The Icarus Empty Leg Desk
Empty Leg Charter Flights,
Priced to Reposition.
An empty leg is a repositioning flight with no passengers aboard. When its route and timing line up with yours, it is the cheapest way to fly private. When they do not, it is the wrong tool, and we will tell you so. Send us a route and an advisor searches operator availability directly.
The Service
What an empty leg charter covers
A private jet charter is quoted as a round trip. The aircraft flies you out, and unless someone has booked the return it has to reposition, back to base or on to its next job, with nobody aboard. That sector is already paid for, so the operator sells it at a discount rather than burn it empty. Industry data cited by the EBAA puts empty legs at roughly 40 percent of all business aviation movements.
Why the flight exists, and where the discount comes from
Keeping a jet parked and waiting costs an operator more than flying it home, so the return sector happens whether or not anyone is on it. The cost is already covered by the original client, which means the price you are quoted is not built the way an on-demand quote is. The operator is recovering what it can on a flight that is going anyway.
The difference between buying that from us and buying it from a listings app is who stands behind the aircraft. We work through operators we already hold relationships with and who pass an Argus or Wyvern audit, rather than a feed with no bond to the aircraft or the crew.
What is fixed, and what you can still move
The route, the timing and the aircraft belong to the repositioning flight. Your flexibility is the currency you pay with instead of money, and it is why two clients on the same route can get very different answers on the same day.
Some of it is negotiable. A reroute that drops you at a point along the way can often be arranged, and if nothing fits we will quote your itinerary as a straight charter so you can see both numbers side by side. For how full-price charter is built up, see our guide to what it costs to charter a private jet.
Availability
Get told when one matches your route
Empty legs surface and disappear quickly, and no website shows all of them accurately because availability changes by the hour. The practical approach is to register the city pairs you care about and let the matches come to you.
Prefer a person? Send your route and dates and an advisor will search operator availability directly, then tell you honestly whether an empty leg or an on-demand charter is the better buy for that trip.
Where They Come Up
Empty legs cluster on the routes that already fly
Repositioning is not random. It concentrates on corridors where one-way charter is common and aircraft have to get back, which is why watching two or three specific city pairs beats scanning every listing you can find. Start from the routes you actually fly rather than from whatever happens to be cheap this week.
We operate from Dallas, London, Dubai and Nairobi, so those are the corridors our desk watches most closely: the Gulf to Europe run, Texas and the US transcontinental legs, the Mediterranean in summer, and East Africa in safari season. If your travel sits on one of them, the odds of a usable match are meaningfully better than on a route we rarely see.
The practical version of this is a short watchlist. Give us two or three pairings and an acceptable window either side, and you stop competing with everyone refreshing a public listings page at the same time.
Be specific about substitutes. Most matches are near-misses rather than exact ones, so tell us which alternative airports you would accept up front. A field twenty minutes further out is often the difference between a match and nothing, and on congested metros it can be quicker on the ground anyway.
Name your real flex. A two-day window with morning or afternoon both acceptable is far more useful to us than an open-ended request for "sometime next week". Precision about your flexibility is what lets an advisor filter hard and come back fast.
The Trade
What you gain, and what you give up
Empty legs are genuinely cheaper and genuinely inflexible. Both are true at once, and the clients who are happy with them are the ones who knew the second half going in.
In your favour
A materially lower price than the same sector booked on demand.
Often a larger cabin than you would have chosen at that price, because the aircraft is whatever is being repositioned.
The full private experience stays intact: private terminal, short boarding, your own group aboard.
No commitment to a card, a membership or a prepaid balance.
Plan around this
Non-refundable. Fares are almost always final once booked with the operator.
Airports rarely match exactly. Repositioning to your preferred field costs extra and erodes the saving.
Close matches are rare. Airports, dates and times all lining up at once is the exception.
Catering is not standard. Ask for it on longer flights or specific requirements.
The leg can vanish if the charter that created it changes. We track the original mission and tell you as soon as it moves.
Not sure which way your trip falls? Send the route and the dates and an advisor will price it both ways, as an empty leg if one exists and as an on-demand charter if it does not, so you can see the real difference rather than a headline discount.
Ask an advisor for your route →What Shapes The Price
Why two empty legs never cost the same
There is no rate card for empty legs, because each one is priced against a movement that already exists. These are the inputs that move the number.
Route length
The same logic as any charter: the longer the sector, the more it costs to fly, discount or not.
Seasonality
Demand swings through the year, and that moves both what is available and what it sells for.
Aircraft type
A larger jet costs more to operate than a light one, though split across a bigger group the per-seat economics can improve.
Repositioning
If the aircraft has to move to your airport rather than its own, that flying time and those landing fees come back into the price.
Timing
Legs released close to departure can price lower, because the operator's alternative is flying it empty.
Extras
Catering, ground transport and special requirements are quoted on top, since the base fare is no-frills.
How To Book
How to actually book an empty leg
Start with four facts: your date, your departure airport, your destination and the number of passengers. With those an advisor can search what is repositioning and tell you quickly whether anything fits.
