Empty leg flights to and from Cardiff
Cardiff is one of the easiest airports in Britain to fly privately from, and one of the hardest to find a sector at. Those two facts sit together and both are worth understanding before you look at the board.
The easy part: the airfield runs twenty four hours a day with no slot restrictions and no night curfew, it has full low visibility capability so fog does not close it, and the private terminal on the south side charges no out of hours fee at all. The hard part: fewer than seventeen thousand aircraft movements passed through here in 2025. Few sectors are produced, and almost nobody is competing for the ones that are.
Empty legs from Cardiff right now
The board below shows what our operator network has released on Welsh and western routes. Be realistic about the volume: this is a small market. Be equally realistic about the upside, because the Bristol hop across the estuary starts at around 1,800 GBP for a whole aircraft and the airport itself puts up no obstacles at all.
| Date | From | To | Aircraft | Passengers | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Nov 2026 | Cardiff International, GB (CWL/EGFF) | Paphos International, CY (PFO/LCPH) | Cessna Citation CJ3+ | 7 | 14,200 GBP | Request |
Prices are for the whole aircraft and are shown in pounds. Some are indicative figures worked out from the distance and the class of jet; the firm price is confirmed with the operator when you send a request.
Typical empty leg prices from Cardiff
Guide prices for the whole aircraft, in pounds, on the corridors that produce repositioning sectors most often. These are not live offers and carry no dates: what is available right now is in the schedule on this page. The charter column is the same aircraft booked on your own dates.
| Route | Aircraft | Seats | Flight time | Empty leg from | Charter from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardiff to Bristol | Pilatus PC-12 | 8 | 0h 35m | 1,800 GBP | 4,200 GBP |
| Cardiff to Birmingham | Citation CJ2 | 6 | 0h 45m | 2,600 GBP | 6,300 GBP |
| Cardiff to Jersey | Learjet 75 | 8 | 0h 50m | 3,200 GBP | 7,600 GBP |
| Cardiff to Guernsey | Learjet 75 | 8 | 0h 50m | 3,200 GBP | 7,600 GBP |
| Cardiff to Manchester | Citation CJ2 | 6 | 0h 50m | 2,600 GBP | 6,300 GBP |
| Cardiff to Dublin | Pilatus PC-12 | 8 | 0h 50m | 1,800 GBP | 4,200 GBP |
| Cardiff to London | Citation CJ2 | 6 | 0h 55m | 2,600 GBP | 6,300 GBP |
| Cardiff to Belfast | Pilatus PC-12 | 8 | 1h 05m | 1,800 GBP | 4,200 GBP |
| Cardiff to Paris | Citation CJ2 | 6 | 1h 15m | 2,600 GBP | 6,300 GBP |
| Cardiff to Edinburgh | Citation CJ3 | 7 | 1h 20m | 2,900 GBP | 7,000 GBP |
| Cardiff to Amsterdam | Citation M2 | 6 | 1h 20m | 2,500 GBP | 5,600 GBP |
| Cardiff to Geneva | Citation CJ3 | 7 | 1h 50m | 4,000 GBP | 9,600 GBP |
| Cardiff to Zurich | Citation XLS+ | 8 | 1h 55m | 6,100 GBP | 14,500 GBP |
| Cardiff to Chambery | Citation XLS+ | 8 | 2h 00m | 6,300 GBP | 15,100 GBP |
| Cardiff to Milan | Phenom 300 | 7 | 2h 05m | 5,000 GBP | 11,800 GBP |
| Cardiff to Nice | Citation XLS+ | 8 | 2h 05m | 6,600 GBP | 15,700 GBP |
| Cardiff to Palma de Mallorca | Citation XLS+ | 8 | 2h 25m | 7,600 GBP | 18,200 GBP |
| Cardiff to Ibiza | Hawker 900XP | 8 | 2h 25m | 7,800 GBP | 18,600 GBP |
| Cardiff to Faro | Praetor 600 | 9 | 2h 25m | 9,900 GBP | 23,500 GBP |
| Cardiff to Malaga | Challenger 300 | 9 | 2h 40m | 10,500 GBP | 25,100 GBP |
Both columns assume an aircraft already at the departure airport, so no positioning flight is billed. Where an operator has to fly one in to collect you, a charter can run considerably higher than the figure shown. Prices also run in both directions: an empty leg exists only when an operator is moving that aircraft anyway, so the sector you want may run the other way this month. Tell us the route and we will watch both directions for you.
Most empty legs are gone within hours of being released, and a good number are never published at all. Tell us the route and the window you can travel in, and we will message you the moment a matching sector comes up at Cardiff.
Nothing is stored on this site. The button opens a chat with the message already written, and you send it yourself. We reply during office hours, 07:00 to 23:00, and check messages outside them too.
Where Cardiff sectors come from
Three things move private aircraft in and out of south Wales, and the first of them is a sport rather than an industry.
