Madrid is the capital of Spain, the seat of its government and the home of most of its large companies, and Barajas gives corporate traffic a terminal built for it alone. Adolfo Suarez Madrid Barajas lies about 13 kilometres north east of the centre, and the IFEMA halls and the new Formula 1 circuit are barely five minutes from the runway, which is why much of the private traffic here never goes into the city.
From London the flight takes about 2h 10m. Madrid is not a coastal resort and its year runs to a business calendar: fairs and congresses at IFEMA from January, the corporate season from October to December, and the Grand Prix in September. The city keeps its aircraft rather than sending them away, so the empty legs here come from the routes rather than from the parking rules, and the board below shows which ones are moving.
MAD / LEMD
Adolfo Suarez Madrid Barajas, with an executive terminal of its own that works around the clock
2h 10m
from London to Madrid in a Phenom 300 or a Citation XLS+, and about 2h 45m from Edinburgh or Glasgow
Open 24 hours
the airport, its customs desk and the executive terminal, although the noisiest certificated aircraft are barred overnight
609 metres
the height of the field above sea level, which is high for a major European airport and shows in the performance figures
Empty legs to and from Madrid right now
The board shows every sector touching Madrid, and when Madrid is quiet it adds flights at Valladolid and Salamanca, the other fields within reach of the capital. Under the board, the charter list gives the full price of the same aircraft on an ordinary UK to Madrid booking, and that is the number any released sector has to beat.
Ask us what is available at Madrid right now.
This board refreshes through the day as operators release sectors, and it shows only part of the market: a large share of repositioning flights never reach a public list at all. Check back shortly, or tell us your route and dates and we will look at what operators are holding at this moment.
Typical empty leg prices between the UK and Madrid
Guide prices for the whole aircraft, in pounds, on the corridors that produce repositioning sectors most often. These are not live offers and carry no dates: what is available right now is in the schedule on this page. The charter column is the same aircraft booked on your own dates.
Route
Aircraft
Seats
Flight time
Empty leg from
Charter from
London to Madrid
Phenom 300
7
2h 10m
5,200 GBP
12,300 GBP
Madrid to London
Citation XLS+
8
2h 10m
6,800 GBP
16,300 GBP
Madrid to Farnborough
Citation Latitude
9
2h 05m
7,000 GBP
16,600 GBP
Biggin Hill to Madrid
Citation CJ3
7
2h 10m
4,700 GBP
11,300 GBP
Madrid to Oxford
Phenom 300
7
2h 10m
5,200 GBP
12,300 GBP
Jersey to Madrid
Phenom 300
7
1h 45m
4,200 GBP
9,900 GBP
Madrid to Southampton
Citation CJ3
7
2h 05m
4,600 GBP
10,900 GBP
Manchester to Madrid
Citation XLS+
8
2h 25m
7,600 GBP
18,200 GBP
Madrid to Manchester
Phenom 300
7
2h 25m
5,800 GBP
13,700 GBP
Bristol to Madrid
Phenom 300
7
2h 05m
5,000 GBP
11,800 GBP
Madrid to Birmingham
Citation XLS+
8
2h 15m
7,100 GBP
17,000 GBP
Newcastle to Madrid
Legacy 500
8
2h 40m
9,600 GBP
22,800 GBP
Madrid to Edinburgh
Praetor 600
9
2h 45m
11,200 GBP
26,700 GBP
Glasgow to Madrid
Citation XLS+
8
2h 45m
8,700 GBP
20,700 GBP
Madrid to Belfast
Citation XLS+
8
2h 35m
8,200 GBP
19,500 GBP
Dublin to Madrid
Challenger 300
9
2h 25m
9,600 GBP
22,800 GBP
Madrid to Cardiff
Phenom 300
7
2h 05m
5,000 GBP
11,800 GBP
Aberdeen to Madrid
Legacy 500
8
2h 55m
10,500 GBP
25,000 GBP
Both columns assume an aircraft already at the departure airport, so no positioning flight is billed. Where an operator has to fly one in to collect you, a charter can run considerably higher than the figure shown. Prices also run in both directions: an empty leg exists only when an operator is moving that aircraft anyway, so the sector you want may run the other way this month. Tell us the route and we will watch both directions for you.
