Empty leg flights to and from Birmingham

Birmingham produces more empty legs than its size suggests, and we see it on our own board rather than in a brochure. It turns up there regularly, and many of those sectors are flown by aircraft based on the field. That is what a based fleet looks like from the outside.

The reason is geography. Birmingham sits in the middle of England with a three kilometre runway, twenty four hour operation and no night curfew, which makes it the natural place for an operator to leave an aircraft between jobs. Every one of those aircraft eventually has to move, and a good share of those movements carry nobody.

Empty legs from Birmingham right now

The board below shows what our operator network has released on Midlands routes. Birmingham is one of the more productive fields on it, and the pairings that recur here are unusual: Guernsey, Paphos, Tenerife and Oxford turn up regularly.

Where Birmingham sectors come from

Three things generate repositioning flights here, and the first of them is what sets Birmingham apart from most regional fields in Britain.

Birmingham Airport in detail

What the field can take, when it is open, how the slots work and what happens on the ground.

The private terminals

Birmingham has four approved handlers on the field, and two of them run dedicated private terminals, away from the airline terminal and each with its own entrance.

What the terminal is actually like

Whichever of the two you use, the shape of the visit is the same and it is a long way from the main passenger building.

Plan on arriving a quarter of an hour ahead of a domestic departure and half an hour ahead of an international one. The terminal is not something you pick on an empty leg: it belongs to whichever handler the operator works with, and the name, the address and the crew contact all appear in the flight brief.

What the ground costs

Birmingham is mid market by British standards and there is enough competition on the field to keep it honest. The lines that catch people out here are the ones that sit outside the headline quote.

Those first three are why two quotes for the same flight can look different. We show out of hours, fire cover and de icing as their own lines rather than folding them into a single number, and on an empty leg none of them applies to you in any case, because the airport and the timing come with the sector.

The other fields in the Midlands

There are plenty of airfields within fifty miles of Birmingham. These are the ones that matter for a jet.

Getting into the city and across the region

Birmingham Airport is unusually close to the things its passengers are actually going to. These are typical off peak times by road.

There is also a railway station next to the airport, with a people mover connecting it to the terminal. Private passengers rarely use it, but it is worth knowing when part of a group is arriving separately, because London is under an hour and a half away by train.

Popular destinations from Birmingham, and which way they run empty

Some corridors throw off sectors constantly and others almost never. These are the first group, and several of these pairings are typical of Birmingham: Guernsey, Paphos and Tenerife appear on our board from here regularly.

The winter entries are the ones worth marking. While the rest of Britain is quiet in January and February, the Canaries and Cyprus corridors are working hard from the Midlands, which means sectors keep appearing here when they have dried up elsewhere.

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 Birmingham from abroad

The formalities are the same as at any British airport, and at this one they happen inside the private terminal rather than in the public halls.

• Passenger details go in with the booking. Names, dates of birth, nationality and passport numbers for everyone travelling. The operator submits a General Aviation Report on every international movement, and that submission has a deadline well ahead of the flight rather than on the morning.
• 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.
• Border control comes to the terminal. Customs and Border Force attend the private terminals rather than processing you in the main building, and because the airport has no night curfew a late arrival can be handled once the terminal is opened for it.
• 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 Birmingham, month by month

Birmingham has a flatter year than most British cities, because its traffic is driven by the exhibition calendar and by winter sun rather than by a single summer season. That is good news: the quiet months elsewhere are not quiet here.

September, March, October and January are the months to aim for, and January is the one that surprises people. While the rest of the country is at its quietest, the Canaries corridor is running hard out of Birmingham and the exhibition halls have reopened, so sectors keep appearing when they have dried up elsewhere.

Three situations, three answers

Travelling with a dog or a cat

Birmingham is well placed for this, because it is an approved point of entry for animals on private flights with a number of operators. That means a dog coming back from Europe can often land here rather than routing through the south and continuing by road.

The underlying conditions do not change and they are checked for every booking rather than assumed: the operator has to hold the relevant approval and the route has to be an approved one. Departing, the requirements are those of your destination instead. Tell us about the animal in the first message and we will confirm what applies to your particular routing before anything is committed.

Questions about flying private from Birmingham

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 the Midlands corridors for you.