Empty leg flights to and from Amsterdam

Amsterdam combines a UNESCO listed ring of 17th century canals, the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum with one of Europe's busiest business districts, the Zuidas, and the RAI exhibition centre. Private flights use Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, code AMS, about 9 kilometres south west of the city, where business jets are handled in Schiphol East, mainly by the FBOs Jet Aviation and AviaVIP in the General Aviation Terminal. From London the flight takes about an hour.

Schiphol is also one of the most tightly regulated airports in Europe for private aviation: private flights were cut by almost a third in 2024, the noisiest aircraft types are not accepted and there are no night slots for business jets. We plan every Amsterdam flight around these rules, and when Schiphol is full we look at Rotterdam and Lelystad as well.

Amsterdam sectors available today

The first list shows every sector we currently hold into or out of Schiphol, together with flights released at Rotterdam The Hague and Lelystad, which serve the same region. Below it, the charter table prices each aircraft for a trip on your own dates, so you can see what the empty leg saves.

Why Amsterdam releases so many empty legs

The North Sea crossing is one of the shortest international hops from Britain, and at Schiphol a jet rarely waits on the ground for its passengers. Parking is limited and each movement needs a slot, so crews usually drop their party and fly straight back to base, and that empty return is what we offer.

Empty legs appear all year on the business routes, with extra sectors in spring for the tulip season, in September for the trade fairs and in October for the dance festival. Midweek sectors from London and the northern English cities are the most regular.

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in detail

Schiphol opened on 16 September 1916 as a military airfield and now lies about 3 metres below sea level on the reclaimed Haarlemmermeer polder. In 2025 it handled 68.8 million passengers and 477,552 flights, making it the fourth busiest airport in Europe by passengers, and for 2026 the government allows a maximum of 478,000 movements. Business aviation is a small part of this traffic and is handled away from the main terminal, at the General Aviation Terminal on Thermiekstraat in Schiphol East, next to the Oostbaan, the short runway used mainly by general aviation.

For operators the key facts are the slot and the clock. Every arrival and departure is booked in five minute blocks with the slot coordinator, and a missed slot can mean a long wait for another. With no night slots for business jets, a flight must land and leave during the day, so a late dinner in the city and a return the same night are not possible from Schiphol. Crosswinds and low cloud from the North Sea are common in autumn and winter, and Rotterdam and Lelystad are the usual alternates.

The rules have a political history. In April 2023 Schiphol announced that it wanted to ban private jets altogether, and although the Dutch cabinet decided in September 2023 not to impose a ban, the airport cut the number of private flights by almost a third from 31 March 2024, to 12,000 a year. The current capacity declarations give business jets no night slots and exclude the noisiest types, so booking the slot early matters as much as booking the aircraft.

The General Aviation Terminal at Schiphol East: FBOs, lounges and bags

Private passengers at Schiphol never set foot in the main terminal. The General Aviation Terminal, opened in June 2011, stands on Thermiekstraat on the east side of the airport, beside the apron where business jets park. Designed by VMX Architects, it is clad in silver panels and glass under a magenta canopy on the apron side, and the floor inside is laid with a pattern inspired by Dutch windmills. Jet Aviation and AviaVIP both work from this building.

How we plan an Amsterdam flight

• Slots first. Both slots go in to the coordinator the moment an aircraft is picked, because the peak hours leave little spare room.
• Quiet aircraft. We check that the aircraft type is not on the banned list and falls in a favourable noise category.
• Daytime only. We plan the return well before 23:00, or position the aircraft to Rotterdam if the day runs late.
• The FBO. We choose Jet Aviation, AviaVIP or JetSupport to suit the hours, lounge and services you need.
• Ground transport. Drivers to the Zuidas, the canal ring or The Hague are booked with the flight.

Four things to know before booking Amsterdam

We settle all four at the quote stage.

From the airport to Amsterdam, The Hague and the coast

Schiphol East is outside the passenger terminal, so private passengers travel by car rather than by train. Journey times in the table assume light traffic; on the A4 and the A10 ring road during commuting hours, allow up to twice as long.

A helicopter can reach Rotterdam, The Hague or the northern provinces in minutes where landing sites are available, and a boat on the canals makes a memorable arrival at a hotel in the old centre.

