Empty leg flights to and from Istanbul

Few great cities in Europe have a whole airport given over to private jets, and Istanbul is one of them. Since the airlines left for the new Istanbul Airport in April 2019, Atatürk Airport, code ISL, has served business aviation, state flights and the Turkish Air Force, about half an hour from Taksim. Istanbul Airport, code IST, opened a private terminal with Jetex in May 2026, and Sabiha Gökçen, code SAW, handles private flights on the Asian shore. A jet from London takes a little under four hours.

Choosing the right one of those three airports matters more in Istanbul than almost anywhere else, because slots, parking and the drive across the city differ so much between them.

Istanbul sectors available today

The first list collects every sector we hold into or out of any of Istanbul's airports, whether Atatürk, Istanbul Airport or Sabiha Gökçen, and adds flights at Çorlu when there are any. The second list shows the full charter fare for the same aircraft on your own dates, so each empty leg can be set against a flight that runs to your timetable.

Why Istanbul produces so many empty legs

Istanbul sits between Europe, the Gulf, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and more private aircraft pass through it than through any other Turkish city. A handful of local conditions explain why so many of them end up flying with nobody on board.

Supply is strongest from mid May to the end of September, around the religious holidays and in the autumn conference season, and it peaks on Friday and Sunday evenings. January is the quietest month, followed by February and December.

Istanbul's airports for private jets in detail

Each of the three airports suits a different trip.

Atatürk Airport, the business aviation airport

For decades Atatürk was Istanbul's main airport. Scheduled flights moved to Istanbul Airport on 6 April 2019 and cargo followed on 5 February 2022, leaving Atatürk to private jets, government aircraft and the air force. The land around it is being turned into a national garden.

Atatürk is the default choice for the city. It is the closest airport to Taksim, Nişantaşı and the old city, taxiing from the runway is quick, and the handlers are used to arrivals at any hour. Its limits are the slot, which has to be flown within its tolerance, and parking in the busiest spring weeks.

Istanbul Airport and the Jetex iGA terminal

Istanbul Airport, in Arnavutköy near the Black Sea coast, is one of the busiest airports in the world, with 84,513,937 passengers in 2025 and runways of up to 4,100 metres. On 5 May 2026 its operator iGA and the Dubai based Jetex opened a private terminal completely separate from the main building.

Istanbul Airport makes sense when part of the party connects with an airline flight, or for a trip to the north or west of the city. For a trip to the Bosphorus alone, Atatürk is usually quicker.

Sabiha Gökçen on the Asian shore

Sabiha Gökçen lies in Pendik on the Asian side, about 32 kilometres south east of the centre. It handled 48,407,318 passengers in 2025, and a second runway opened on 25 December 2023.

Sabiha Gökçen is the airport for the Asian shore, for Kadıköy, Üsküdar and the hotels on that side of the Bosphorus, and above all for Istanbul Park in Tuzla, about 10 kilometres away, where Formula 1 returns from 1 to 3 October 2027.

What private passengers find at Istanbul's terminals

Each airport receives private passengers in its own way. These are the points our clients ask about most, from the lounges and the food to the luggage and the drive.

How we plan an Istanbul flight

• The right airport. We choose Atatürk for most city trips, Sabiha Gökçen for the Asian shore and Istanbul Park, and Istanbul Airport when an airline connection is involved.
• Slot and permit early. We ask the handler to request the slot as soon as the flight is confirmed and check that the operator holds its Turkish landing permit.
• Parking settled in advance. For a stay of more than a day we confirm the stand or hangar, or plan for the jet to leave and return.
• No domestic legs on foreign jets. If the trip continues to Bodrum or Antalya, we book that sector with a Turkish operator.
• Time for the traffic. We add a margin to every drive to the airport, especially on Friday evenings and on the bridges to Asia.
• The clock. We quote all times in Turkish time, two or three hours ahead of London depending on the season.

Five things to know before booking a flight to Istanbul

These points decide whether a flight to Istanbul runs smoothly, and several of them are unusual in Europe.

The extra costs of an Istanbul trip

Airport charges in Istanbul are modest beside the cost of the aircraft, and most of them are included in the operator's price. A few are worth knowing in advance.

British Air Passenger Duty applies to the flight out of the UK. The bill depends on the aircraft: a jet between 5.7 and 20 tonnes adds 32 GBP for every passenger, and a larger one 142 GBP, up to 31 March 2027. From April 2027 the government replaces both with a single charge of 146.63 GBP a passenger for private jets of 5.7 tonnes and over. Lighter jets pay nothing, nor do departures from Jersey or Guernsey, and Scottish airports move to their own Air Departure Tax, with a private jet supplement, on 1 April 2027.

