Empty leg flights to and from Lisbon

Lisbon is one of the easiest European capitals to love: seven hills above the River Tagus, the tiled streets of Alfama and Chiado, the monuments of Belém, custard tarts still warm from the oven and a coastline of beaches and surf breaks within half an hour of the centre. It is also a serious business city, home to the Web Summit every November, a growing technology scene and a large community of British residents in Lisbon, Cascais and along the Comporta coast. Portugal keeps the same clock as Britain, and the flight from London takes about 2h 35m.

Private flying to Lisbon has a twist that matters for anyone hunting empty legs. Humberto Delgado Airport, code LIS, is so full of airline traffic that visiting business jets may stay on the ground only long enough to drop or collect their passengers, and most of the region's private flights now use the smaller airport at Cascais instead.

Lisbon sectors available today

The list below shows every sector we hold into or out of Lisbon and Cascais, and adds flights released at Beja and Porto, the two airports where aircraft most often wait between a drop and a pickup. The price list beneath it gives, for comparison, the cost of hiring each of those jets outright on dates you pick yourself.

Why Lisbon releases so many empty legs

Most holiday airports produce empty sectors because jets fly home after a drop. Lisbon adds a rule of its own: the airport has no room for visiting aircraft to stay, so the jet leaves as soon as its passengers are off, whether for Cascais, Beja, Porto or straight back to Britain, and returns empty for the pickup.

The sectors are released all year, with peaks around Easter, the summer holidays, the October half term and the week of the Web Summit. Because the aircraft has to leave Lisbon soon after landing, operators often release the sector out of Lisbon at very short notice, sometimes the day before.

Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport in detail

The airport opened on 15 October 1942, in the middle of the Second World War, when neutral Lisbon was one of Europe's last open doors to the rest of the world. It was renamed on 15 May 2016 after General Humberto Delgado, and it is run by ANA Aeroportos de Portugal, part of VINCI Airports. In 2025 it handled 36.1 million passengers according to the national statistics institute, 2.9 per cent more than in 2024 and almost half of all passengers at Portuguese airports, from two civil terminals and a single runway. The Portuguese Air Force still occupies the Figo Maduro base on the north eastern side of the airfield, although the government has decided to move it elsewhere.

For crews, Lisbon offers a long runway with good instrument approaches and every service, but three rules shape private flights here: a slot is compulsory, the aircraft must leave soon after the passengers are off, and the largest jets may not land or depart between midnight and 06:00. In November 2025, during the Web Summit, demand for slots was so high that the organisers warned speakers that the only free slots for larger jets were more than two hours' drive away, some of them in Spain. Beja and Porto are the usual places for an aircraft to wait, and Cascais is the first choice for light jets that need to stay.

A future airport is planned. In May 2024 the government chose Alcochete, on the south bank of the Tagus, for the new Luís de Camões Airport, which is expected to open in the middle of the next decade and replace Humberto Delgado entirely. Until then, the government's plan is to move most business aviation from Lisbon to Cascais.

Handlers and private lounges at Lisbon Airport

Lisbon has no separate public terminal for private flights. Each business jet is looked after by a handling company, which books the slot, meets the aircraft, looks after the passengers in its own lounge and walks them through the formalities.

Which handler looks after you is usually decided by the operator of the aircraft, but we can ask for a particular company when a lounge or a service matters to you.

Your time at Lisbon Airport, step by step

Because the aircraft cannot stay long, a Lisbon departure or arrival is run to a tighter clock than at most private airports. This is how the sequence works.

The only part that needs real planning is the timing. Keep to the slot, allow for the border at busy hours, and tell us early if the flight lands late at night.

Cascais Airport: the private alternative west of Lisbon

The Cascais Municipal Aerodrome, also called Tires after the village beside it, sits in the hills behind the Estoril coast, about 12 kilometres north east of Cascais town. Since the government decided in 2023 to move most business aviation away from Humberto Delgado, it has become the busiest private airport in the Lisbon region, and for a light jet visiting Cascais, Estoril or Sintra it is often the better choice.

Cascais has its limits. The runway is short, the airport closes at sunset unless extra hours are paid for, and ExecuJet lists the extension fees at 508.53 euros for the hour before 08:00, 590.04 euros from sunset to 23:00 and 1,017.06 euros for the last hour before midnight. A new control tower was handed over in July 2025, and new taxiways are being built, but the council has ruled out lengthening the runway. For a light jet on a long weekend, Cascais saves the drive across Lisbon and lets the aircraft wait; for a midsize jet, a late evening arrival or a winter afternoon, Lisbon itself is usually the answer.

Six things to know before booking Lisbon

These points come up in almost every Lisbon quote, and each of them changes the price or the plan.

From the airport to the centre, Cascais, Sintra and Comporta

Humberto Delgado sits inside the city, so the centre is close; Cascais, Sintra and the southern beaches are further. The times below are for a car outside the rush hour, which in Lisbon means weekday mornings and early evenings.

From Cascais Airport the drive is shorter to the coast: about 15 minutes to Cascais or Estoril and 20 minutes to Sintra, but 30 to 40 minutes to central Lisbon. For Comporta, a helicopter transfer takes around 20 minutes and avoids the bridges over the Tagus, which are slow on summer Fridays.

Taxes and charges on a Lisbon trip

Beyond the price of the aircraft, a Lisbon trip carries two taxes on the flights and one on the hotel.

