Empty leg flights to and from Biarritz

Biarritz is the grand resort of the French Basque coast: the Grande Plage below the Hôtel du Palais, built for Empress Eugénie, the surf at the Côte des Basques, golf courses that date back to the 1880s, and San Sebastián just across the Spanish border. Private flights land at Biarritz Pays Basque Airport, code BIQ, on the boundary of Biarritz and Anglet, about five minutes by car from the centre. From London the flight takes about 1h 40m.

Unlike Bordeaux, which never closes, this is a compact airport that shuts at night, and its business aviation terminal is operated for the airport by Onet Executive. We time every flight around the opening hours and book the stand, the terminal and the car along with it.

Biarritz sectors available today

The list below shows every sector we hold into or out of Biarritz, and adds San Sebastián and Pau when an aircraft is released there instead. The table after it gives the standard charter fare for each aircraft, so the discount on an empty leg is plain to see.

Why so many jets fly to Biarritz empty

The Basque coast fills up in short, sharp waves: summer holidays, festival weeks and golf weekends. Operators drop a party and fly home rather than wait a fortnight, and that leaves one empty direction on most trips.

Released sectors are most common from late June to mid September, around Easter and the May bank holidays, and on the Monday after a golf or festival weekend. In winter the coast is quiet, and empty legs appear mainly on business routes.

Biarritz Pays Basque Airport in detail

The airport returned to service on 11 April 1954 and sits on land shared by Anglet and Biarritz, a few kilometres south east of the town centre. The present passenger terminal was inaugurated in February 1994, and the runway was rebuilt in 2019 in works lasting more than a year, with a month of complete closure. The airport handled 935,404 passengers in 2025, and its terminal is sized for about 1.4 million a year, so queues rarely build even in August. Concorde and a Boeing 747 have both landed here, and during the G7 summit of August 2019, held at the Hôtel du Palais, most delegations flew into Biarritz, although Air Force One went to Bordeaux because this runway was judged too short for it. Private jets account for about 2,000 movements a year.

For crews the airport is straightforward in daylight: a long runway with an ILS, generous aprons for its size and no slot pressure. The limits are the opening hours and the weather. Atlantic fronts can bring strong crosswinds and low cloud in winter, and crews then plan a diversion to one of the larger airports nearby. A late arrival cannot simply be absorbed after 23:00, so we plan the day with a margin and warn you early if a delay threatens the closing time.

The business aviation terminal at Biarritz: lounge, border and bags

Private passengers do not pass through the airline hall. The business aviation terminal opened in June 2013 on the site of the old passenger terminal, the one seen in the 1981 film Hôtel des Amériques, and it has its own entrance, car park and staff. This is how a visit through it works.

How we plan a Biarritz flight

• Parking first. We request the stand from the airport as soon as the flight is confirmed, since August weekends fill the aprons.
• The clock. We check the opening hours for the day of travel and keep a margin before closing time.
• Surfboards and golf bags. We match the hold to the kit you are bringing.
• The French tax. The solidarity tax on the flight home appears as its own line in the quote.
• Across the border. Drivers, restaurant tables in San Sebastián and helicopter transfers are booked with the flight.

Four points to settle before booking Biarritz

Most Biarritz trips run smoothly, but these four questions decide the aircraft and the timing.

From the airport to Biarritz, the coast and San Sebastián

Everything on the Basque coast is close to the runway. The times below are by car outside the summer traffic; in July and August allow more on the coast road. Bus line 3 of the Txik Txak network links the airport with Bayonne station and Saint Jean de Luz.

France and Spain are both in the Schengen area, so there is no fixed border post on the road to San Sebastián, but France still runs spot checks at the frontier, and passports must be carried. A helicopter covers the same distance in fifteen to twenty minutes when a landing site is available.

What a Biarritz trip costs on top of the aircraft

The charter or empty leg price covers the jet and the crew. Taxes and ground services come on top, and the French solidarity tax is the largest of them.

