Empty Legs

What exactly is an Empty Leg: Over 30% of private jets are flying empty either to be in position for the next booked flight or to return to its home base. These flights are known as empty legs and are one-way private jet flights without any passengers on board. Often, these empty legs have been paid for in part by the original flyer and are thus offered at reduced rates.

At any given time, there may be more than hundreds of empty legs available worldwide. Once you give us your preferred routes and dates, we can match your schedule with empty legs available in the market. Using multiple platforms, Priority One Jets offers one of the most comprehensive empty leg search capability in the market.

The Empty Leg Myth: While empty legs offer a discount to the flyer, they are not free.  The owner or operator might be keen to fill the flight, and so they’ll offer a discount – but they will still expect a fair price, or else they simply won’t sell it.  Because of this, jaw-droppingly low empty leg flight expectations are often unrealistic.

Where do brokers like Priority One find empty leg flights? Brokers use multiple methods to hunt down empty legs, including specialist aviation forums, private companies that track aircraft availability, and more. Broker may purchase the empty legs or they might set clients up together to help them both of them secure the lowest price . For example, if one broker’s client  is paying for a round-trip for a one-way flight and another client is flying in the opposite direction only, the two cancel each other out. One purchases the round-trip and the other purchases the empty leg. This is referred to as ‘matching’ two trips together.

What should be considered before an empty leg flight is booked? When you book a round-trip, you’ll usually be able to cancel as long as you give 72-96 hours’ notice. However, with an empty leg flight, you own it – which means no refund if you choose to cancel, because the operator has made a commitment to the client flying on the other leg of the flight. They can’t refund you without then charging their original client more.

Mechanical issues can also ruin your plans with empty legs. If your plane is grounded, there may not be another empty leg anywhere near the price you expected to pay. In this event, your broker will provide you with options – such as another empty leg, or a round-trip – and the prices available. Because empty legs are based on very specific days, times and pricing, it can be very tricky to find a replacement.