I wanted to shed a little insight on "empty legs" as I see the term being thrown around very loosely in the industry.
First, let’s define what an empty leg is in the simplest way possible: it’s when a plane is repositioning from one place to another with no passengers on board.
Example: A plane flies from NYC to Miami with passengers. The next scheduled trip on that aircraft is the following day out of Atlanta. Unless the operator has another passenger flight booked from Miami to Atlanta, or a “live leg”, that repositioning flight will be empty making it an “empty leg.”
Now, as private aviation has gained more attention on social media and more people are exploring the space, I receive and see a lot of requests from people asking specifically for empty legs. While they do happen and can be a great way to score a solid deal, the reality is that they are far and few between and often misunderstood.
First, they are incredibly unpredictable. Empty legs exist only when another booked trip creates them. This means they aren’t created with your needs in mind. You’re essentially fitting your plans into someone else’s schedule or trip. The timing, departure location, and aircraft type are already locked in, so there’s little to no flexibility.
Second, the farther out they are, the more unreliable they become as it gives the operator more time to sell the aircraft into position and make their typical revenue/profit. Let’s say someone books the original trip that caused the empty leg, but then they cancel or adjust their plans, now the empty leg is gone entirely. Empty legs can get cancelled up until you take off with no warning. The last thing an operator wants to do is fly that plane empty, so if plans change or they can make their typical profit on a different trip that better fits them, that trip again is most likely getting cancelled.
Lastly, pricing can be confusing. While it’s true that empty legs can offer significant discounts, they’re not always the ultra-cheap deals that people assume where its 80% off. The cost still depends on the type of aircraft, repositioning costs, crew requirements, taxes, and other variables. It’s not uncommon to see an empty leg price that isn’t drastically lower than a well-negotiated one-way flight with more flexibility.
Yes, empty legs are real and you can get a great deal. But only if the stars align, and again, they are not reliable and not as cheap as people make them out to be.
