How Empty Leg Flights Are Priced

An empty leg exists because a private jet has to reposition. After it drops passengers in one city, or before it collects them in another, the aircraft often has to fly somewhere else with an empty cabin. The operator pays for that fuel, crew, and airport time regardless of whether anyone is on board. That is the key fact behind empty leg pricing: the flight is a sunk cost the operator is trying to offset, not a trip it is trying to sell at full margin.

Because the baseline is loss recovery rather than profit, the fare lands 25 to 75% below a comparable full charter on the same aircraft. Any dollar the operator collects on a leg it was going to fly anyway is better than flying it empty. That is also why the discount band is so wide. A leg the operator is desperate to fill can go for up to 75% off, while a popular route days out will sit closer to the 25% end.

SkyAccess aggregates these repositioning flights from 900+ FAA Part 135 (and international equivalent) certified charter operators into a single searchable marketplace, with 5,000+ live empty leg flights at any given time.

Once you understand the baseline, the exact price on any given empty leg comes down to four levers:

• Aircraft class: A turboprop or light jet recovers a smaller absolute cost than a super-midsize or heavy jet, so its empty leg fare is lower in dollar terms even at the same percentage discount. Larger cabins burn more fuel and carry higher fixed operating costs, which sets a higher floor.
• Route popularity: Legs between busy private aviation city pairs attract more competing buyers, which holds the discount nearer the 25% end. A leg into or out of a low-demand airport has fewer takers, so the operator discounts harder to move it.
• Lead time: The closer the departure, the more motivated the operator is to fill the seat rather than fly empty. Discounts tend to deepen as the clock runs down, which is why last-minute empty legs often reach the deepest end of the band.
• Day of the week: Peak business travel days and popular weekend windows carry firmer pricing because demand is higher. Off-peak midweek departures are typically cheaper.

No single lever decides the fare. A light jet on a quiet midweek route booked 24 hours out will approach the 75% end, while a heavy jet on a popular Friday route booked a week ahead will sit near 25% off.

Empty leg pricing is best understood as ranges by aircraft class rather than fixed numbers, because the same aircraft can carry very different fares depending on the route and timing above. As a general framework:

• Turboprops and very light jets: the lowest empty leg fares, suited to short regional hops.
• Light and midsize jets: moderate fares, the most common empty leg category and the widest availability.
• Super-midsize and heavy jets: the highest absolute fares, but often the largest dollar savings versus a full charter because the full-charter baseline they discount from is so high.

The percentage discount stays inside the 25 to 75% band across all classes. What changes between classes is the dollar figure that band is applied to. For live fares on specific aircraft and routes, search the current listings rather than relying on a fixed estimate.

Empty leg flights are priced for the entire aircraft. You are chartering the whole jet, so the fare does not change based on how many people travel with you. One person flying alone and a group filling every seat pay the same total price.

This is a defining feature of the private charter model and it is different from how airlines and some semi-private shuttle products work. There is no per-passenger fare and no cost saving from flying with fewer people. The practical takeaway: the more of the cabin you fill, the lower the effective cost for each person in your party, since the fixed whole-aircraft price is being shared. To compare an empty leg against a scheduled flight fairly, weigh the total aircraft price against what your whole group would otherwise pay.

Because the discount band is wide, the same route can show very different value on different days. A strong empty leg is one where a deep-discount leg happens to match your date, direction, and departure window. That alignment, not the headline percentage alone, is what makes an empty leg worth booking.

A few things to check when weighing a listing:

• Direction and timing must match yours. Empty legs fly on the operator's schedule, so flexibility is what unlocks the deepest fares.
• Compare the whole-aircraft fare to a full charter quote on the same class to see the real saving inside the 25 to 75% band.
• Watch lead time. Later-booking legs often carry deeper discounts, but availability narrows.

SkyAccess is the world's largest empty leg marketplace by listing volume, which means more legs to match against your dates and a better chance of catching a leg at the deep end of the discount band. Browse live empty leg flights to see current pricing across aircraft classes and routes.