Set up an alert for Madrid
Most empty legs are gone within hours of being released, and a good number are never published at all. Tell us the route and the window you can travel in, and we will message you the moment a matching sector comes up between the UK and Madrid.
Please fill in both the departure and the arrival city.
Nothing is stored on this site. The button opens a chat with the message already written, and you send it yourself. We reply during office hours, 07:00 to 23:00, and check messages outside them too.
Where Madrid sectors come from
Madrid makes its empty legs differently from a holiday airport, and it is worth knowing which of the three sources below applies to your dates.
The shuttle to Barcelona and the coast
Madrid sits at the centre of the Spanish network, and jets run from here to Barcelona, Malaga, Valencia, Ibiza and Palma all year. A charter in one direction very often leaves an empty sector in the other, and those are the cheapest short legs in the country.
The Atlantic and the Americas
Madrid is the European end of the Latin American routes, and long range aircraft stage through it for Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and the Caribbean. A Global or a Gulfstream that has taken a party west comes back to Europe with nobody aboard, and those sectors run well beyond Britain, not only to it.
Corporate traffic on a corporate calendar
The Spanish head offices are here, and so is the government, so the flying follows the working week rather than the season. Monday mornings out and Thursday evenings home are the pattern, and the return halves fill the board.
On top of those three, Madrid draws private flights from the Gulf and from North Africa, and the Formula 1 weekend in September now brings a wave of its own. Flexibility about the British end helps here, but flexibility about the European end helps more.
Madrid Barajas Airport in detail
Barajas is a four runway airport that works around the clock and is the only field in the Madrid region open to business jets, so every private jet arrives here.
Codes and name
MAD (IATA), LEMD (ICAO). Adolfo Suarez Madrid Barajas since 2014, when the name of the prime minister of the transition was added to it.
Location
About 13 kilometres north east of the centre, on the edge of the Barajas district, with the M11 feeding the A2 into the city. Twenty minutes or so to the northern offices on a clear run, longer at either end of the working day.
Operator
Aena, which holds most of the Spanish network and runs everything here: the four runways, the four airline terminals and the executive building that private flights use.
Elevation
609 metres above sea level, unusually high for a major European airport, with a reference temperature of 34 degrees for performance planning. Thin warm air lengthens a take off run and trims what an aircraft can lift.
Runways
Four, all 60 metres wide: 18R/36L at 4,179 metres, 14R/32L at 3,988 metres, and 18L/36R and 14L/32R at 3,500 metres each. Two are used for landing and two for departure, so a private flight rarely queues.
Hours
There is no closing time. Fuel, handling, police, customs and the executive terminal are all staffed through the night, which matters for a late departure after a dinner or a match.
Executive terminal
Separate from the airline terminals and reached by its own road. Seven companies work inside, all of them approved to handle private flights, and two are also licensed as the general aviation managers that smaller jets must appoint.
Slots
Nothing moves without one. The handler asks for an arrival slot and a departure slot, the coordination office is staffed at every hour and an answer normally comes back inside sixty minutes. A departure slot has no tolerance at all and the flight plan must carry the same time.
Parking
Generous by European standards, and the single biggest difference between flying here and flying to the coast. Capacity holds up through most of the busy weeks, the Grand Prix aside, so the aircraft that brought you can usually stay until you need it again.
Handling
Compulsory. Every aircraft must appoint a handling agent, and an aircraft below 10,000 kilograms or with fewer than 20 seats must also contract one of the authorised general aviation managers. Both go in the flight plan.
What may not use it
Barajas takes instrument flights only. The airport is closed to piston engined aircraft, to helicopters and to anything without radio, so a light propeller aircraft goes to Cuatro Vientos instead.
Night rules
Between 11 pm and 7 am the noisiest certificated aircraft may neither take off nor land, and marginally compliant types have been barred at every hour since 2012. Every business jet on our routes sits comfortably inside both limits, so a night arrival is not a problem.
Formalities
Britain is outside Schengen and Spain is inside it, which means documents are looked at on the way in and on the way out. A British traveller crossing for the first time is recorded in the Entry/Exit System, and officers carry out both checks at desks inside the executive terminal.
Getting away
The IFEMA halls and the Formula 1 circuit in about 5 minutes, the Salamanca district and the Paseo de la Castellana in 20 to 25, the Puerta del Sol in about 25 and Toledo in an hour and a quarter.
