The short answer
An empty leg is a repositioning flight — an aircraft moving without passengers to reach its next trip or return to base. The flight is happening regardless, so it is offered well below the normal charter rate. The trade-off is real and non-negotiable: the route, the date and the aircraft are fixed by somebody else's trip, and if that trip changes, yours changes with it. Excellent value if your plans are genuinely flexible; entirely the wrong tool if they are not.
Why they exist
Private aircraft do not live where you are. They live where their last trip ended.
When an aircraft drops passengers in Aspen and its next booking is out of Teterboro, somebody has to fly it from Aspen to Teterboro, empty. That flight is scheduled, fueled, crewed and paid for whether anyone is on it or not.
The marginal cost of carrying passengers on a flight that is departing anyway is small. That gap is the entire economics of an empty leg.
What you actually get
The same aircraft, the same operator, the same crew and the same safety standard as a full-price charter. This is not a lesser product. The aircraft does not know it is an empty leg.
What differs is control, and it differs completely.
What you give up
The route is fixed. Not approximately fixed — fixed. It goes from where the aircraft is to where the aircraft needs to be. If that is close to where you want to go, excellent. If it is ninety minutes’ drive away, that is the deal.
The date is fixed. Sometimes with a day or two of flexibility if the operator’s schedule permits, frequently with none.
The aircraft is fixed. You get whatever is repositioning. A heavy jet on a route a light jet would have served, or the reverse.
The flight can vanish. This is the risk that matters. The originating trip governs the aircraft. If that client moves their return by a day, or cancels, the empty leg moves or disappears. Any broker who does not tell you this clearly before you book is setting you up.
The honest test
Ask yourself one question: if this flight disappeared 24 hours before departure, what would that cost me?
If the answer is “an annoyance and a rebooked dinner”, an empty leg is the best value in private aviation and you should be on an alert list.
If the answer involves a missed closing, a connection, an event that cannot move, or anyone else’s schedule — charter the trip properly. The saving is not worth what you are risking, and we will say so rather than take the booking.
How to actually get them
Empty legs are a timing problem more than a searching problem. They surface with a few days’ notice and are frequently gone within hours.
Published lists are therefore mostly a lagging indicator. What works is telling a broker your routes and your flexibility in advance, so they are watching for a match rather than you refreshing a page. That is a conversation rather than a list: you tell the people who arrange the trip what you would take, and you hear when it exists.
A note on the discount
Empty legs are marketed with dramatic percentages. Treat those with the same scepticism you would apply anywhere else.
The real saving depends on the route, the aircraft, how close to departure the offer is, and how badly the operator wants to defray the reposition. Some empty legs are extraordinary value. Some are a modest discount on an aircraft larger than you needed, which is not the same thing at all.
We will tell you which one you are looking at.
Related questions
While we are here.
How much do empty legs cost?
Substantially less than a normal charter of the same aircraft, though the discount varies with route, aircraft and proximity to departure. You are covering the marginal cost of carrying passengers on a flight that was already scheduled and already paid for by someone else.
Can an empty leg be canceled?
Yes, and this is the central risk. The originating trip governs the aircraft. If it moves or cancels, your empty leg moves or disappears with it. A reputable broker tells you this before you book rather than after.
How do I find empty legs?
Join a broker’s alert list. Empty legs surface with a few days' notice and are frequently taken within hours, so by the time one is published widely it is usually gone.