Empty leg flights to and from Innsbruck

Innsbruck is the capital of the Tyrol and the doorway to some of the best known ski resorts in the Alps: Seefeld is half an hour from its airport, St Anton, Ischgl, Sölden, Kitzbühel and the Zillertal between one hour and an hour and a half, and Lech a little more. The airport, known locally as Kranebitten, lies on the floor of the Inn Valley about 4 kilometres west of the old town, with mountains of more than 2,000 metres on both sides, and it is one of the most demanding airports in Europe for the pilots who fly into it.

From London the flight takes about 1h 50m. In winter, when Britain supplies more than 60 per cent of the airport's guests, private jets bring families and ski groups out for the Saturday changeover and for long weekends, and a local rule that allows a private aircraft no more than an hour on the ground from Thursday evening to Sunday evening sends most of them straight home empty. Those flights home, and the empty sectors that return a week later to collect the same passengers, are the empty legs listed below.

Empty legs to and from Innsbruck right now

The board lists every sector touching Innsbruck, and under it the flights from Salzburg, Munich, Bolzano and Friedrichshafen, the other airports within a drive of the Tyrolean resorts. The charter list beneath the board gives the normal price of the same aircraft between Britain and Innsbruck, so the saving on an empty leg is plain to see.

Also moving across Salzburg, Munich, Bolzano and Friedrichshafen

Sectors on this list do not touch Innsbruck 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 Innsbruck sectors come from

Three patterns keep aircraft moving through Innsbruck with empty cabins, and the first of them outweighs the other two.

Plenty of the sectors touching Innsbruck link it with Vienna, Zurich, Paris and Amsterdam rather than with Britain. A traveller who can begin or end the trip in one of those cities has more to choose from, especially outside the school holidays.

Innsbruck Airport in detail

Innsbruck is one of the airports where the operator has to confirm that its crew is cleared for the approach before it accepts the flight, so that check is where every arrival we plan begins. The points below govern a landing in the valley.

Innsbruck is our first choice for the Tyrol. We move a flight to Salzburg for Kitzbühel when Innsbruck has no slot, to Friedrichshafen or Memmingen for the Arlberg when the timing suits, and to Munich when a larger aircraft or a longer stay on the ground is needed.

Where private passengers are handled at Innsbruck

At Innsbruck the airport company handles private flights itself through its General Aviation Center, so crews and passengers deal with a single desk whichever operator flies the aircraft.

Every quote we send confirms the slot, the parking plan and the crew's clearance for Innsbruck, and we pass on the passenger list and the transfer details so that the GAC and the driver are ready when the engines stop.

The terminal from a passenger's side

A private arrival at Innsbruck is short; what needs planning is the road, the weather and the day of the week. The cards run in the order of the trip: the arrival, the road to the resort, the practical side of a stay in the mountains and, last, the flight home.

The minutes at the airport look after themselves. The slot, the weather and the roads decide how smooth the day feels, and we plan all three before the flight is confirmed.

Four rules that shape an Innsbruck trip

Each of the four is settled when the flight is booked, and each one is written into the confirmation we send.

What the ground costs at Innsbruck

Airport charges are a small part of a Tyrol trip; Austria's departure levy and British duty are the items worth knowing about.

British duty applies only on departure from the UK, Belfast included, and not from Jersey or Guernsey. From April 2027 the higher rate is due to cover every private jet of 5.7 tonnes or more, which would take the duty on the aircraft we list for Innsbruck from 32 GBP to 146.63 GBP a head.

The Austrian levy is modest by comparison: a family of six flying home pays 72 euros in all, and a jet arriving from Britain pays nothing on the way in. The tourist tax of the resort, collected with the chalet or hotel bill, never passes through the flight invoice.

Salzburg, Munich and the other airports around the Tyrol

Several other airports can serve a trip to the Tyrol, and the right one depends on the resort, the size of the aircraft and the day of the week.