Barajas is our first choice for Madrid and in practice it is the only one, because the region has no second airport that takes jets. We look at Valladolid or Salamanca only when a party is heading north west into Castile, and at Cuatro Vientos for a light propeller aircraft in daylight.
Where private passengers are handled at Madrid
Private flights use the executive terminal, a small complex in the south of the airport with a road entrance, a car park and police and customs desks of its own, well away from the airline side. Which of the companies inside it meets you is settled by the operator of the aircraft, not by the airport.
The executive terminal
Not one building but three: the old State pavilion, reworked to handle passengers on the ground; the former general aviation terminal, which now holds the operators' offices; and a row of modular units behind them. More than 50 aircraft stands and a de icing area sit on the apron outside.
Why it is where it is
Business aviation moved here from the air base at Torrejon in February 2013, and the site was laid out for roughly 12,000 movements and 30,000 passengers a year. That is the reason Madrid has a purpose built executive terminal rather than a corner of an airline pier.
Universal Aviation Spain
Keeps an office inside the terminal with private lounges for passengers and crews, free to its own customers, and keeps the fullest equipment list on the field: two pushback tugs, a towbarless tug that will move a widebody, and lavatory and water service done in house instead of subcontracted.
Sky Valet Madrid
Part of the Luxaviation group, owner of ExecuJet, since 2024. Three VIP lounges, a crew lounge with a rest area, a dispatch room with flight planning staff and a meeting room, with customs staffed at any hour and no limit on the size of aircraft Sky Valet will take.
AviaVIP Madrid
Separate lounges for passengers and crews, an open bar with hot and cold drinks, and security, customs and police checks on site, with a team that works in English, French, German, Spanish, Arabic and Italian. It is the handler that government and head of state flights tend to use.
Jetex Madrid
An executive lounge and a crew lounge, showers, meeting rooms, hangar space, de icing through the winter and car parking at the door. Aircraft park in front of the Jetex section of the terminal instead of out on a remote stand.
United Aviation and the others
United Aviation gives passengers and crews free lounges with wireless internet, television, newspapers, coffee and cold drinks, and brings its own belt loader, trolleys and ground power to the aircraft. Alongside it General Aviation Services and Madrid Support Services make up the rest of the approved list.
Two of them are managers, not just agents
Spanish rules split the job. Any aircraft of less than 10,000 kilograms or with fewer than 20 seats has to contract an authorised general aviation manager as well as a handling agent, and at Barajas that role sits with AviaVIP and United Aviation. We name both in the quote so there is nothing to settle on the day.
What the lounges are actually like
Small rooms rather than halls, one set per company, with seating for a party instead of rows of chairs. Because each handler keeps its own, two parties rarely cross paths, which is part of why heads of state and boards of directors both use this building. Expect somewhere comfortable to sit for twenty minutes, not somewhere to spend an afternoon.
Not the airline VIP lounges
The Sala VIP rooms that Madrid is known for, Cibeles among them, sit airside in the airline terminals and have nothing to do with private flights. A passenger arriving by private jet never enters the airline terminals, and the lounge in the executive terminal is a different thing altogether.
Passports at a window, not a hall
Officers check documents at desks inside the lounges rather than in a public queue. Handlers reckon on five to ten minutes to clear an arriving party and no more than ten on departure.
Coffee inside, dinner on board
The lounges are built for a short wait rather than a meal. What they run to is coffee, cold drinks and, at one of the handlers, an open bar, with newspapers and magazines beside them. Anything more substantial is ordered from the airport caterers and put aboard the aircraft instead.
Putting food on board
Two caterers work the field, and one of them will take an order at two hours' notice. A day is safer for a hot service, a special diet or anything unusual, and in the fair and race weeks that margin matters. Tell us at the booking stage about allergies or anything the party does not eat.
Where the cases go
The handler takes them from the car to the aircraft on a trolley or a belt loader while you are inside, and brings them the other way on arrival. There is nowhere to check in, no tags and no carousel, and your cases are rarely out of sight for more than a minute or two.
On the apron with an escort
Passengers and crew are walked to and from the aircraft by the handler rather than crossing the apron alone, and private cars are not driven to the steps at Barajas. The chauffeur waits at the terminal and the handling vehicle covers the last few metres.
