Empty leg flights to and from Ibiza

Ibiza has one airport, seven kilometres south west of Ibiza Town, and from May to October it is among the busiest private aviation destinations in Europe. It handled 9.1 million passengers and 85,086 aircraft movements in 2025, Britain was its largest foreign market, and business aviation accounted for 14,383 movements in 2023, the latest year in the European Business Aviation Association's profile of the airport. In summer every private jet needs a slot, and in the peak weeks there are not enough parking stands to keep the aircraft on the island.

That shortage is what fills the market with empty legs. A jet that drops a family for a villa week usually cannot wait, so it flies home or to Palma, Valencia or Barcelona with nobody on board and comes back a week later to collect them.

Empty legs to and from Ibiza right now

The board below shows the sectors our operator network has released into or out of Ibiza. When the island itself has little on offer, flights into Palma, Menorca and Valencia are listed underneath, because a short hop or a helicopter connects each of them with Ibiza.

Also moving across the rest of the Balearics and Valencia

Sectors on this list do not touch Ibiza 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.

Where Ibiza sectors come from

Three patterns send aircraft to Ibiza and back without passengers, and all of them are strongest between May and October.

The European Business Aviation Association's figures for 2023 show where the traffic comes from. The largest share of business aviation movements at Ibiza linked it with the rest of Spain, followed by France, Italy and the UK, and the busiest single links were with Palma, Barcelona and Nice. Half of all movements were light jets, and the peak came in the week of 10 to 16 July. The trend is still upward: the environmental group GOB counted 8,127 private jet flights at Ibiza from January to August 2026, close to its figure of 8,441 for the whole of 2025. That regional traffic is also why the board higher up lists sectors from Palma, Menorca and Valencia when Ibiza itself has few.

Ibiza Airport in detail

What shapes a private flight into Ibiza, from the summer slot system and the opening hours to the size of the apron and the rules for parking.

The private terminal and its handlers

Private passengers normally use the general aviation terminal in the technical block, with its own entrance, lounges and customs. Aena licenses two FBOs there: AviaVIP, of the Aviapartner group, and Sky Valet, now controlled by Luxaviation, the owner of ExecuJet. Several other handlers work there too. The operator of your aircraft chooses one, and if you have a preference we will pass it on.

The terminal from a passenger's side

The private terminal at Ibiza is built for speed rather than for lingering. On a summer Saturday dozens of aircraft pass through it, and the handlers keep people moving between car and aircraft in a few minutes.

Going home, most passengers reach the terminal a quarter of an hour or so before the slot, and that is usually plenty. The time that matters more is the slot itself: an aircraft that misses it has to request a new one, and in August the next free slot may be hours away.

Four rules that shape an Ibiza trip

Ibiza is easy to fly into and hard to park at, and four rules decide how every summer trip is planned.

For empty leg passengers the parking rules are the good news. Every jet that has to leave the island after a drop, and every one that comes back to fetch its party, is a flight that will happen anyway, so from May to October sectors appear in both directions on most days.

What the ground costs, and why there is no departure tax

Spain charges no tax on passengers flying out by private jet, which makes the flight home from Ibiza cheaper than the same flight from a French airport.

A party of four flying home from Nice or Cannes pays 1,680 euros of French solidarity tax in a jet. The same party leaving Ibiza pays no Spanish passenger tax, only Aena's regulated airport charges, which are already built into the operator's price. Spanish politicians have argued for a tax on private flights, but none had been passed by September 2026, and if one is introduced it will appear on our quotes as a separate line.

The larger saving on an Ibiza trip is the positioning. A villa week by charter often pays for four flights, out and back at the start and out and back at the end, because the aircraft cannot wait on the island. An empty leg is one of those flights, sold at a fraction of the price because the operator is flying it anyway.

Palma, Valencia and the other fields nearby

When Ibiza is full, or the plan includes other islands, these are the airports that come into play.