From Innsbruck Airport to the resorts

The times below are typical drives from the airport in dry conditions. Snow, Saturday traffic and the queues at the resort entrances can add a great deal in winter.

We book the car or the helicopter once the slot is confirmed, and on a Saturday we choose a landing time that keeps the drive clear of the worst of the traffic.

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

The empty leg column prices the entire aircraft shown in the charter list, on a sector that is flying anyway. The times are for the flight itself, the Austrian levy is added on the way home and British duty on the way out, and the charter list gives the full price for dates you pick yourself.

Innsbruck sectors are released most often on winter Saturdays and Sundays, frequently only a few days ahead, and far more of them link the Tyrol with the London airports than with Scotland or Ireland. Flexibility of a day either side of the changeover makes the biggest difference.

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 Innsbruck from the UK

Private passengers clear Austrian passport control and customs inside the General Aviation Center. The points below set out the paperwork, what you may carry each way and the Austrian levy.

• Passport. Issued no more than ten years before your arrival date and valid for at least three months beyond the day you intend to leave the Schengen area; a passport close to either limit is best renewed before the trip is booked.
• Days in Schengen. British visitors may spend 90 days in any rolling 180 in the Schengen area without a visa; time already spent in Austria, Switzerland, France or any other member country within that window is included.
• Entry/Exit System. In full operation at Schengen borders since 10 April 2026. A British traveller's first entry is recorded with a photograph and, over the age of 12, fingerprints, and the record then stays valid for three years.
• ETIAS. Not yet in force, and the EU has promised several months' notice of the start. Each approval is planned to cost 20 euros and to cover three years, ending sooner if the passport runs out.
• Allowances into Austria. Travellers aged 17 and over coming from Britain may bring in 200 cigarettes, 1 litre of spirits or 2 litres of fortified or sparkling wine, 4 litres of still wine and 16 litres of beer, and other goods up to 430 euros. No British meat or dairy may be carried in, and any sum of 10,000 euros or more in cash has to be declared.
• Austrian levy. 12 euros for each passenger on the flight home, included in the charter price by the operator.
• Back to Britain. Each adult may bring 200 cigarettes, 4 litres of spirits, 18 litres of wine, with sparkling wine counted in that total from 1 October 2026, and 42 litres of beer, plus 270 GBP of other goods. Tyrolean speck, sausages and mountain cheese have to stay behind, because meat and dairy from the EU may not be brought into Great Britain.

Empty leg calendar for Innsbruck, month by month

Innsbruck has one great season and one quieter one. Winter runs from the first glacier weekends in autumn to the last spring snow in April, and summer brings a smaller flow of lakes, mountains and conferences.

For a flight out, watch the first days of January and the Saturdays after each half term week. For a flight home, look at Saturday afternoons from December to April, when jets return to Britain after the morning drops.

Three situations, three answers

Flying to Innsbruck with a dog or a cat

Austria applies the EU rules to pets arriving from Britain: an animal health certificate signed by an official vet in the ten days before the flight, a microchip, and a rabies jab given 21 days or more before travel. EU pet passports held by people living in Britain stopped counting on 22 April 2026. In the Tyrol, dogs must be on a lead or muzzled in built up areas, and on buses and trains they need both, so pack a muzzle even for a small dog. Dogs are allowed inside the terminal on a lead.

The return journey is the stricter half. Great Britain lets pets in only with an operator approved to carry them on that route, and a dog must have a tapeworm treatment from a vet one to five days before it lands. Innsbruck and the larger resorts have vets used to travelling pets, so book the visit with the flight, and mention the animal in your first message so that we only suggest operators who can take it.

Questions about flying private to Innsbruck

Call +44 7857 574938 , message the same number on WhatsApp , or write to flight@empty-leg.co.uk . Give us the resort, the dates, how many are travelling with how many ski and boot bags, and whether a dog or cat is coming, and the reply will list matching sectors, the full charter price and a plan for the slot and the transfer.