Hangars for a longer stay
More than 20,000 square metres of hangar space are given over to business jets here, and a further hangar for Universal Aviation customers is due on the apron in 2027. An aircraft staying several days can go inside rather than stand in the weather, which matters in a Castilian January.
If the plan changes
The operations desk checks the filed time against the allocated one before a flight is accepted, so a new time means a new slot. A slot held and then abandoned can bring a fine, which is why a change of plan goes back to the coordination office the same day.
Apron space to wait
This is the real difference between Madrid and the coastal airports, and it cuts both ways. An aircraft can sit out a two day trip here instead of flying home empty and coming back, which makes Madrid a harder place to find a cheap sector and an easier place to plan a return.
Written into every quote are the handler, the general aviation manager where the aircraft needs one, the building you will use and both slot times. Ahead of the flight we pass on who is travelling, how many bags there are and which car is meeting you, so that nobody on the ground is waiting to be told.
Madrid from the passenger's side
Madrid is an easy arrival: the terminal is quick, the road in is short and the city has no tourist tax to add to the bill.
ARRIVAL
Ten minutes from steps to car
The aircraft parks on the general aviation apron beside the executive terminal and the handler walks or drives you to the door. Officers check the documents at a window inside while the cases are unloaded behind you, and ten minutes is a fair estimate for a party of four from stopping to driving.
DOCUMENTS
Two dates on the passport
Spain looks at the issue date as well as the expiry: the book must be less than ten years old when you land and must still have three months left on the day you leave the Schengen area. Ninety days of travel are allowed in any rolling 180 days, and a first crossing is photographed under the Entry/Exit System, with fingerprints taken from the age of 12.
THE ROAD
Straight down the M11
The M11 joins the A2 and runs straight into the north of the city. Reckon on 20 to 25 minutes to the Castellana outside the peaks and about half an hour in them, with the northern business districts a little closer than the old centre.
TAXI
Thirty three euros, flat
If the car is not booked, Madrid runs a fixed airport fare: 33 euros to anywhere inside the M30 ring road, at any hour, with no night or weekend supplement. Beyond the M30 the fare goes on the clock instead. Say tarifa fija aeropuerto when you get in and the figure is settled before the wheels turn.
TIMING
Lunch at two, dinner at ten
A 9 am departure from London puts you on the ground at about 12.10 pm local time and in the city before one, which by Madrid standards is early for lunch and very early for dinner. The evening flight back lands in Britain at about 7.10 pm if it leaves at six.
IFEMA
The fairs that fill the city
FITUR, the tourism fair, runs from 20 to 24 January 2027 and ARCOmadrid, the contemporary art fair, from 3 to 7 March 2027, both at IFEMA on the Avenida del Partenon. FITUR alone draws more than a quarter of a million visitors, and hotel rates near the airport move with it.
FORMULA 1
The circuit next to the runway
The Spanish Grand Prix moved to the Madring street circuit at IFEMA in 2026 and runs from 10 to 12 September 2027. It is about five minutes from the executive terminal on a normal day, and considerably more on race weekend once the road closures go in.
FOOTBALL
Two stadiums, two districts
The Santiago Bernabeu sits on the Castellana about 20 minutes from the terminal and the Metropolitano is nearer the airport still. Champions League nights and a Clasico move private traffic in a way ordinary league fixtures do not, and we plan the slot around the final whistle.
NO TOURIST TAX
One bill you will not see
Madrid has no tourist tax. The city and the region both refused to introduce one again in July 2026, so unlike Barcelona, Palma or Lisbon there is nothing added per person per night at the hotel.
TAX FREE
Any receipt qualifies
There is no floor on what a non EU visitor can reclaim here, so a small purchase on the Calle de Serrano counts as readily as a large one. A DIVA machine at the airport stamps the form electronically before you fly. The deadline for taking the goods out of the EU is the end of the third month following the month of the purchase.
DAY TRIPS
Toledo, Segovia and the wine country
Toledo is an hour and a quarter by road, Segovia about the same and the nearest Ribera del Duero vineyards around an hour and a half. A party that lands at Barajas in the morning can be walking in a walled city by lunchtime, which is not true of many capitals.
SUMMER
The month the city stands still
Madrid in August is hot and largely shut: offices thin out, restaurants close for a fortnight and business flying nearly stops. It is the cheapest month to charter into the city and the hardest one to find a reason for the trip.
