Empty leg flights to and from London

London is the densest private aviation market in Europe. Tens of thousands of business aviation movements a year pass through Farnborough, Luton, Biggin Hill and Stansted alone, before you count Northolt, London City and the fields in the wider ring. Every one way charter that lands here leaves an aircraft that has to go somewhere, and every departure leaves one that has to come back.

That is why empty legs exist here at a scale found almost nowhere else in Britain.

Empty legs across London right now

This board covers every London field at once, which is the right way to look at the city. If you are flexible about which airport you use, you are looking at several times more options than someone who insists on one.

Why London produces so many sectors

Three things compound here, and together they explain why this city is one of the best places in Europe to look for a repositioning flight.

Which airport, and why it matters in London

Six fields serve London for business aviation and they are genuinely different animals: different hours, different runways, different aircraft, different halves of the city. Each airport has its own card with a link to a full page on slots, charges, terminals and transfer times.

In short, Luton has one of the deepest pools of sectors and a wide choice of operators. Farnborough is built only for business aviation and is the easiest drive from the west. Biggin Hill needs no runway slot and is six minutes from Battersea by helicopter. Stansted takes the largest aircraft and has room to park them. Northolt has the most direct run into Mayfair along the A40 but is hardest to book. London City sits in the Docklands, closest to Canary Wharf and the City, and is hardest to qualify for.

The wider ring

Five more airports serve London beyond the six business aviation fields, and they are worth knowing because a sector into one of them can be better value than waiting for the airport you had in mind.

From the aircraft to central London

The airport that wins is the one that reaches your address fastest, and in London that is decided by traffic rather than distance. Two heliports serve the city, and between them they change the arithmetic completely.

The London Heliport at Battersea sits on the south bank opposite Chelsea Harbour and is one of the city's two commercial heliports. From there Mayfair, Knightsbridge, Chelsea and the West End are minutes away by car. Skyports London Heliport sits to the east in Canary Wharf, five minutes by car from the towers and about twenty from the City.

Two rules of thumb. The helicopter earns its money in the evening peak between four and seven and in the morning rush into town, and much less in the middle of the day. And on any arrival into the wrong side of the city, an extra fifteen minutes in the air removes an hour on the ground, a trade most people make every time once they have tried it.

Popular destinations from London, and which way they run empty

Not every route produces repositioning flights at the same rate. These are the ones that do. Prices are the typical starting point for the whole aircraft on an empty leg.

The European corridors carry the volume, and that is where most people will find something. The long sectors to the Gulf and across the Atlantic appear far less often, but when one does the saving is measured in tens of thousands of pounds, which is why they are worth registering an interest in rather than watching for.

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.

The London season, and what it does to availability

Few cities in Europe have a calendar that moves private aviation the way London's does. These are the weeks when the usual advice stops working and planning ahead replaces waiting for a bargain.

The useful inversion is this. An event that brings people into London on one way flights leaves aircraft here that must depart empty, so the days immediately after a major week are often the best of the month for an outbound sector. The days before it are the worst.

Arriving in London from abroad

Private flights clear at the private terminal rather than in an airline hall, but the formalities are real and most of them happen before you travel.

• Passenger information goes in early. Full names, dates of birth, nationality and passport details for everyone on board. The operator files a General Aviation Report for international flights in and out of the United Kingdom, and it cannot be done at the last minute.
• Electronic travel authorisation. Visitors from countries that do not need a visa now require an ETA before travelling to the UK. It is quick to obtain and easy to forget, and it applies on a private flight exactly as it does on a scheduled one.
• Border control happens at the FBO. Officers attend the private terminal for the flight. At a quiet field the whole process takes a couple of minutes.
• Air Passenger Duty applies to departures. Charged per passenger leaving a UK airport, and shown as its own line in any quote we send rather than folded into the total.

Empty leg calendar for London, month by month

The calendar blends what all six fields are doing, which is how the market actually behaves.

September, October, April and March are the months to aim for. The underlying rule holds all year: buy the direction nobody else wants, which in summer is the flight home and in winter is the flight out of the Alps.

Three situations, three answers

Travelling with a dog or a cat

London works well for flying with an animal in both directions, as long as the right field is chosen. Four of the six business aviation fields are on the approved list for animals entering the country on a private flight: Luton, Farnborough, Biggin Hill and Stansted, with London Oxford on it too. Northolt and London City are not, so an animal arriving from abroad cannot land at either; within the UK or from Ireland no approved route is needed.

Beyond the airport, the operator has to hold the relevant approval for the route, which is checked per booking rather than assumed. When you leave the country, the rules of your destination apply. Tell us about the animal in the first message and we will steer you to the right field rather than the closest one.

Questions about flying private in London

Call +44 7857 574938, message the same number on WhatsApp, or write to flight@empty-leg.co.uk. Our office is in the business aviation area at London Luton, which is where many of these sectors are released first.