Empty leg flights to and from Chambéry

Chambéry was the capital of the Dukes of Savoy long before it was French, and its old town still shows it: the ducal castle, arcaded streets, painted façades and the Fontaine des Éléphants. A few minutes to the north, Aix-les-Bains has drawn visitors to its thermal baths since Roman times. Aix stands on the eastern shore of the Lac du Bourget, the largest natural lake entirely within France, with the royal Abbey of Hautecombe across the water on the western shore. For most British travellers, though, Chambéry means one thing: the shortest jet route to the Trois Vallées, Paradiski and the Tarentaise. France is one hour ahead of the UK, and a light jet from London lands here in about an hour and forty minutes.

The airport is Chambéry Savoie Mont Blanc, code CMF, on the southern tip of the lake between Chambéry and Aix-les-Bains. It is quiet for most of the year and one of Europe's busiest business aviation fields on a winter Saturday. We plan every flight around its winter rules and book the slot, the parking and the transfer to the resort together.

Chambéry sectors available today

The first list shows every sector currently offered into or out of Chambéry, together with those at Annecy, Grenoble and Geneva, neighbouring airports whose sectors can serve the same resorts. Below it, a price list shows what a full charter of each aircraft costs for a date of your own.

Also moving across Annecy, Grenoble and Geneva

Sectors on this list do not touch Chambéry itself. They are shown because the fields are close enough that the drive rarely costs you more than waiting for the right sector does. Tell us which one interests you and we will confirm it is still open.

Why so many jets leave Chambéry empty

Chambéry combines a short, intense season with very little room to keep aircraft, and that mix produces a steady supply of positioning flights with nobody on board.

Most sectors appear on winter Saturdays and during Christmas and New Year. From May to November Chambéry is quiet, and the sectors that appear are mostly flights for the lakes, the Savoie vineyards and summer holidays in the mountains.

Chambéry Savoie Mont Blanc Airport in detail

The airfield began as a mixed civil and military project in 1934, its first terminal opened in 1954 and airline services began in 1960. For decades it was known as Chambéry Aix-les-Bains, and it took its present name in 2016 after the terminal was renovated. The airport belongs to the Savoie department and has been run by VINCI Airports since 2004, the company that also runs Grenoble. Traffic is almost entirely seasonal: 163,221 passengers passed through in 2023, most of them between December and April on flights from Britain.

For pilots, Chambéry is a mountain airport. The only instrument approach comes in from the north, down the length of the lake, to runway 18, and the high ground on both sides means that a missed approach or a circling manoeuvre follows tight published routes. For that reason, French rules classify Chambéry as a category C airport: every captain must study its procedures before the flight, and full training is required before flying there at night or when cloud and visibility are low. Operators without that training send their jets to Grenoble, Geneva or Lyon instead. Snow, ice and early winter darkness add to the planning, and on a February Saturday every slot is taken.

The business terminal at Chambéry

Private passengers never enter the airline terminal. Chambéry has a separate business aviation terminal of about 400 square metres, run by the airport company, with its own lounges and border control, so while airline passengers are advised to arrive two to three hours early on a ski Saturday, a private party is usually through in minutes.

Because there is only one handler at Chambéry, the choice lies in the operator and the aircraft rather than the terminal. We confirm the slot, the parking and the border control with the booking.

Arriving at Chambéry, step by step

An arrival at Chambéry takes minutes on a quiet weekday and a little longer on a February Saturday. The steps below follow a typical winter landing; departure is the same process backwards.

At Chambéry the timetable is set by the slot, the parking and the daylight. We fix all three when the flight is booked, and we keep Geneva, Grenoble or Lyon in reserve in case the weather or the weekend rush closes the door.

Five things to check before booking Chambéry

A Chambéry quote holds only when these five points are settled, and we confirm each of them in writing before you book.

From the airport to the lake, the town and the resorts

Chambéry is the gateway to the Tarentaise and Maurienne valleys, so the Trois Vallées, Paradiski and Espace Killy are all within reach by road. Times are for a chauffeured car leaving the business terminal on a normal winter weekday; on a Saturday in February, allow an hour more for the upper resorts.

Helicopters from the Chambéry apron reach Courchevel in about 20 to 25 minutes, Méribel and Val Thorens in about 25, Tignes in about 30 and Val d'Isère in about 35, weather and daylight permitting. In summer the drive to the Lac d'Annecy takes about 45 minutes, and the Beaufortain and the Bauges are within about an hour.

Taxes and charges on a Chambéry trip

Three public charges sit next to the aircraft price on a Chambéry trip: British duty on the flight out, the French solidarity tax on the flight home and the tourist tax charged by the resort or town where you sleep.