BY AIRLINE
Filling the other direction
British Airways, Iberia, easyJet and Ryanair all fly between Britain and Madrid several times a day, so the direction with no sector can be flown on a scheduled service without losing the day.
ONWARD
Where Madrid leads next
Malaga is a little over the hour away by jet, Barcelona, Lisbon and Palma about 1h 10m to 1h 20m, Marrakech about 1h 55m. Madrid also works as the last European stop before the Atlantic, which is why so many long range aircraft pass through it.
DEPARTURE
Twenty minutes is enough
Arriving at the executive terminal twenty minutes ahead covers everything that has to happen. Because there is no leeway on the departure time, the handler would rather see the car early than late, and it is only a short walk from the lounge out to the aircraft.
The airport is rarely the slow part of a Madrid day. What shapes it instead is the slot, whatever IFEMA has on that week and the state of the M30, and all three are worked into the plan before a flight is confirmed.
Four rules that shape a Madrid trip
One slot in, one slot out
Barajas is fully coordinated, so both movements are booked before anything else is settled. There is no tolerance either side of a departure time and no room to improvise on the day, which is why the hours printed in the quote are the hours we actually fly.
Two names in the flight plan
Spain wants a business jet supervised as well as handled, and since the rule applies to anything seating fewer than 20, it catches every aircraft we would put on this route. An approved general aviation manager goes in alongside the ramp agent. Arranging it takes a phone call; forgetting it stops the flight.
No propellers, no rotors
The aerodrome is open to instrument traffic only and turns away piston engined aircraft, helicopters and anything flying without radio. A party wanting a light propeller aircraft or a helicopter is looking at Cuatro Vientos in daylight instead, and we say so before a quote goes out.
Hot and high in July
Altitude and summer heat work together against an aircraft, and Madrid has plenty of both. A light jet leaving at four in the afternoon in July may not reach as far as the same aircraft would from a sea level airport, so the honest answer is sometimes an earlier departure or a bigger cabin.
Each of the four is dealt with once and written into the confirmation, so nothing on that list is still open when the aircraft leaves Britain.
What the ground costs at Madrid
Spain charges no passenger tax on a departing private flight, and Madrid adds no tourist tax at the hotel either, so a trip here is cheaper on the ground than a trip to almost any other European capital.
On the invoice
Landing, parking and passenger charges set by Aena, the handling fee, the general aviation manager where one is needed, the slot coordination and the fuel, normally all inside the charter price we quote
Nothing from Spain
No departure levy on a passenger leaving Spain by private jet, so the flight home carries no equivalent of the Italian, French or Austrian charges
Air Passenger Duty
Band A, on any flight leaving the UK: 32 GBP a passenger on a private jet of 5.7 to 20 tonnes, which covers every aircraft on our Madrid routes, and 142 GBP on jets of 20 tonnes or more
British duty falls on the departure from the UK, Belfast included, and never on a flight leaving Jersey or Guernsey. The April 2027 change puts every private jet from 5.7 tonnes on the higher rate, 146.63 GBP a passenger after the annual uprating, against 32 GBP a head today for the aircraft on our Madrid routes.
Because the aircraft can normally stay on the ground at Barajas, a two day trip here costs less in repositioning than the same trip to a coastal airport where the jet has to leave and come back. That is worth more on the invoice than any of the taxes.
Give us your phone number and we'll call you back
Cuatro Vientos and the other airports around Madrid
Madrid has fewer usable alternatives than any other big European capital, and it is worth knowing why before a plan depends on one.
Cuatro Vientos, LECU. The capital's general aviation field, about 8 kilometres south west of the centre at 692 metres, with a paved runway of 1,500 metres. It works to visual rules only, from 9 am until sunset, and it is home to the flying schools and clubs. Light propeller aircraft land here, not the jets on our routes.
Torrejon, LETO. An air force base about 20 kilometres east of the city with a long runway and plenty of room, closed to business aviation since 2013. Its closure is the reason Madrid has no second jet airport, and civil movements there now happen only by special arrangement.
Getafe, LEGT. Another military field, south of the city, used by the air force and by Airbus. It is not available for charter flights and we do not quote it.
Valladolid, VLL. About 190 kilometres north west of Madrid and 10 kilometres from Valladolid itself, with a runway of 3,000 metres, useful when a party is going to Castile, the Ribera del Duero vineyards or Salamanca rather than into the capital.
