Empty leg flights to and from Bergen

Bergen is the gateway to the fjords of western Norway and one of the busiest centres of the North Sea energy industry. Its airport, Bergen Airport Flesland, code BGO, lies about 20 kilometres south west of the city centre, and a jet from London reaches it in under two hours, from Aberdeen in about an hour and a quarter. Private passengers are met at the aircraft by one of several handlers, some with their own lounges, and the drive to the harbour and the old Hanseatic wharf of Bryggen takes around half an hour.

Flesland is a coordinated airport where every private flight needs a slot. It also sits on the Schengen border, and its weather can change within an hour. Every flight we arrange comes with its slot, its handler and the onward journey to the fjords already settled.

Bergen sectors available today

The first list contains every sector we hold into or out of Bergen Flesland, and adds flights into Haugesund and Stavanger when there are any. Below it, the second list shows the price of chartering the same aircraft outright on your own dates, so you can see what each released sector saves.

Why Bergen produces empty legs

Bergen combines two quite different kinds of private traffic: engineers and executives of the energy and seafood industries during the week, and travellers heading for the fjords in summer. Both leave aircraft flying home without passengers.

Supply is steadiest on weekday business routes, especially to and from Aberdeen, London and Oslo, and strongest for leisure in June, July and August. The quietest months are January and February, apart from ski trips to Voss.

Bergen Airport Flesland in detail

Bergen Airport opened at Flesland on 2 October 1955, built with NATO backing, and for years served as Norway's main intercontinental airport. A new terminal opened in August 2017, and the Bergen light rail line reached the airport in April 2017.

For crews Flesland offers a long, straightforward runway close to the sea, but the weather deserves respect. The city is one of the wettest in Europe: low cloud and strong south westerly winds come in off the North Sea, and winter brings snow and de icing queues. The slot coordinator also limits arrivals from outside the European Economic Area and Switzerland, which includes every flight from Britain, to one arrival every half hour in its published capacity figures. We request the slot as soon as the aircraft is held and keep Haugesund or Stavanger as the alternate.

Arriving at Bergen by private jet: handlers, lounges and formalities

Bergen has no single private terminal. Instead, business aviation passengers are looked after by handlers, some of whom have their own buildings and lounges on the airport.

How we plan a Bergen flight

• Slot first. Once the aircraft is confirmed, the handler files for both the arrival and the departure slot in one request.
• The right handler. We choose the handler with the lounge, the car access or the catering the trip needs.
• Border checks on time. For a very early or late arrival from Britain we ask the handler to arrange the police and customs checks in advance.
• Weather margin. We keep Haugesund or Stavanger as the alternate and add time for de icing in winter.
• The fjord transfer. We book the car, the boat or the helicopter to the hotel together with the flight.
• Customs quotas. We remind you of Norway's strict alcohol limits before you pack the hold.

Four things to know before booking Bergen

These points shape nearly every flight to Bergen, and we settle each of them before an aircraft is confirmed.

From the airport to Bergen, the fjords and the mountains

Bergen itself is close to the airport, but the famous fjords lie hours away by road, often with a ferry on the way. The drive times assume ordinary traffic and a car waiting at the aircraft.

For the fjords a helicopter saves most of the drive, and sightseeing and transfer flights leave from the Bergen area when the weather allows. Express boats also link Bergen harbour with the Hardangerfjord and the Sognefjord in summer, and many visitors combine a boat in one direction with a car in the other.

What else you pay on a Norwegian trip

Compared with the hire of the jet itself, the other charges in western Norway are small, and the operator usually folds them into the quote.

Air Passenger Duty is paid on leaving the UK. Until the end of March 2027, Band A charges 32 GBP a head on an aircraft weighing between 5.7 and 20 tonnes and 142 GBP a head above 20 tonnes. From April 2027 a flat 146.63 GBP a head is due on every private jet of 5.7 tonnes or more. Nothing is due on the lightest types, the Citation M2 and CJ2 among them, or on departures from the Channel Islands, which sit outside the duty. Flights from Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow switch to the Scottish Air Departure Tax on 1 April 2027, at the same rates in its first year, with a supplement for private jets planned from April 2028.

