Empty leg flights from Oxford Airport

London Oxford is the only airport between Heathrow and Birmingham, and for private flying it has one advantage the London fields cannot match: there are no slot restrictions at all. It opens at half past six in the morning, closes at half past ten at night and extends to midnight on request, seven days a week. The airport itself claims the longest opening hours of any non commercial airport in the country, and the claim is hard to argue with.

It is also busier than most people realise. By the airport's own figures it ranks fifth in the United Kingdom for business aviation movements and first for general aviation traffic overall, with around fifty thousand movements a year.

Empty legs from London Oxford right now

The board below shows what our operator network has released on routes through this field. Oxford appears on it more often than its size suggests, and there is a reason: with no slot to obtain and long opening hours, it is the easiest airport in the London area for an operator to move an aircraft into at short notice.

Departing from London Oxford

Arriving into London Oxford

Why sectors appear at Oxford

Three things put aircraft on this apron, and none of them is the one that fills Luton.

London Oxford Airport in detail

The operational facts that decide whether an aircraft, a time and a route work at this field.

The Battersea connection

This is the part of the airport that does not exist anywhere else, and it is the reason Oxford can compete with fields forty miles closer to London.

The private terminal

There is one, it is run by the airport itself rather than by a contractor, and it does considerably more than park aircraft: chauffeur and self drive car hire, hotel and travel bookings, secretarial services, in flight catering and the helicopter shuttle all go through the same desk. It has won awards for it: best business aviation airport at both the European Sapphire Pegasus awards and the UK airport operators' ceremony, and a place on one industry magazine's list of Europe's top terminals. It holds stage two accreditation under the international standard for business aircraft handling, which is a level many terminals have not reached.

Twenty minutes before a domestic departure and half an hour before an international one covers it. There is a single terminal here, so on an empty leg nothing is left to decide: the address and the crew contact arrive in the flight brief.

What the ground costs

Oxford is among the least expensive airports in the London area to use privately, and the reasons are structural rather than promotional.

The Battersea discount deserves a second look, because it inverts the usual arithmetic. On paper a field forty miles out with a helicopter leg on top looks more expensive than one closer in. In practice the landing fee halves, there is no slot to pay for or wait for, and twenty two minutes in a helicopter beats an hour and a quarter on the M40 at almost any time of day.

The other fields nearby

Oxford sits in a part of England unusually well supplied with airfields. Three of the neighbours matter for a jet, and the fourth is worth knowing about for a different reason.

Getting into London and across the region

The number people fix on is sixty miles to central London, and it is the wrong number to fix on. These are typical off peak times by road.

For anyone going to Oxford, the Cotswolds or the M40 corridor rather than into London, none of this arises: the airport is simply the closest one. For central London it comes down to whether the helicopter is in the plan, and the West End row in the table gives both numbers to compare.

Popular destinations from London Oxford, and which way they run empty

A handful of routes produce sectors week after week while most produce nothing. These are the first kind. Each figure is where a whole aircraft usually starts on a repositioning flight; the charter price for the same route is in the charter price table for Oxford.

You will notice the list stops at Europe. That is the runway rather than the demand: at 1,552 metres a long range jet cannot leave here with the fuel a crossing needs, so a transatlantic or Gulf trip starts from Luton or Stansted instead. Luton is about an hour away by road, and we will say so rather than sell you a fuel stop.

Online calculator

If you want to see what your route would cost as a standard charter, so you have something to measure an empty leg against, use the calculator below. Fill in the airports, the dates and the number of passengers, add any preference on aircraft type, and we will send a written calculation by email or messenger. Please check your contact details carefully so that we can reply quickly.

The figure the calculator returns is an estimate for planning. The firm quote comes back from our consultants with the cost broken out line by line, and the price agreed there is the price written into the contract.

If you would rather skip the arithmetic, send us the route and the dates instead and a consultant will come back with both numbers, the charter price and any empty leg that fits.

Arriving at Oxford from abroad

The formalities are the same as at any British airport, with one difference worth planning around: the border staff here attend for the flight rather than sitting in the building all day.

• Passenger details go in with the booking. Every passenger is submitted with a full name, a date of birth, a nationality and a passport number. The general aviation report goes to the airport's operations team, who pass it on, rather than being handed over at the aircraft.
• Electronic travel authorisation. Visitors from countries that do not need a visa now require an ETA before travelling to the UK, and it applies on a private flight exactly as it does on a scheduled one.
• Customs attend on request. They are arranged for the flight rather than permanently present, which is normal at a field this size and is the reason an international arrival is set up in advance rather than on the day.
• Air Passenger Duty on departures. Charged per passenger leaving a UK airport and shown as its own line in any quote we send, rather than folded into the total.

Empty leg calendar for London Oxford, month by month

Oxford follows the London year with two local additions: a racing week in March that pulls every aircraft in the region towards Cheltenham, and a motor racing weekend in the summer forty minutes up the road. Otherwise it is quieter than the fields to the east in exactly the weeks they are busiest.

April, September and October are the months to aim for, with November close behind on price. The week to plan around is the March racing, and the useful inversion applies there as everywhere: the two days after it ends are among the best of the spring, because every aircraft that flew somebody in has to leave again.

Three situations, three answers

Travelling with a dog or a cat

This is one of the real reasons to use Oxford. The terminal is approved for pet imports and has brought thousands of cats and dogs into the country, which is not something most airports in the London area can say. Notification is required twenty four hours before arrival or departure and the process is routine here rather than exceptional.

The underlying conditions still apply and are checked per booking: the operator needs approval for animals on the particular route, and coming from outside these islands the veterinary window has to be met. Departing, it is the destination that sets the rules. Tell us about the animal in the first message and the routing is built around it.

Questions about flying private from London Oxford

Call +44 7857 574938, message the same number on WhatsApp, or write to flight@empty-leg.co.uk. Tell us the route and the window you can travel in, and we will watch this field for you.