Empty leg flights to and from Figari

Figari is the airport for the south of Corsica: Porto-Vecchio, Bonifacio, the beaches of Palombaggia and Santa Giulia, the island of Cavallo and the villas in the maquis between them. It is a small airport with a big summer. In 2025 it handled a record 914,000 passengers, most of them between June and September, and it takes the largest share of the private flying on the island.

It is also one of the hardest airports in France at which to keep a private jet. In high summer the apron takes quick turns and very little else, so an aircraft that brings a family to Porto-Vecchio usually leaves the same day and comes back for them later. Those flights are the raw material of the board below.

The Figari board as it stands today

The board shows every released sector that starts or ends at Figari. Below it is the charter list, with the full price of the same cabins for a trip between Britain and Figari on dates of your own, which is the figure an empty leg has to beat to be worth taking.

Why Figari produces empty legs

Few airports in Europe turn out as many empty sectors for their size, and the reasons are the apron, the season and the way people holiday in the south of Corsica.

Supply starts with the spring holidays and the first warm weekends of May, builds through June, peaks in July and August and holds into September. From November to March the airport is quiet and the board with it.

Figari Sud Corse Airport in detail

The airport opened on 22 July 1975 on a plateau of maquis behind the village of Figari. Since 1 January 2026 it has been run by the Établissement public du commerce et de l'industrie de Corse, which took over from the island's Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The passenger terminal was designed in the 1990s for about 550,000 passengers a year and now handles well over 900,000, which explains most of what a visitor notices in August.

The approach is the part crews talk about. Runway 05 is turbulent on final whatever the wind, and in a moderate or strong westerly or north westerly an approach to runway 23 can meet strong to very strong turbulence and wind shear, and should not be started above a wind of 25 knots gusting 35. Mont Caldarello, 1.7 nautical miles south west of the field, is lit at night as an obstacle, and the approach slope lights keep aircraft clear of it. Experienced crews handle all this routinely in summer, but it is the reason Figari now and then sends an arrival to Ajaccio on a day of strong mistral.

How long a private aircraft may stay

This is the question that shapes every private trip to the south of Corsica, and in summer the answer is: not for long.

For a client this means a trip to Figari is almost always planned as a drop and a collection, with the aircraft away in between. That costs more than a trip where the jet can wait, and it is exactly why empty legs are so common here.

Figari against the other airports for the south of the island

Corsica has four airports with scheduled flights, and Olbia in Sardinia is almost as close to Bonifacio as Ajaccio is. The parking notes reflect summer 2026.

Figari wins on distance by a long way for anyone staying between Porto-Vecchio and Bonifacio. The others matter as places for the aircraft to wait, and Olbia as the other half of a trip that crosses the strait.

What we do when we book a flight to Figari

• Plan for a drop and a collection. We price the trip with the aircraft leaving after the drop and coming back for the return, and we ask for a longer stay only when the dates make it realistic.
• Land inside the border hours. A flight from the UK is timed to reach Figari between 06:45, when the tower opens, and 17:00 local time in summer, and the 48 hours' notice goes in with the permission.
• Avoid the tower's last hour. Late evening arrivals are the ones most exposed to a tower closing early, so we keep a margin and name Ajaccio as the fallback.
• File early for August. Permission and slots go in as soon as the dates are fixed, because the stands and the slots fill up weeks ahead.
• Book the car or the helicopter with the flight. The driver or the pilot works to the aircraft's actual arrival rather than the planned time, and in August a helicopter can save half an hour or more on the road to Porto-Vecchio.
• Watch the mistral. A strong westerly makes the approach rough and occasionally impossible, and on those days we would rather move a departure by a few hours than divert.

What a private passenger meets at Figari

Figari has something most island airports of its size do not: a building of its own for private flights. It is small and simple, and the airline terminal beside it is crowded in summer, but a private party that is well handled spends very little time in either.

Bags, screening and the border at Figari

Corsica is part of France and of the Schengen area, so the rules are the French ones. What is particular to Figari is the timetable of the border police and the size of the building.

None of this makes Figari difficult for a well planned trip. It makes it a place where the timing is set by the airport rather than by the passenger.

What Figari adds to the bill

The flying is most of the cost, but four things on a Figari trip are worth knowing in advance.

The French tax applies to every passenger leaving a French airport on a business flight with nineteen seats or fewer. A jet flying to the UK pays 420 euros per passenger and a turboprop 210 euros, which means 2,100 euros for a family of five on the way home from Figari. Infants under two are exempt, arrivals into France are never taxed, and anyone connecting within 24 hours is charged just once.

