Empty Legs Explained: How Charter Operators Monetize Positioning Flights
What are empty leg flights? Learn how Part 135 operators turn positioning flights into revenue — with strategies for pricing, marketing, and marketplace distribution.
Founder & CEO, Fly Vantage AI
Every charter operator flies empty legs — positioning flights where the aircraft must travel without passengers. Industry estimates suggest 30-40% of all charter flights are empty repositioning legs. That's thousands of flight hours burning fuel with zero revenue.
Smart operators turn these empty legs into a revenue opportunity.
What Is an Empty Leg?
An empty leg occurs in two common scenarios:
- Pre-positioning: Aircraft needs to fly from its home base to the client's departure airport
- Repositioning: After dropping off passengers, the aircraft flies back empty to its base or next departure point
For example: A Gulfstream G650 based in Teterboro (KTEB) has a charter from Palm Beach (KPBI) to Aspen (KASE). The aircraft must first fly KTEB → KPBI empty (pre-positioning), and after the trip, fly KASE → KTEB empty (repositioning). That's two empty legs — roughly $40,000-$60,000 in operating costs with no revenue.
How to Price Empty Legs
| Pricing Strategy | Discount | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Cover costs only | 60-75% off | Filling otherwise dead flights, building client relationships |
| Cost + margin | 40-60% off | Most common — recovers costs and contributes to profit |
| Light discount | 25-40% off | Premium routes with high demand (e.g., NYC → Miami on Friday afternoons) |
Where to Publish Empty Legs
To maximize visibility, operators should publish empty legs across multiple channels:
- Your own website — direct bookings, no commission
- Avinode — largest B2B charter marketplace
- Aviapages — free API-based marketplace
- Social media — Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook for direct-to-consumer
- Empty leg aggregators — sites that compile available legs from multiple operators
- Fly Vantage Network — operator-to-operator empty leg sharing
Automating Empty Leg Management
With an AI-powered FMS like Fly Vantage AI, empty leg management is automated:
- Auto-detection: When a one-way charter is booked, the system automatically identifies the resulting empty leg
- Auto-pricing: Suggests pricing based on route, aircraft, and market demand
- Multi-channel publishing: Pushes the leg to your website, Avinode, and other marketplaces simultaneously
- Lead capture: Inquiries from any channel flow into your pipeline automatically
- Expiration: Legs are automatically removed after the flight date passes
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an empty leg flight?▾
An empty leg flight (also called a positioning flight or deadhead leg) is when a charter aircraft must fly without passengers to reposition for its next trip. Operators offer these flights at significant discounts — typically 25-75% off — to recover some of the operating cost.
How much can operators save on empty legs?▾
Clients can save 25-75% off standard charter rates. For operators, even a discounted empty leg recovers fuel costs, landing fees, and crew expenses that would otherwise be pure loss.
Where can I find empty leg flights?▾
Empty legs are published on operator websites, marketplace platforms like Avinode and Aviapages, and aggregator sites. Fly Vantage AI includes a built-in empty leg marketplace that distributes legs across multiple channels automatically.
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