Cardiff Airport in detail
What the field can take, when it is open, how the handling works and what happens on the ground.
| Codes | CWL (IATA), EGFF (ICAO) |
| Location | Rhoose in the Vale of Glamorgan, twelve miles south west of Cardiff, off the A4226 and junction 33 of the M4. Elevation 220 feet |
| Ownership | Owned outright by the Welsh Government since 2013 and run at arm's length as a commercial business, which is the reason the airport is unusually accommodating to traffic it wants to attract |
| Runway | A single runway, 12/30, published by the operator on the field as 2,392 m or 7,848 feet of available distance. Long enough for anything up to a heavy jet on a European sector, and enough for a transatlantic departure with a sensible fuel load rather than a full one |
| Approaches | Category two and three instrument landing capability, so low cloud and fog do not close the field the way they close a smaller airport. In a wet corner of Britain that is worth more than it sounds |
| Operating hours | The airfield runs twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, with no night curfew. One of the private terminals matches it around the clock and advertises no out of hours and no call out fees at all. The airport's own general aviation terminal keeps daytime hours, roughly 07:30 to 18:30, with extensions on request |
| Slots | No slot restrictions. Between that and the absence of a curfew, this is among the least constrained airports in the country for a short notice movement |
| Customs and border control | Customs and immigration are available on the south side around the clock, so an international arrival clears there rather than in the passenger building |
| Traffic | Just under 954,000 passengers and 16,956 aircraft movements in 2025, both up around nine per cent on the year. Small by any measure, and growing |
| Catchment | South Wales and the south west of England, around 6.8 million people. Bristol is twenty seven miles away across the estuary and competes for much of it |
The two private terminals
Both sit on the south side of the airfield, away from the passenger building. One of them works around the clock without charging for it, which is the detail that matters most if your plans are loose.
Purpose built and opened in 2019 as the company's second location after Belfast. A dedicated VIP lounge with direct access to the ramp, private offices, a crew briefing centre, flight operations facilities and a fully integrated security screening suite of its own.
It runs its own fuel trucks and all its own ground equipment rather than hiring it in, holds stage two IS-BAH accreditation, and states plainly that it charges no out of hours and no call out fees. For a late arrival that single sentence is worth more than any amount of marble in a lounge.
Part of the largest FBO network in the world, with a private passenger lounge, crew amenities, customs and immigration on site and vehicle access to the ramp. The aircraft is under continuous surveillance on stand.
Familiar to crews arriving from anywhere, which counts for something on an aircraft coming in from outside Europe, and the usual choice when a flight is turning round and going straight on.
What the terminal is actually like
The two buildings differ in detail rather than in shape. In both of them the visit is brief, and neither takes you anywhere near the passenger terminal.
Turn up a quarter of an hour before a domestic departure and half an hour before an international one and nothing will be rushed. Which building you use is decided by the operator on an empty leg, and it reaches you in the flight brief with the address and the crew contact.
What the ground costs
Cardiff is one of the least expensive airports in Britain to use privately, and unusually the reasons are all things that are absent rather than things that are cheap.
The practical consequence is worth spelling out. A charter from Cardiff on an aircraft based near London carries a positioning flight of under an hour, and the ground bill at this end is as light as it gets in Britain. That makes charter prices here closer to English ones than the map suggests, and it makes the airport a sensible answer whenever a plan might overrun, because running late costs nothing at all.
The other fields in the west
Wales has one airport with a full private operation and a handful of smaller fields, and the most useful alternative is over the border.
Getting into the city and across south Wales
Cardiff Airport is further from its city than most, twelve miles down the Vale of Glamorgan, and it has a railway station of its own to compensate. These are typical off peak times by road.
| Destination | By car | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cardiff city centre and the Bay | 30 to 40 min | Twelve miles, or the train from the station at the airport into Cardiff Central |
| The Principality Stadium | 30 to 45 min | Considerably longer on a match day, when the city centre closes to traffic |
| Celtic Manor and Newport | 45 to 60 min | Along the M4, and the run a good share of the golf traffic makes |
| Swansea and the Gower | 55 to 75 min | West down the M4. Beyond the Gower the distances get serious |
| Bristol | 55 to 80 min | Over the Severn crossing, or thirty five minutes gate to gate by air |
| The Brecon Beacons | 60 to 90 min | North up the valleys, and the point at which a helicopter starts to earn its money |
The heliport at Tremorfa is the detail most people miss. It sits two miles from the centre of Cardiff on the foreshore, and a helicopter transfer from the airport puts you in the middle of the city faster than any road can manage on a match day. It is arranged alongside the flight rather than separately.