Salamanca, SLM. Matacan, about 17 kilometres from the city and 210 kilometres from Madrid, with a runway of 2,515 metres and quiet aprons. It suits a university visit or a shooting trip in the west better than a drive out from Barajas does.
Ciudad Real, CQM. Built as Madrid's overflow, shut for seven years and open again since 2019, with a runway of 4,200 metres and very little on it. What traffic it does get is private, much of it British and Italian shooting parties coming in for the season, and it is about 200 kilometres south of the capital.
From Madrid Barajas to the city and beyond
Road times below are measured from the executive terminal on an ordinary day away from the peaks. Race weekend, fair weeks and Friday evenings on the roads out of the city can add a good deal to them.
Destination
By road
Notes
IFEMA and the Madring circuit
About 5 minutes
The fairs and the Formula 1 weekend
Metropolitano stadium
About 10 minutes
Atletico Madrid, on the way in
Paseo de la Castellana
20 to 25 minutes
The banks, the offices and the Bernabeu
Salamanca district
20 to 25 minutes
The best of the hotels and the shopping
Puerta del Sol and the old centre
About 25 minutes
The Prado, the Retiro and the plazas
Pozuelo and La Moraleja
25 to 35 minutes
The residential suburbs north and west
El Escorial
About 1h 00m
The monastery in the Guadarrama foothills
Toledo
About 1h 15m
The walled city south of the capital
Segovia
About 1h 15m
The aqueduct and the alcazar
Ribera del Duero
1h 30m to 2h 00m
The vineyards north on the A1
Valencia
About 3h 30m
The coast east on the A3
Seville
About 5h 00m
Better flown than driven
We book the car with the handler once the slot is confirmed, and for the Grand Prix weekend or a fair week we set the collection time earlier than the table suggests, because the roads around IFEMA close or fill.
Popular routes between the UK and Madrid, and which way they run empty
What you see below is the price of the whole aircraft on a flight the operator has already undertaken to make. Times are wheels up to wheels down. The aircraft is not the same on every line, so two sectors of equal length can sit at different prices. Nothing is levied at the Spanish end; British duty attaches only to a departure from the UK. For dates of your own, the charter list further up the page carries the full price.
Route
In the air
Empty leg from
Season
Which way it usually runs empty
London to Madrid
2h 10m
5,200 GBP
All year
Out empty to collect a party at the end of a working week
Madrid to London
2h 10m
6,800 GBP
All year
Home after a Monday drop, most often on a Thursday evening
Madrid to Farnborough
2h 05m
7,000 GBP
All year
Home after a corporate drop in the capital
Biggin Hill to Madrid
2h 10m
4,700 GBP
All year
Out to collect a delegation
Madrid to Oxford
2h 10m
5,200 GBP
Spring and autumn
Occasional, home after a spring or autumn drop
Jersey to Madrid
1h 45m
4,200 GBP
Summer
Out to collect a family heading south
Madrid to Southampton
2h 05m
4,600 GBP
All year
Occasional, home after a business drop
Manchester to Madrid
2h 25m
7,600 GBP
All year
Out to collect a group after a congress
Madrid to Manchester
2h 25m
5,800 GBP
Summer
Home after a weekend in the city
Bristol to Madrid
2h 05m
5,000 GBP
Spring and summer
Occasional, out to collect a party
Madrid to Birmingham
2h 15m
7,100 GBP
January and March
Home after a fair week at IFEMA
Newcastle to Madrid
2h 40m
9,600 GBP
Autumn
Occasional, out to collect a corporate party
Madrid to Edinburgh
2h 45m
11,200 GBP
All year
Home once a Scottish party is in the city
Glasgow to Madrid
2h 45m
8,700 GBP
September
Out to collect a race weekend party
Madrid to Belfast
2h 35m
8,200 GBP
All year
Occasional, back north with nobody aboard
Dublin to Madrid
2h 25m
9,600 GBP
All year
Out to collect an Irish party
Madrid to Cardiff
2h 05m
5,000 GBP
Summer
Occasional, west on the way to its next job
Aberdeen to Madrid
2h 55m
10,500 GBP
Autumn and winter
Out to collect an energy sector party
Sectors between Britain and Madrid follow the working week rather than the holiday season, so they appear in every month of the year even where a particular route peaks in one, and the London airports see far more of them than anywhere else. The best weeks are the days after the January and March fairs, the week after the Grand Prix, and the run up to Christmas when the corporate season closes.
