The State of the Empty Leg Market — 2026 Annual Report

1. Live inventory: ~150,000 empty legs, 800+ Part 135 operators

SkyAccess indexes 150,000+ live empty-leg flights at any given time from 800+ FAA Part 135 partner operators across 5,000+ airports. That's roughly 50× the live inventory advertised by competing brokers like AceJet (3,268 listed as of 2026 Q2) and reflects the full Part 135 marketplace rather than a curated subset.

• Active US Part 135 air carrier certificates: ~2,100 (FAA, 2024)
• SkyAccess partner operators (subset publishing inventory): 800+
• Live empty-leg flights indexed at any moment: 150,000+
• Unique departure / arrival airports covered: 5,000+

Source: FAA — Air Carrier and Air Agency Certifications

2. Pricing: discount depth scales inversely with time to departure

Empty-leg pricing isn't anchored to retail charter — it's anchored to the operator's marginal positioning cost. Median discount runs ~38% off retail at 14 days out and widens to ~58% inside the 72-hour window. Same-day inventory routinely clears at 70–80% off retail as operators recover marginal positioning cost rather than fly the leg empty.

• Median discount at 14 days out: ~38% off retail
• Median discount inside 72 hours: ~58% off retail
• Same-day cleared inventory: commonly 70–80% off retail
• All quoted before 7.5% Federal Excise Tax and IRS segment fee (~$5.20/passenger/segment in 2024)

Source: SkyAccess marketplace data, 2025-26

3. Corridor concentration: 10 routes account for the bulk of US activity

Empty-leg supply clusters on a small number of high-traffic corridors where operators reposition aircraft repeatedly. The top 10 US corridors account for a disproportionate share of all live SkyAccess empty-leg activity — heavily seasonal on the ski and coastal routes, roughly flat on the year-round leisure / business corridors.

• Top US winter corridor: Teterboro ↔ Miami (Opa-Locka)
• Top US summer corridor: Teterboro ↔ East Hampton
• Top year-round corridor: Van Nuys ↔ Las Vegas
• Top ski-season corridor: Van Nuys → Aspen
• Densest weekend traffic: Friday afternoon NE → Florida / NE → Hamptons

Source: SkyAccess marketplace data, 2025-26 season

4. Aircraft mix: light jets dominate by count, heavy jets by spend

Light jets account for ~46% of SkyAccess empty-leg inventory by leg count — Citation CJ3+, Phenom 300, Learjet 75, and similar 4-6 passenger workhorse aircraft. Midsize is ~22%, super midsize ~14%, heavy + ultra-long-range combined ~10%, turboprops ~8%. Heavy and ultra-long-range together represent a disproportionately larger share of total dollar spend because per-hour rates run 3-5× the light jet category.

• Light jets: ~46% of leg count, ~30% of spend
• Midsize: ~22% of leg count, ~22% of spend
• Super midsize: ~14% of leg count, ~18% of spend
• Heavy + ultra-long-range: ~10% of leg count, ~24% of spend
• Turboprop: ~8% of leg count, ~6% of spend

Source: SkyAccess marketplace data, 2025-26

5. Regulatory context: every legitimate empty leg is Part 135

Every legitimate empty leg flight in the US is operated under FAA Part 135 by a certificated air carrier. "Gray" charter — paid flights on Part 91 aircraft without a Part 135 certificate — is illegal, with civil penalties of up to ~$32,000 per flight as of 2024 and insurance voiding the moment an unauthorized charter is identified. SkyAccess only lists Part 135-operated inventory.

• Active US Part 135 air carrier certificates: ~2,100 (FAA, 2024)
• Civil penalty per illegal Part 91 charter: up to ~$32,000 (FAA Order 2150.3C)
• DOT Part 295 (broker disclosure rule): effective 2018, requires brokers to identify the actual operating Part 135 carrier in writing
• Federal Excise Tax on domestic charter: 7.5% (IRS)

Source: FAA — 14 CFR Part 135

6. Year-over-year: the market is growing on coastal corridors

Both Part 135 fleet size and SkyAccess-indexed inventory have grown year-over-year since the post-COVID demand surge in 2021–2022 stabilized. Growth is concentrated in light jet and super-midsize inventory on coastal corridors; turboprop inventory has been roughly flat and ultra-long-range positioning legs remain rare in absolute numbers but more frequently sold-as-empty-leg than in prior years.

• Light jet inventory on coastal corridors: up year-over-year
• Super midsize inventory: up year-over-year on the NE ↔ Florida corridor
• Turboprop inventory: roughly flat year-over-year
• Ultra-long-range positioning legs: still rare, but a higher share of them are being published as empty legs than in 2024