What is an empty leg?
An empty leg is a sector the aircraft must fly without passengers to reach its next mission — it dropped a client in Nice and has to return to Geneva. The operator already pays for fuel and crew, so it resells that sector 50 to 75 % below the normal charter rate. The trade-off: date, time and route are fixed, and the leg disappears if the paid mission behind it moves.
What you accept in exchange for the price
You choose neither the date, the time, the airports, nor usually the aircraft. An empty leg can be cancelled up to the last moment if the paid flight that creates it moves or falls through — the operator then has no repositioning to make. It is a flight for someone with flexibility, not for a fixed appointment.
Where they appear in Europe
The densest corridors produce the most empty legs: London–Nice, Paris–Geneva, Geneva–Courchevel in ski season, Nice–Ibiza and Milan–Olbia in summer. A one-way to an Alpine resort in January nearly always creates an empty return within hours.
How not to miss them
An empty leg sells within hours and rarely appears more than three days before departure. Checking a list once a week does not work: the only method that does is an alert on a departure–arrival pair, fired the moment a leg matches.
The numbers, route by route
| Route | Category | Passengers | Flight | Estimate (one-way) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paris → Nice690 km | Light jet | up to 7 | 1h 12 | 3,000 – 3,500 €* |
| Paris → Geneva410 km | Light jet | up to 7 | 48 min | 2,000 – 2,500 €* |
| Paris → London370 km | Light jet | up to 7 | 48 min | 2,000 – 2,500 €* |
| Paris → Courchevel490 km | Light jet | up to 7 | 1h 00 | 2,500 – 3,000 €* |
| Paris → Marrakech2,050 km | Midsize jet | up to 9 | 2h 54 | 10,000 – 12,000 € |
| Geneva → Courchevel150 km | Light jet | up to 7 | 24 min | 1,000 – 1,500 €* |
| London → Nice1,030 km | Midsize jet | up to 9 | 1h 36 | 5,500 – 6,500 €* |
| Paris → Ibiza1,000 km | Midsize jet | up to 9 | 1h 42 | 6,000 – 7,000 €* |
Computed estimates: great-circle distance × 1.05, time at manufacturer cruise + 0.3 h taxi, published broker hourly rates (Paramount Business Jets), converted at the ECB rate. The firm price depends on aircraft positioning, fees and date.
* Flight under two hours: most operators bill a two-hour minimum per day of use, so the real price is above the computed estimate.