Parking and hangars are the costs that change most. At Sabiha Gökçen a hangar starts at about 1,500 euros a day, and Istanbul Airport is generally the most expensive of the three, so a stay of several days is often cheaper with the jet flying away and back, or with empty legs in both directions.

From the airports to the Bosphorus, the old city and the business districts

Distances in Istanbul are measured in traffic rather than kilometres. The times below are for a car outside the rush hour; on weekday evenings, in rain and on the bridges to Asia they can double.

The waterfront hotels along the European shore of the Bosphorus, among them the Çırağan Palace Kempinski, the Four Seasons at the Bosphorus and The Peninsula in Karaköy, can also be reached by private boat, which avoids the coast road on busy evenings. Four road crossings link the two continents: the two older bridges, the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge further north and the Eurasia Tunnel under the Bosphorus, so the route to Asia is chosen by the traffic of the hour.

Other airfields around Istanbul

Almost every private flight uses one of the three main airports. A few other fields appear in plans now and then.

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

Every price in this table is for the whole jet on a positioning trip that its operator must fly in any case; none is a seat price. The times are wheels up to wheels down, without the drive at either end. Because Istanbul is around four hours from Britain, the list runs from the Phenom 300 to the Challenger 604 rather than the smallest jets, and a longer route in a lighter aircraft can cost less. For fixed dates, the charter list near the top gives the full fare for the same jets.

Istanbul sectors come in two rhythms: business trips that fly out on Monday or Tuesday and home on Thursday or Friday, and leisure weekends that bring aircraft home empty on Friday and out empty on Sunday. In summer the flow towards the Turkish coast adds sectors on Saturdays.

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.

Border and customs rules for Türkiye

Türkiye is outside the EU and Schengen and sets its own entry rules. British travellers ask most often about the following.

• Your passport. It needs at least 150 days of validity from the day you arrive and one blank page.
• No visa for 90 days. British visitors may stay up to 90 days in any 180 day period for business or tourism, and those days do not count towards the Schengen limit.
• No EES. The EU entry system does not apply in Türkiye; the checks at the general aviation terminal are the usual Turkish passport and customs controls.
• Duty free into Türkiye. Adults may bring either a litre of spirits or two litres of wine or other drinks up to 22 per cent, five bottles of perfume of up to 120 millilitres, and gifts worth up to 430 euros. Tobacco limits depend on where it was bought, and more is allowed from the arrival duty free shop.
• Cash. Turkish lira worth more than 5,000 US dollars may not be taken out of the country, and other currency above that value has to be declared on departure.
• Antiques and carpets. Exporting antiquities is a serious offence in Türkiye. Keep the receipt for any carpet or old object, and for anything that could count as an antique ask the dealer for the museum export certificate.
• Medicines. Carry personal medicines in their original packaging with the prescription, as some common drugs are controlled in Türkiye.
• Coming home. After a private flight, each adult arriving in Britain may carry 270 GBP of goods without duty. The drinks and tobacco limits come on top: beer up to 42 litres, wine up to 18, spirits up to four and cigarettes up to 200, and from 1 October 2026 champagne will count as wine and cider as beer.
• Money. Hotels, restaurants and shops take cards everywhere in central Istanbul, but small cafés, taxis and bazaar stalls often prefer lira in cash.

Empty leg calendar for Istanbul, month by month

Istanbul is busy all year, with business travel in spring and autumn, leisure and weddings in summer and the religious holidays shifting by about eleven days each year.

The best prices appear on weekday business sectors and on summer Saturdays, when jets return empty from Istanbul after dropping guests heading for the coast. For a trip on fixed dates, January and February offer the widest choice of aircraft and the easiest slots.

Three situations, three answers

Bringing a dog or cat to Istanbul

Türkiye asks more of pet owners than most European countries. A dog or cat travelling from Britain needs a microchip, a rabies vaccination, a rabies blood test showing at least 0.5 IU/ml taken at least 30 days after the vaccination, and an export health certificate signed by an official vet shortly before departure. Dogs and cats ride in the cabin with their owners on a private jet, and Turkish officials inspect the documents on landing.

Coming home is harder still, because Britain treats Türkiye as a country outside its pet travel lists. A dog or cat needs a successful blood test and must then wait three months from the day of the sample before entering Britain. The wait is waived if the sample was taken before the pet left and Britain's conditions for that case are met, which your vet can confirm. Dogs also need a tapeworm treatment 24 to 120 hours before landing. The flight home must use an approved carrier and route, so we check the whole plan with your vet and the operator before booking.

Istanbul by private jet: common questions

Call +44 7857 574938 , message the same number on WhatsApp , or write to flight@empty-leg.co.uk . Tell us which part of Istanbul you are heading for, the dates, the number of travellers, the luggage and any pet. Our reply lists the sectors that fit beside the full charter fares, and explains which of the three airports we recommend, how the slot and the parking will work and who meets you at the terminal.