On the flight out, UK Air Passenger Duty applies. Until 31 March 2027 the Band A charge is 32 GBP a passenger in a jet from 5.7 tonnes up to 20 tonnes, and 142 GBP in a jet of 20 tonnes or more; from 1 April 2027 all private jets from 5.7 tonnes pay 146.63 GBP a passenger. Jets lighter than 5.7 tonnes are exempt, as are departures from the Channel Islands, and Scotland starts its own Air Departure Tax in April 2027. The French tax applies to the return, and a family of five in a light jet pays 2,100 euros under it.

San Sebastián, Pau and the other airports near Biarritz

Biarritz is the natural choice for the Basque coast, but these airfields serve nearby trips and act as alternates when the weather or the opening hours close the door.

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

The fares below buy the complete cabin on a repositioning flight that is going ahead regardless. Times are airborne times only. The Basque coast is within reach of the smallest jets, so our routes range from a Citation M2 or CJ2 to a Challenger 350, and the cabin you choose affects the price more than the distance. If your dates are set in stone, compare them with the charter table under the list of live sectors.

Sectors bunch on Saturdays in July and August, when villa rentals change over, and on Fridays and Mondays around golf and festival weekends. Outside the summer, weekday business flights provide a smaller but steady supply.

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 in France from Britain: border and customs

A flight from Britain to Biarritz crosses the external border of the EU and Schengen, and the French authorities check passengers in the business aviation terminal. The list below covers the points travellers to the Basque coast ask about most.

• Passport. It must have been issued less than ten years before your arrival and still be valid three months after the date you plan to leave the Schengen area.
• Length of stay. Crossing into Spain does not restart the clock: the visa free limit of 90 days in a rolling 180 covers France and Spain together.
• EES. The first entry records four fingerprints and a facial photograph; children under 12 give only the photograph.
• Goods brought in. The duty free limits for entering France from Britain are lower than many expect: a litre of spirits or two litres of sparkling or fortified wine, 4 litres of still wine, 16 litres of beer, a carton of 200 cigarettes and 430 euros of other goods per adult.
• Food. Meat and dairy products from Britain may not be brought into the EU, so picnic supplies should be bought in France.
• Cash. The euro is used on both sides of the border, and 10,000 euros or more in cash must be declared.
• Coming home. Britain's duty free allowance per adult after a private flight is 270 GBP of goods, 18 litres of wine, 42 of beer, 4 of spirits and 200 cigarettes; from 1 October 2026 sparkling wine is counted as wine and cider as beer, and anything over the limits is taxed.

Empty leg calendar for Biarritz, month by month

Biarritz is a summer destination first, with festivals and golf around the edges and a calm winter season when business flights dominate.

The most empty legs appear in July and August, when jets return north after dropping holidaymakers. For a fixed date trip with the widest choice of aircraft, travel in spring or autumn, when the weather is still mild and the aprons are quiet.

Three situations, three answers

Travelling with a dog or cat

Your pet needs a microchip fitted before its rabies vaccination, and at least 21 days must pass after the vaccination before travel. An official vet then issues an animal health certificate no more than ten days before you arrive in France. The handling team presents the animal and its papers to customs in the terminal, and one owner may bring no more than five pets. Owners of fighting breeds should check first: French law keeps Category 1 dogs out of the country altogether and imposes conditions on Category 2.

The return is stricter: France is not on Britain's tapeworm exempt list, so a dog needs a vet's treatment one to five days before landing, and only an operator approved to carry pets into Britain may fly it. We confirm with the operator whether your pet can sit with you, and go through the paperwork with your vet well before departure.

Flying privately to Biarritz: common questions

Call +44 7857 574938 , message the same number on WhatsApp , or write to flight@empty-leg.co.uk . Tell us the dates, the number of travellers, any surfboards, golf clubs or pets, and where you are staying on the coast. In return you receive the matching sectors, their full charter equivalents, and a timetable built around the runway's closing time, the tax on the way home and the transfer to your address.