France raised its solidarity tax on air tickets sharply from 1 March 2025, and business aviation carries the heaviest rate. For a flight within Europe, each passenger leaving a French airport on a commercial private flight pays 420 euros in a jet and 210 euros in a turboprop, and the 2026 budget left these rates unchanged. The tax is due only on departure from France, so it applies to the flight home from Chambéry but not to the flight out, and a sector flown with an empty cabin pays nothing; once you buy it, the passengers on board pay in the usual way. Some families fly home from Geneva instead, where the Swiss side of the airport is outside the French tax.

Britain levies APD when the aircraft leaves a UK airport, and flights to France fall into Band A. A seat on a jet weighing 5.7 to 20 tonnes currently carries 32 GBP of duty and one on a heavier jet 142 GBP, and from the first day of April 2027 every private jet above the 5.7 tonne threshold moves to one rate of 146.63 GBP a head. Nothing is due on the smallest jets or on departures from the Channel Islands, while Scottish airports switch to Holyrood's Air Departure Tax in April 2027.

Annecy, Grenoble, Geneva and the other airports for the Savoie Alps

Chambéry is the closest jet airport to most Tarentaise resorts, but on a busy Saturday or in bad weather the neighbouring airports decide whether the trip runs on time.

Routes from Britain and Ireland to Chambéry, and the direction each tends to fly empty

The price of a sector covers the whole aircraft, however many seats you fill, and each flight time runs from take off to touchdown. Chambéry is about 800 kilometres from London, well within the range of every jet in our list, from a Citation M2 for a couple flying back to Biggin Hill or Jersey to a Challenger 350 or a Praetor 600 for a chalet party with a hold full of skis. The French solidarity tax applies on the way home. If your dates cannot move, the charter list near the top gives the benchmark.

Between Britain and Chambéry, almost everything happens on Saturdays and Sundays from late December to early April. Sectors home to Britain appear most often on Saturday afternoons, and outbound sectors on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings, when jets reposition to collect departing guests.

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.

Entering France at Chambéry: passports, customs and rules for the road

Britain is outside the EU and the Schengen area, so a private flight to Chambéry crosses an external border, and the French border police and customs clear it inside the business terminal.

• Passport. The French police refuse a British passport that is more than ten years old on arrival or that expires less than three months after your last day in Schengen.
• Length of stay. No visa is needed for up to 90 days in any 180, but the days add up across the Schengen countries, so a week in Verbier or Zermatt during the same winter counts as well.
• Entry/Exit System. Since April 2026 the EU has recorded British visitors electronically instead of stamping passports; a photograph is taken on the first crossing, and fingerprints from the age of twelve.
• ETIAS. The EU's online travel permit has been postponed again, with no starting date announced; the planned fee is 20 euros for three years.
• Customs. The duty free allowance for an adult coming from the UK is 4 litres of still wine, 16 of beer, one litre of spirits or two of fortified or sparkling wine and 200 cigarettes, with 430 euros of other goods on top; anyone carrying 10,000 euros or more in cash declares it.
• Food. Meat and dairy products from Britain are not allowed into the EU, so the Reblochon and the Beaufort for the chalet are bought in Savoie.
• Back to Britain. Flying home privately, an adult may land in Britain with two cases of Apremont or Chignin, since the still wine limit is 18 litres, as well as 42 litres of beer, 4 of spirits or 9 of fortified wine, 200 cigarettes and goods worth 270 GBP, all without duty; from 1 October 2026 sparkling wine is counted as wine and cider as beer.

Empty leg calendar for Chambéry, month by month

Chambéry lives by the ski calendar: a crowded winter from mid December to mid April, then a quiet summer of lakes, walking and vineyards.

Travellers who can move their dates should aim at a February Saturday or the festive weekends, when the supply is greatest. For fixed dates and easy slots, the second half of January and the end of March are the calmest weeks of the season. Further ahead, Courchevel and Val d'Isère are due to stage the Alpine skiing events of the Winter Olympics in February 2030, which will bring an exceptional rush to Chambéry.

Three situations at Chambéry, three answers

Flying to Chambéry with a dog or a cat

A pet travelling from Britain to France needs a microchip, a rabies vaccination at least 21 days before the trip and an animal health certificate signed by an official vet within ten days of arrival; since April 2026 an EU pet passport held by a British resident is no longer valid. France requires no tapeworm treatment on the way in. The border police check the animal in the business terminal, so tell us about it when you book.

The return journey needs more care. Only an operator holding British approval for live animals can fly a pet into the UK, and the dog's worming tablet has to be given by a vet one to five days before touchdown, that is 24 to 120 hours. Vets in the ski resorts and in Chambéry are used to these appointments; book yours when you book the flight, so that our search only includes operators with pet approval.

Private flights to Chambéry: your 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 passengers, the ski bags and the resort or town you are heading for. We reply with the sectors that fit beside the charter price, and one quote covers the slot, the handling at Chambéry, the French solidarity tax and the transfer to the chalet door.