Portugal's carbon tax on aircraft of up to nineteen seats has applied since July 2023. It is charged per departing flight as 20 euros multiplied by the number of seats fitted and by the distance in thousands of kilometres plus one, whoever is on board. For a seven seat Phenom 300 flying from Lisbon to London, about 1,570 kilometres and so rounded to 1.6, that is 364 euros, and for a nine seat jet on the same route 468 euros. The flight into Portugal pays no Portuguese tax.

On the British side, Portugal is in Band A of Air Passenger Duty. In the tax year to 31 March 2027 the standard rate for a private jet of 5.7 to 20 tonnes is 32 GBP a head, with 142 GBP for anything heavier, after which a single higher rate of 146.63 GBP takes in every private jet from 5.7 tonnes upwards. Aircraft under 5.7 tonnes and departures from Jersey or Guernsey pay nothing, and flights from Scottish airports switch to Scotland's Air Departure Tax in April 2027. Lisbon's city tax was raised from 2 to 4 euros a night in September 2024.

Beja, Porto and the other airports around Lisbon

Because Lisbon cannot keep visiting aircraft, the airports around it matter more than usual: they are where the jet waits, where a trip can end, and where many of the sectors on our board begin.

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

Each fare below pays for a complete aircraft on a positioning flight that is going ahead with or without you, and each time is airborne time only. Lisbon is about 1,570 kilometres from London, well within the range of a light jet, so our routes run from a Citation M2 on the Jersey route to a Praetor 600 or Legacy 500 for larger groups and the longer flights from Scotland. For fixed dates, the charter price of each aircraft is in the second list near the start.

Sectors bunch on Thursdays and Mondays for long weekends, on Saturdays in summer and in the days either side of the Web Summit. Northbound flights from Lisbon are released most often and at the shortest notice, because the aircraft has to leave soon after landing.

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 Portugal at Lisbon: documents and customs

Portugal belongs to the EU and to Schengen, and Britain belongs to neither, so a private flight to Lisbon or Cascais lands at the EU's external border. The handler arranges the formalities, but the documents are yours to prepare.

• Passport. Portuguese officers want a passport issued within the past decade and still good for three months beyond your last day in the Schengen countries.
• Length of stay. Up to 90 days in any 180 without a visa, counted across all Schengen countries, so a week in Spain on the same trip uses the same allowance.
• Entry/Exit System. Since April 2026 every Schengen border records British visitors digitally instead of stamping passports, with a photograph and, for travellers aged twelve and over, fingerprints.
• ETIAS. The EU travel authorisation is not yet required; in July 2026 its launch was put back to 2027, at 20 euros for three years.
• Customs. Arriving from Britain, each adult may bring in duty free a carton of 200 cigarettes, four litres of still wine and sixteen of beer, plus either one litre of spirits or two of fortified or sparkling wine, and up to 430 euros of other purchases. Any sum from 10,000 euros upwards in cash has to be declared to customs.
• Food. British sausages, bacon, cheese and milk will be confiscated at the border, because the EU bars meat and dairy brought from outside.
• Onward travel. Spain is also in Schengen, so a drive or a flight on to Seville or Madrid involves no passport check at the border, though you must still carry your passport.
• Home again. Landing in Great Britain from a private flight, each adult may bring 200 cigarettes, 4 litres of spirits, 18 litres of wine, 42 litres of beer and 270 GBP of other goods free of duty; from 1 October 2026 sparkling wine counts towards the wine allowance and cider towards the beer.

Empty leg calendar for Lisbon, month by month

Lisbon is a year round city: mild in winter, busy with city breaks in spring and autumn, full of families on the coast in summer and packed with delegates for the Web Summit in November.

Bargains are easiest to find in the summer holidays and in the days after the Web Summit, when jet after jet leaves Lisbon with an empty cabin. Travellers with fixed dates find slots most easily between January and March.

Three situations, three answers

Flying to Lisbon with a dog or a cat

A dog or cat flying from Britain to Portugal needs three things, the same for every EU country: a microchip, a rabies jab given no less than 21 days ahead and an animal health certificate signed by an official vet in the ten days before you land. Since 22 April 2026, pet passports issued in the EU to owners living in Britain are no longer accepted. Lisbon Airport is one of Portugal's designated entry points for pets from outside the EU, and Cascais Airport is not, so a flight from Britain with an animal on board should land at Lisbon; tell the handler in advance and the check on arrival is routine. Unlike Malta or Finland, Portugal does not ask for tapeworm treatment on the way in.

The way home needs more care. Only operators with British approval may bring a pet back into the country, and a dog must see a vet for its tapeworm tablet no earlier than five days and no later than 24 hours before the aircraft lands in Britain. Plenty of English speaking vets in Lisbon and Cascais give this treatment, and it is worth booking the visit as early as the flight. A pet also narrows the choice of aircraft, since not every operator carries animals, so tell us about it at the outset.

Flying privately to Lisbon: common questions

Call +44 7857 574938 , message the same number on WhatsApp , or write to flight@empty-leg.co.uk . Tell us the dates, how many are flying, the luggage and whether you are staying in Lisbon, Cascais, Sintra or Comporta. In return you get every suitable sector with the full charter price beside it, and we organise the Lisbon slot, the handling company and the car.