From the aircraft to the villa, the port or the beach

Ibiza is small, and nowhere on it is much more than forty minutes from the airport. Times below are by road outside the busiest hours, which in August means early morning or late evening.

The drive is rarely the problem on Ibiza; the timing is. A late afternoon arrival on an August Friday meets the traffic heading for the beach clubs and the sunset, and a morning slot gets you to the villa in half the time.

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

Ibiza is about two to three hours from most UK airports, far enough to favour midsize jets for groups but within the range of a light jet for a smaller party. The figures are floor prices for the whole aircraft flying a repositioning sector, excluding passenger duty; to compare, the price table further up quotes the same aircraft chartered for dates you choose.

Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays and Mondays are the days to watch from June to September. Aircraft that bring guests in for the weekend head home empty the same day, and the ones that come to collect them on Sunday often fly out from Britain with nobody on board.

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 Ibiza from the UK

Spain is in both the EU and the Schengen area, so a flight from Britain to Ibiza is an international arrival with passport control and customs.

• Passport. On entering Spain a British passport should be no more than ten years old and still valid three months after your planned date of departure. A stay in the Schengen area is limited to 90 days in any 180.
• The Entry/Exit System. British visitors are registered with a photograph and, from the age of 12, fingerprints on the first crossing. The system has been required at every Schengen border since April 2026; Spain carries out the checks in full at its airports, and passports are no longer stamped there.
• ETIAS. Not in operation yet. The EU expects to launch it in the last quarter of 2026, at 20 euros for three years or until the passport expires.
• Customs. Each adult arriving by air may bring 200 cigarettes, one litre of spirits, sixteen litres of beer and four litres of still wine without paying duty, plus other goods up to 430 euros. Cash of 10,000 euros or more must be declared, and meat, milk and dairy products from Britain are not allowed in.
• Luggage checks. The Guardia Civil may inspect bags on arrival and departure, including at the private terminal.
• The flight home. Each adult landing in Great Britain may bring 42 litres of beer, 18 litres of still wine and 4 litres of spirits, and other goods up to 270 GBP when arriving by private aircraft, but no meat or dairy products from the EU. Northern Ireland, Jersey and Guernsey apply their own rules. Passengers without a British or Irish passport may need a UK electronic travel authorisation.
• Taxes. Air Passenger Duty on the way out of Britain, nothing Spanish on the way back, and the Balearic tourist tax on each night in a hotel or registered holiday rental, halved from the ninth night of a stay.

Empty leg calendar for Ibiza, month by month

Ibiza has two seasons: a long summer when demand, slots and parking all come under pressure, and a short winter when the island is quiet and private flights are few.

May, September and October give the best value, with plenty of sectors and prices below the summer peak. August is the month to book a charter early and treat any empty leg as a bonus.

Three situations, three answers

Flying to Ibiza with a dog or a cat

Spain lets a dog or cat in from Britain once it is microchipped, has had its rabies jab at least three weeks earlier and carries an animal health certificate that an official vet signed within the ten days before arrival. Owners living in Britain can no longer travel on an EU pet passport; that ended on 22 April 2026. Spain treats some breeds as potentially dangerous, including pit bull terriers, Rottweilers, Staffordshire bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, Dogos Argentinos, Fila Brasileiros, Tosa Inus and Akita Inus, and they must be muzzled and on a lead in public.

The return to Britain is the part to plan first. Only an operator approved to carry pets into Great Britain on that route can fly the animal home, and every dog needs a vet's tapeworm treatment between 24 and 120 hours before landing. Ibiza has vets used to travelling pets, but in summer appointments go early, so book one with the flight. Let us know about the animal in your first message, and we will leave out any sector whose operator cannot take it.

Ibiza by private jet: frequent questions

Call +44 7857 574938, message the same number on WhatsApp, or write to flight@empty-leg.co.uk. Tell us the villa week, the party or the yacht, with your dates, and we will watch the Ibiza sectors in both directions for you.