The Secret to Flying Private For Less
What is an empty leg flight, and why do they exist? It’s a private jet flying with no passengers on board. Aircraft need to get back to base, or reposition for their next booking. That flight has to happen either way. If nobody has chartered that leg, the aircraft flies it empty.
Empty leg flights explained simply: someone flies Sydney to Perth for a private charter. The plane needs to come back to Sydney to pick up its next client. That return flight is the empty leg. Some people call these deadhead flights, same thing, different name from the aviation world.
Instead of that return flight going to waste, it goes on offer at a fraction of the price. That’s how you end up with genuinely cheap private jets, on real aircraft, on real routes.
Why they’re cheaper
The operator has already covered the cost of getting that aircraft airborne. Fuel, crew, and positioning are locked in regardless of who’s on board.
So instead of pricing the flight from scratch, operators price it to cover marginal costs and fill the seat. That’s why empty legs typically run 25% to 75% below the standard charter rate for the same route and aircraft type.
If you’re wondering how much empty leg flights cost, there’s no single number. It depends on the aircraft, the route, and how close you’re booking to departure. But the discount against a normal charter is the real story here.
How to find empty leg flights in Australia
The tricky part is that empty legs pop up when an aircraft needs repositioning, not on a schedule you can plan around. That means routes and dates change week to week. A Melbourne to Brisbane empty leg might appear on Tuesday and be gone by Wednesday. There’s no fixed timetable to check.
The most reliable way to catch them is to have someone watching aircraft movements across the country and flagging opportunities as they come up, rather than searching from scratch every time.
The trade-offs
Empty legs aren’t a replacement for a booked charter, and it pays to know why upfront. You’re working with fixed routes and fixed dates, set by wherever the aircraft already needs to go. If your travel dates are flexible and the route lines up, it’s a great deal. If you need a specific day or a specific city pair, you might be waiting a while. Availability also moves fast. The good ones get snapped up within hours of being listed.
How AVMIN’s alert system works
AVMIN arranges private charter across Australia through a network of third-party operators, and that network is exactly what makes empty leg alerts possible.
When you register for an empty leg, AVMIN keeps you across relevant routes as they come up from operators nationwide, based on where you actually want to fly. No trawling through listings that don’t match your plans.
Example routes and typical savings
A Sydney to Brisbane empty leg on a light jet might come in well under the standard one-way charter rate for that aircraft. Perth to Adelaide, or Melbourne to Cairns, follow the same pattern: full aircraft, private terminal, at a price that reflects a repositioning flight rather than a booked one.
Worth comparing against a standard private jet charter cost for the same route to see the gap for yourself. Want to see what’s possible closer to home? Have a look at the domestic destinations AVMIN covers to get a feel for where an empty leg might take you next.
Get the next one before it’s gone
Empty legs move fast, and the best ones go quickly, so it pays to be ready when one lands. The best way to catch one that suits you is to register for an empty leg and let AVMIN do the watching. Or get in touch with the AVMIN team today and tell us your likely routes, and we’ll flag the ones worth acting on.