Empty leg flights from Farnborough Airport

Farnborough is one of the very few airports in Britain given over entirely to business aviation. There are no airlines, no check in desks and no baggage carousels, and the whole operation is built around moving a small number of people from the aircraft steps to a car in minutes. Its terminal has topped the AIN FBO Survey for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific twenty years running.

For empty legs that focus works in your favour. Farnborough handled around 30,000 movements in 2024, and in 2023 it had more private jet flights than any other airport in Britain, ahead of Luton. Almost every one of those movements is a private flight, a large resident fleet is based here, and the field closes overnight, which concentrates repositioning into the operating day in a way that is easy to plan around.

Empty legs at Farnborough right now

Sectors appear through the day and are often taken the same afternoon. If nothing on the board fits, send us the route and the window you can travel in. Sectors here are fewer than the traffic suggests and tend to be placed quickly, so registering a route is worth considerably more than checking back.

Departing from Farnborough

Arriving into Farnborough

Where Farnborough sectors come from

The pattern here is different from the larger airports that mix scheduled and private traffic, and it is worth understanding before you start looking.

The corridors that produce sectors here

Farnborough traffic concentrates on a short list of routes, and those are exactly the ones where repositioning flights turn up. If your trip follows one of these corridors, the odds are good. If it does not, a standard charter is usually faster than waiting.

The airport in detail

One terminal, one operator

Farnborough has no choice of handler, and that turns out to be the point rather than a limitation. The company that owns the airport also runs the runway, the handling and the terminal, so there is nobody to coordinate between and nothing falls between two organisations.

The terminal itself is built as a private members' club rather than as a departure hall: spacious lounges with complimentary refreshments, private meeting rooms, a concierge desk and catering through partners. It is a large part of why clients who can use any London field choose this one.

Straight from the steps to the car

Many arrivals at Farnborough never enter the terminal at all. The car is driven onto the apron, positioned at the foot of the aircraft steps, and you step off the aircraft into the back seat. On a good day the time between the wheels stopping and the car moving is a couple of minutes.

What the ground costs

Farnborough is among the most expensive of the London fields on the ground, and it does not pretend otherwise. What you are buying is the terminal and the service standard. On a charter it is a real line in the quote. On an empty leg it does not arise, because the airport comes with the sector.

The weekend point deserves more attention than it usually gets. Saturday and Sunday capacity at Farnborough is constrained by planning conditions, and in 2024 the airport used almost all of its weekend allowance. If your trip is a Friday out and a Sunday back, we will check Farnborough first and tell you quickly if the return has to come into Luton or Biggin Hill instead.

Staying next to the runway

Farnborough has a hotel on the edge of the airfield. The Aviator sits on the airport perimeter, and many of its 169 rooms look onto the runway. It changes what is possible at either end of a trip.

It matters most for early departures. Because the airport does not open until 07:00, and 08:00 at weekends, the first movement of the day is a scramble if you are coming from London. Staying beside the field the night before turns a 04:30 alarm and a drive down the M3 into breakfast and a short transfer to the terminal.

Getting into London

Farnborough is the natural choice from west and south west London, Surrey, Hampshire and the Thames Valley. From the City or Canary Wharf it is one of the slowest of the London fields, and our honest advice is to look elsewhere. These are typical off peak times.

There is no rail option worth taking. Trains from Farnborough Main run into Waterloo, but with luggage and a car already waiting on the apron nobody uses it. If the road is the problem, a helicopter transfer to Battersea takes about fifteen minutes in the air and can be arranged alongside the flight.

What is around the airport

Farnborough is not only a way into London. A good share of arrivals here never go near the city at all, and the reason is what sits within forty minutes or so of the apron.

One date to keep in mind. In airshow years the field gives up most of a week in July to Farnborough International, and normal business aviation movements are heavily restricted during the show. The airshow is held in even numbered years, next in 2028, and if your travel falls in that window we will say so early and plan around it.

Three situations, three answers

Travelling with a dog or a cat

Farnborough is well set up for animals. The airport runs its own pet travel scheme with a dedicated contact for it, and it shows in how smooth the process is on the day.

The rules themselves do not change. Farnborough is on the approved list for animals arriving on a private or charter flight. For an arrival into Great Britain the operator has to hold the relevant approval to carry animals. Unless the flight comes from Ireland, the route also has to be an approved one, and that pairing is checked for every booking. When you leave the country, the requirements are those of your destination. What Farnborough adds is that once the paperwork is right, the handling on the day is well organised.

Questions about flying from Farnborough

Call +44 7857 574938, message the same number on WhatsApp, or write to flight@empty-leg.co.uk. We are based at London Luton, a little over an hour away by road, and we place sectors into Farnborough every week.

Empty leg calendar for Farnborough, month by month

Farnborough behaves differently from the bigger fields because capacity, not aircraft, is usually the constraint. The airport closes overnight and weekend movements are capped, so the calendar matters more here than at most London fields.

September and April are the months to aim for, and June and July are the ones to plan around rather than hope through. If your dates fall in Ascot week or airshow week, tell us early: a charter booked in advance will beat a sector that never appears.