For British duty France is in Band A. Passengers on a private jet of 5.7 to 20 tonnes pay 32 GBP each in the current tax year, and those on anything heavier pay 142 GBP. The distinction disappears in April 2027, when the higher rate of 146.63 GBP applies to every private jet above 5.7 tonnes. The Channel Islands levy no British duty on their departures.

The other airfields around the south of Corsica

There is no second airport close to Porto-Vecchio. The alternatives are across the island or across the water, and each has a different use.

From the airport to Porto-Vecchio, Bonifacio and the beaches

Figari sits between the two towns, a little closer to Bonifacio. The road times are for a car booked in advance on an ordinary day in season, and the helicopter times are from local operators flying from the airfield.

In July and August the road north into Porto-Vecchio and the lanes out to Palombaggia are the slow parts of any journey, and an arrival between four in the afternoon and seven in the evening can take half as long again. That is when the eight minute helicopter pays for itself, especially for a party staying on Cavallo, at Murtoli or on a yacht in the gulf.

Sardinia is close enough for a day. The ferry from Bonifacio to Santa Teresa takes about an hour, and a helicopter reaches Porto Cervo in about fifteen minutes and Olbia in about twenty, so a trip that starts at Figari can easily end at Olbia.

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

Each row below stands for a whole aircraft, not a seat, priced at what its operator will take to fill a cabin that is flying anyway. The times are from wheels up to wheels down, and the types range from a Phenom 300 to a Challenger 604, so a longer route can still be the cheaper one. When your dates cannot move, the charter list above shows what each cabin costs booked outright.

Sectors on these routes, in both directions, bunch on the Saturdays and Sundays of July and August, and again at the start and end of the school holidays.

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.

Passports, allowances and the border, both ways

Corsica is France, and the French border rules apply in full. At Figari they are applied in the hours set out above.

• The passport. On arrival it must be less than ten years old, counted from its date of issue, and on the day you leave the Schengen area it must still have at least three months to run.
• Ninety days. The limit is 90 days in any 180 day period across the whole Schengen area, so a week in Sardinia or on the Riviera earlier in the summer already counts.
• The Entry/Exit System. Since the system became fully operational in April 2026, British visitors have been registered with fingerprints and a photograph on their first crossing instead of a stamp, and the record is kept for three years.
• ETIAS. Not in force. The Commission removed its planned start date from its website in July 2026 and has not published a new one. When it starts it will cost 20 euros for three years.
• Into France. 200 cigarettes, 1 litre of spirits, 4 litres of still wine, 16 litres of beer and other goods up to 430 euros for a passenger arriving by air. Anyone carrying 10,000 euros or more in cash declares it on arrival, and ham, cheese or milk packed at home is confiscated.
• Back to Britain. Each adult may bring 18 litres of still wine, 42 litres of beer, 4 litres of spirits and 200 cigarettes, plus goods worth 270 GBP on a private flight. Sparkling wine joins the wine allowance and cider the beer allowance on 1 October 2026. Corsican charcuterie and cheese cannot be brought into Britain.
• A day in Sardinia. Italy is in Schengen too, so the ferry from Bonifacio or a helicopter to Porto Cervo involves no full border check, although identity checks at the ports happen from time to time. Take passports.

Empty leg calendar for Figari, month by month

The south of Corsica has one of the most seasonal airports in France, and the gap between August and February is enormous.

May and the last fortnight of September give the best value, with kind weather, a quieter airport than in August and much lower prices, and early June is also worth considering before the villas fill. Early October is worth watching too, when the summer fleet flies off the island and releases sectors northbound.

Three situations, three answers

Flying to Figari with a dog or a cat

An animal travelling from Britain to Corsica follows the French rules for entry to the EU: a microchip that can be read, a rabies vaccination given at least 21 days before travel, and an animal health certificate issued by an official vet no more than ten days before arrival. Since 22 April 2026 a British resident travelling with an EU pet passport in their own name has had to use the certificate instead. The heat of July and August is hard on dogs in the south of the island, and many beaches do not allow them in summer.

Plan the return first. The flight home is the harder half, because few operators hold the approval needed to bring pets into Great Britain, and a dog must see a vet for its tapeworm tablet in the five days before landing and no later than the day before. Cats need the same papers but not the tapeworm treatment. Tell us about the animal at the start, as it decides which aircraft can fly you home.

Your questions about flying privately to Figari

Call +44 7857 574938 , message the same number on WhatsApp , or write to flight@empty-leg.co.uk . Tell us the villa, the hotel or the yacht, the week you have in mind, the number of passengers and bags, and whether you would like the helicopter or a car at Figari. You get back the matching sectors and their charter prices, together with a plan covering the airport permission, the border hours and the onward transfer.