNY) at 39. Scottsdale (KSDL) and Salt Lake City (KSLC) rounded out the top five with 32 and 31 legs respectively into Aspen.

Vail (KEGE) drew heavily from Denver (33 legs), Las Vegas (32), and Van Nuys (22). Austin (20) and Scottsdale (21) also contributed meaningfully. For Jackson Hole, the pattern shifts: Salt Lake City led with 23 legs, Scottsdale with 21, Bozeman with 19, and Van Nuys with 17. This reflects Jackson’s proximity to the Intermountain West versus Aspen’s draw from the Southwest and California coastal feeder markets.

Month-by-airport unique legs: Oct 2025 to Aug 2026

Month	KASE (Aspen)	KEGE (Vail)	KJAC (Jackson Hole)	KBZN (Bozeman)	KSUN (Sun Valley)	KHDN (Steamboat)	KTEX (Telluride)	KTRK (Lake Tahoe)	KMTJ (Montrose)
Oct 2025	155	70	96	61	52	24	16	31	19
Nov 2025	62	48	76	45	24	15	5	19	9
Dec 2025	156	112	96	119	37	26	35	20	13
Jan 2026	291	237	165	193	102	62	84	52	25
Feb 2026	297	212	186	195	81	68	74	43	41
Mar 2026	310	255	140	177	47	86	83	18	34
Apr 2026	113	83	67	89	13	4	19	6	4
May 2026	37	44	63	54	35	10	11	20	6
Jun 2026	110	52	100	40	47	35	23	31	9
Jul 2026	112	58	100	71	75	30	25	57	12
Aug 2026	149	107	108	49	44	20	27	52	34

How to fly private to a ski resort at a discount

Empty legs are repositioning flights that an operator needs to move a charter aircraft to its next assignment or back to base. The passenger pays for the fuel and time, not the full positioning cost that the operator would otherwise absorb. Into ski markets, these legs spike in January through March because demand for outbound charters from Aspen and Vail is high, which means aircraft need to arrive empty first. That inbound empty leg is the bookable opportunity.

Booking tips: monitor the market starting in early December for January departure dates. Las Vegas, Denver, Phoenix, and Los Angeles markets consistently generate inbound empty legs to Aspen and Vail based on this data. Sun Valley and Telluride see fewer legs overall but the ratio of legs to available lift is higher, so traveler-to-traveler competition for any given empty leg may be lower. Read the guide to private jets for ski trips for aircraft recommendations, and see the Aspen airport guide and Jackson Hole private jet guide for ground logistics.

Methodology

Data source: SkyAccess database, unique legs only. A unique leg is defined as a distinct combination of departure date, origin airport, and destination airport. Filters applied: deletedAt IS NULL, status not equal to CANCELLED, internalOnly = false. Period covered: October 2025 through August 2026. Airport scope: KASE, KEGE, KJAC, KBZN, KSUN, KHDN, KTEX, KTRK, KMTJ. Totals may differ slightly from other SkyAccess reports that use different deduplication tuples or date windows.

How to cite this data

Media and research teams may cite figures from this analysis with attribution to SkyAccess. Contact press@theskyaccess.com for underlying data requests or embargo inquiries.