Popular destinations from Cardiff, and which way they run empty
A handful of routes generate sectors week after week while most produce nothing at all. These are the first kind. Note how short the top of the list is: the first seven entries are all under an hour, which is what a small airport surrounded by larger ones produces.
| Destination | Flight time | Empty leg from | Peak | Which direction runs empty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bristol | 0h 35m | 1,800 GBP | All year | Both. Across the estuary and down again, and as cheap as anything we place anywhere |
| Birmingham | 0h 45m | 2,600 GBP | All year | Both. A short domestic hop driven by the based fleets at the Midlands end |
| Jersey | 0h 50m | 3,200 GBP | April to October | Both. Banking and family traffic, and a dependable short hop through the summer |
| Guernsey | 0h 50m | 3,200 GBP | April to October | Both. The same pattern as Jersey at slightly lower frequency |
| Manchester | 0h 50m | 2,600 GBP | All year | Both. Domestic business, and the link to a far deeper fleet in the north west |
| Dublin | 0h 50m | 1,800 GBP | All year | Both. Business and rugby in both directions, and no approved route needed for a dog |
| London | 0h 55m | 2,600 GBP | All year, weekdays | Both. Under an hour against two on the Great Western line |
| Belfast | 1h 05m | 1,800 GBP | All year | Both. Handled at either end by the same FBO group, which smooths the paperwork |
| Paris | 1h 15m | 2,600 GBP | All year | Both, with a hard spike on Six Nations weekends |
| Edinburgh | 1h 20m | 2,900 GBP | All year | Both. Rugby and business, and a flight that genuinely shortens a long domestic journey |
| Amsterdam | 1h 20m | 2,500 GBP | All year, weekdays | Both. Corporate day returns, released back west in the late afternoon |
| Geneva | 1h 50m | 4,000 GBP | December to March | Back to Cardiff. The bargain is the flight home from the Alps |
| Zurich | 1h 55m | 6,100 GBP | All year | Both. Business traffic keeps it alive outside the ski season |
| Chambery | 2h 00m | 6,300 GBP | January to March | Back to Cardiff, and it empties hard in the second half of March |
| Milan | 2h 05m | 5,000 GBP | All year | Both. Business and rugby rather than fashion from this end |
| Nice | 2h 05m | 6,600 GBP | May to September | Back to Cardiff in summer, outbound in the shoulder weeks |
| Palma de Mallorca | 2h 25m | 7,600 GBP | June to September | Back to Cardiff. Friday out and Sunday back are the expensive halves |
| Ibiza | 2h 25m | 7,800 GBP | June to September | Back to Cardiff, with the best value in June and September |
| Faro | 2h 25m | 9,900 GBP | April to October | Both. Golf traffic keeps this running well outside the summer peak |
| Malaga | 2h 40m | 10,500 GBP | April to October | Both. Seven months of season rather than a summer |
There is no New York and no Dubai in that table. The runway will take a long range jet but not at full fuel, so a crossing cannot start here. It can very comfortably pause here, which is the other half of the story: an aircraft that lands with tanks half empty needs far less runway to leave again than one setting off across the ocean. If your trip is genuinely long haul we will plan the stop with you or start it from a longer field, and say which before you commit.
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 Cardiff from abroad
Wales is part of the United Kingdom for every immigration and customs purpose, so the formalities are the same as anywhere else in Britain, and here they run around the clock.
- 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 operator files a General Aviation Report on each international movement, and that filing closes some hours ahead of the flight rather than at the gate.
- 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 staff are on hand at any hour. Customs and immigration clearance is available on the south side around the clock, which is not the case at most airports this size and makes a night arrival straightforward rather than exceptional.
- 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 Cardiff, month by month
Cardiff has one of the most event driven years of any British city we cover. What fills the airport is rugby, and a Principality Stadium weekend moves more aircraft into south Wales than anything else in the calendar. The rest of the year is quiet, easy and cheap.
How hard south Wales is pulling on aircraft that month, and what that does to a charter price.
How many repositioning sectors reach the market, and how deep the discounts run.
April, May, September and October are the months to aim for. The inversion matters more here than almost anywhere: a match weekend is the worst time to look and the two days after it are the best, because every aircraft that brought supporters in has to leave again and would rather not leave empty.
Fly private, your way
Tell us your route - we'll respond within the hour.
Three situations, three answers
Travelling with a dog or a cat
Leaving the country, whoever you are landing with sets the requirements and we handle them as part of the booking. It is the journey home that narrows: an approved operator and an approved route are both needed, and only a handful of British airports may receive an animal arriving on a general aviation flight.
Cardiff does appear on the approved list for charter arrivals, which is not true of every airport its size, but the operator still needs the right permission for the particular route and that is confirmed per booking rather than assumed. Ireland is the simplest case either way, since no approved route is needed. Mention the animal in your first message and the routing is built around it.
Questions about flying private from Cardiff
Call +44 7857 574938, message the same number on WhatsApp, or write to flight@empty-leg.co.uk. Tell us the route and the dates you can work with, and we will watch the Welsh corridors for you.
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