What else you pay on an Amsterdam trip

Apart from the aircraft, the main extras are passenger taxes in both countries, the FBO handling fee and Schiphol's airport charges.

British Air Passenger Duty is due on the flight out of the UK. A light or midsize jet between 5.7 and 20 tonnes attracts 32 GBP a head in Band A, and anything heavier 142 GBP, up to the end of March 2027; after that a flat 146.63 GBP a head applies to all private jets of 5.7 tonnes and over. A very light jet such as the Citation M2 falls below the threshold and pays nothing, Jersey and Guernsey sit outside the duty, and Scotland switches to a separate tax in April 2027. On the flight home the Dutch passenger tax of 30.25 euros applies. From 2027 the Dutch tax moves to distance bands, and the Dutch parliament has passed a separate private jet tax from 2030 for aircraft with 19 seats or fewer, starting at 420 euros a passenger for flights up to 2,000 kilometres.

Rotterdam, Lelystad and the other airports near Amsterdam

Schiphol is the natural gateway to Amsterdam, but when its slots are full or the day runs late, these airports can take the flight instead.

Popular routes from the UK and Ireland to Amsterdam, and which way they run empty

The prices below cover a whole aircraft that has to reposition in any case; seats are never sold one by one. Times are for the flight alone. Amsterdam is so close to Britain that most routes use light jets such as the Citation M2, CJ2 or Phenom 300, with a Citation XLS+, Latitude or Challenger 350 when more cabin space is needed. The charter table under the live list gives the full price for trips on fixed dates.

Sectors cluster on Monday mornings and Friday evenings for business travel, and on Thursdays and Sundays for weekend breaks. Because slots at Schiphol are tight, an empty leg with a confirmed slot is worth booking quickly.

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.

Border and customs rules for the Netherlands

A flight from Britain to Amsterdam crosses the external border of the EU and the Schengen area, and Dutch border police and customs check passengers in the FBO. These are the rules that come up most often.

• Passport. Dutch officers look at two dates: issue within the past decade, and expiry at least three months beyond your planned exit from Schengen.
• Visa free stays. Days spent anywhere in Schengen in the previous 180 count towards the 90 day limit, which covers the Netherlands too.
• EES. On the first entry, four fingerprints and a facial image are recorded; for children under 12 only the image.
• Allowances. Duty free limits per adult coming in from Britain: a litre of spirits or two of fortified or sparkling wine, four litres of table wine, sixteen of beer, a carton of 200 cigarettes and 430 euros of other goods by air.
• Food. A cheese or ham sandwich from home is confiscated, as British meat and dairy products are barred at the EU border.
• Cash. Amounts of 10,000 euros or more must be declared on entry and exit.
• Cannabis. What is sold in Amsterdam coffee shops may not be taken out of the Netherlands, and carrying it into Britain is a criminal offence.
• Returning to Britain. On landing in Britain the duty free limits per adult are 270 GBP of goods, 18 litres of wine, 42 of beer, 4 of spirits and 200 cigarettes, and from 1 October 2026 fizz and cider come under the wine and beer headings.

Empty leg calendar for Amsterdam, month by month

Amsterdam is busy all year, driven by business travel, with spring flowers, autumn trade fairs and the dance festival adding peaks for leisure and events.

The best value appears midweek on the business routes and after the big events, when many aircraft return to Britain empty. For fixed dates, winter offers the easiest slots and the widest choice of aircraft.

Three situations, three answers

Bringing a pet to Amsterdam

The animal is chipped first and vaccinated against rabies at least three weeks before departure; an official vet signs the health certificate in the last ten days before you reach the EU. The FBO presents the animal to Dutch customs on arrival, and one person may travel with up to five pets.

Returning to Britain, a dog must be treated against tapeworm by a vet between 24 and 120 hours before arrival, since the Netherlands is not on the exempt list, and only operators approved to carry pets into Britain can be used. We check with the operator whether the pet can travel in the cabin and go over the paperwork with you in advance.

Flying privately to Amsterdam: common questions

Call +44 7857 574938 , message the same number on WhatsApp , or write to flight@empty-leg.co.uk . Give us the dates, the group size, the bags and your address in the city or the Zuidas. You will get the matching sectors alongside their charter equivalents, with slots, FBO and driver already worked out.