A worked example
A client charters one way from Dubai to London. That aircraft now needs to get back. If you want to fly London to Dubai on short notice and on a budget, that returning sector is exactly what you are looking for. A rerouted empty leg is possible too, where the operator agrees to drop you at a point along the way rather than at its final destination.
The reality check
If nothing matches, ask for a hard charter quote on your own schedule anyway. Once the operator counts its own repositioning and landing fees, that number is sometimes closer than people expect.
What actually improves your odds
Stay flexible. A day either way, or a nearby airport, is often the difference between a match and nothing.
Register early, book late. Tell us the routes you want well ahead, then expect the flight itself to confirm close to departure.
Use an advisor, not a feed. A listings site shows what was available. An advisor with operator relationships can confirm it is still real and negotiate a reroute.
Empty legs are one route to a lower price and not the only one. Last-minute charter deals covers the rest, ten tips for buying jet cards looks at prepaid programmes, and chartering with cryptocurrency covers an option some clients ask about.
Before You Book
Two things worth settling in advance
Empty legs confirm close to departure and move fast, so both of these are easier to sort now than in the hour you have to decide.
Be ready to move
Passenger details. Full legal names and dates of birth.
Passports. Current details for anyone crossing a border.
A payment method ready. Confirmation is not held while you arrange one.
Ground transport. Especially if the leg lands at a secondary airport.
Someone who can decide. If it needs three approvals, the leg is gone.
Compare the whole trip
A percentage off means little on its own. What matters is the all-in number against the same routing booked as a normal charter, once airport and handling fees, catering, and seasonal costs such as winter de-icing are counted.
Run that comparison and sometimes the full charter wins: when your timing cannot move, when the return leg needs locking too, when a specific cabin or baggage capacity matters, or when the gap is narrow enough that keeping control of the schedule is worth the difference.
Flexible Dates?
Empty legs can be gone within hours.
If an empty leg fits your trip, it is the cheapest way to fly private. If it does not, we will say so and price it properly instead. Either way you get the real number.
FAQ about empty leg charter flights
What is an empty leg flight?
An empty leg is a repositioning flight with no passengers aboard. A charter is quoted as a round trip, so after the outbound leg the aircraft often has to fly back to base or on to its next booking with an empty cabin. That sector is already paid for by the original client, so the operator sells it at a discount rather than fly it empty.
How much do you save on an empty leg charter flight?
Meaningfully less than the same routing booked on demand, because the aircraft is moving anyway and the operator is recovering cost rather than pricing from scratch. The exact discount moves with the route, the aircraft and how close to departure you book, so we price each one individually instead of publishing a headline percentage.
How far in advance can I book an empty leg?
Empty legs are usually only confirmed within about two days of the flight, because they only exist once the original charter is booked. Some appear hours before departure. You can register your route in advance and we will contact you when a match comes up.
Can I change the departure airport or the departure time?
Only within limits. The routing belongs to the repositioning flight, so airports and timing are set by the operator, not by you. A reroute to drop you at a point along the way can sometimes be negotiated, and moving the departure airport usually means paying for the extra positioning, which erodes the saving.
Are empty leg flights refundable?
Almost always no. Empty leg fares are typically non-refundable once booked with the operator, and the flight can also fall away if the original charter that created it moves or cancels. If your dates cannot slip, an on-demand charter is the safer choice.
Is catering included on an empty leg?
Generally not. Empty legs are sold as no-frills, with standard amenities such as water, soft drinks, juice and coffee. Tell us in advance about dietary requirements or a flight longer than about three hours and we will arrange catering as an addition.
Can I book a single seat on an empty leg?
No. Empty legs are sold as a whole aircraft. Matching one itinerary to a repositioning flight is already difficult, and matching several unrelated passengers to the same leg is harder still, so we have yet to see them sold by the seat.
How do I find empty leg flights from Dubai?
Send us the route and the dates and we search operator availability directly rather than scraping a marketplace. Dubai is one of our operating bases, alongside Dallas, London and Nairobi, so movements in and out of the Gulf are routes we watch closely. You can also subscribe to alerts for a specific city pair on this page.
What is the difference between an empty leg and an on-demand charter?
An on-demand charter is built around you: your airports, your departure time, your choice of aircraft. An empty leg is the opposite, an existing flight you fit into in exchange for a lower price. On-demand buys certainty, an empty leg buys savings, and which is right depends on how fixed your plans are.
Do I need a membership or a jet card to book an empty leg?
No. There is no membership, subscription or prepaid balance required, and you can book a single empty leg as a one-off charter. If you fly often enough that prepayment starts to make sense, our guide to jet cards covers how those programmes compare.
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Send us your route
Give us the date, the two airports and the passenger count. We will tell you what is repositioning, what it would cost, and whether an empty leg or an on-demand charter is genuinely the better buy for your trip.
Prefer to talk? Call +1 888 277 7203 or email info@icarusjet.com. The desk is staffed 24/7.