Haugesund, Stavanger and the other airports near Bergen

Flesland is the natural airport for Bergen and the fjords around it. When the weather or a slot does not suit, these are the alternatives.

Popular routes between the UK and Bergen, and which way they run empty

Every price below buys the whole aircraft for a flight its operator would fly regardless; none of them is a seat fare. Each time is airborne time only, so add the road journeys on the ground. Because Bergen is close to Britain, the list includes light jets such as the Citation M2 and CJ2 as well as the Citation Latitude, and the size of the jet matters more than the distance. Travellers who cannot move their dates will find the whole aircraft priced as a normal charter in the second list near the top.

Business sectors to and from Bergen run all year, clustering on Monday mornings and Thursday or Friday afternoons. In summer the fjord trips add weekend sectors, and ski weekends at Voss bring a few in winter.

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 Norway

Norway belongs to Schengen but not to the EU or its customs union, so it combines Schengen border checks with customs rules of its own. These are the points British travellers need.

• Passport. Norway follows the Schengen rule for British passports: issued within the last ten years when you arrive, and with three months or more left beyond your planned exit date.
• 90 days in 180. Days in Norway are added to days elsewhere in the Schengen area, and a British visitor may stay no more than 90 of any rolling 180.
• EES. The Schengen entry system records fingerprints and a photograph at your first crossing into Norway, or only a photograph for children under 12.
• Alcohol. Each visitor may bring one litre of spirits, one and a half litres of wine and two litres of beer duty free, and may swap the spirits for more wine or beer, or the wine for more beer, but not the other way round. Beer, wine and tobacco require an age of 18, and spirits an age of 20.
• Tobacco. Visitors may bring 200 cigarettes or 250 grams of other tobacco.
• Food. Norwegian rules ban British ham, sausages, cheese and other meat or milk products in passenger luggage unless the food authority has issued a permit, so pack none.
• Money. Norway uses the krone and is almost entirely cashless: cards and mobile payment work everywhere, from taxis to the fish market.
• Coming home. When you land back in Britain, UK customs let each adult bring in souvenirs and presents worth up to 270 GBP without duty, and the drinks limits are generous by Norwegian standards: 4 litres of spirits, 18 of wine and 42 of beer, plus 200 cigarettes. Under new categories from 1 October 2026, cider falls within the beer allowance and sparkling wine within the wine allowance.

Empty leg calendar for Bergen, month by month

Bergen is busy all year for business, with a fjord season from May to September and a smaller winter season for skiing and Christmas.

The best value is on weekday business routes, especially between Bergen and Aberdeen, and on summer weekends when aircraft leave Bergen after dropping fjord visitors. For fixed dates, March, October and November offer the widest choice of aircraft.

Three situations, three answers

Taking a dog or cat to Norway

A dog or cat travelling from Britain to Norway needs a microchip, a rabies vaccination given at least 21 days before the trip and an animal health certificate from an official vet. Dogs must also be treated against tapeworm by a vet between 24 and 120 hours before arriving in Norway, and the treatment is recorded on the certificate. Animals from Britain may only enter Norway through Oslo Airport or the Storskog border post, so a pet cannot fly straight into Flesland: the aircraft first clears in at Gardermoen, with the food authority told 48 hours ahead, and then continues to Bergen. In the cabin the animal stays with you throughout.

The journey home is simpler than from most countries. Britain lets dogs arriving directly from Norway in without a tapeworm treatment, and the usual rules for pets from Europe apply. Please tell us about a dog or cat from the start, because not every operator accepts them.

Flying privately to Bergen: your questions answered

Call +44 7857 574938 , message the same number on WhatsApp , or write to flight@empty-leg.co.uk . Let us know whether the trip is for business in Bergen or a stay on the fjords, the dates, the size of the party, the luggage and any pet travelling with you. We will reply with the matching sectors and their full charter fares, and with a plan for the slot, the handler and the transfer from Flesland.