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 Madrid from the UK
Every check a private passenger meets at Barajas happens at a desk inside the executive terminal.
Passport. The book has to be younger than ten years when the aircraft lands and has to stay valid for three months beyond the day you go home. Renew anything marginal before the booking goes in rather than after.
Days in Schengen. Ninety days in any rolling 180 without a visa, and the clock is shared: time already spent in France, Italy, Portugal or anywhere else in the area comes off the same allowance.
Entry/Exit System. Fully deployed across the Schengen frontier as of 10 April 2026. A photograph is taken on the first crossing, together with fingerprints from anyone aged 12 or over, and the resulting file lasts three years, which makes every later crossing a formality.
ETIAS. Announced but not yet live, and the EU has named no date. When it does arrive the fee is meant to be 20 euros, valid for three years or until the passport expires.
Allowances into Spain. Travellers of 17 and over may bring in tobacco to 200 cigarettes and alcohol to one of two limits, either a single litre of spirits or two litres where the drink is fortified or sparkling wine. Still wine is allowed to 4 litres and beer to 16, with a further 430 euros of goods of any other kind. Cash of 10,000 euros or more has to be declared. British meat and dairy may not come in at all, in any quantity.
Nothing to pay on departure. There is no Spanish levy on a passenger leaving by private jet, so the return leg adds nothing at all. Any British duty on the trip was settled when the aircraft left the UK.
Back to Britain. An adult may carry 200 cigarettes, 4 litres of spirits, 42 litres of beer and 18 litres of wine, plus 270 GBP of other goods on a private flight. Sparkling wine moves into the wine allowance on 1 October 2026, and cider into the beer one. Iberian ham, chorizo and cheese have to stay in Spain: the ban on EU meat and dairy covers a cabin bag exactly as it covers the hold.
Empty leg calendar for Madrid, month by month
Madrid runs on a business calendar rather than a holiday one, which makes it steadier than the coast and, in a few weeks of the year, a great deal busier.
Demand Why people fly to Madrid in a given month, from the IFEMA calendar and the race weekend to the rhythm of the corporate year, and what it does to the price of a charter.
Empty legs How many UK sectors a normal month produces here, and the discount they tend to carry against the full charter price.
January
BusyGood
The corporate year restarts after Epiphany on 6 January and FITUR fills IFEMA from the 20th to the 24th in 2027. The tourism trade arrives from across Europe and the homeward sectors run all week.
February
BusyGood
Congress season at IFEMA and the Palacio Municipal, cold and dry weather, and a steady flow of corporate flying through the working week.
March
Very busyStrong
ARCOmadrid brings the art world in from 3 to 7 March 2027 and the weather turns. Easter follows at the end of the month, with Easter Sunday on the 28th.
April
SteadyFair
The quiet stretch after Easter, and the best weather of the spring. Offices are back but travel is light, and what leisure flying there is has already gone to the coast.
May
BusyGood
The San Isidro fiestas, the opening of the long bullfighting feria at Las Ventas that runs on into June, football finals and the last comfortable weeks before the heat. A strong month in both directions.
June
BusyGood
Congresses finish before the summer and companies close their half year accounts, so the corporate traffic is heavy in the first fortnight and thins after it.
July
SteadyFair
Hot and quiet in the city. What flying there is heads for the coast and the islands, and Madrid becomes a place aircraft pass through rather than stop in.
August
QuietFair
The slowest month by a distance. Offices shut, restaurants close for a fortnight and charter prices into Madrid are the lowest of the year.
September
Very busyStrong
Everything restarts at once, and the Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Madring circuit runs from 10 to 12 September 2027. Aircraft arrive from across Europe for the weekend and the sectors home on the Monday are the best of the year.
October
Very busyStrong
The heart of the corporate season, with conferences, results meetings and board travel filling the working week. The shooting season opens on the estates of the interior, and the weather is still fine.
November
Very busyStrong
Congresses fill IFEMA week after week, the shooting estates in the interior are in full season and corporate travel runs hard. One of the two or three heaviest months of the year for private flying here.
December
BusyGood
Corporate travel holds up until about the 20th and then stops. The Christmas lights bring visitors in while aircraft reposition out, which makes the days before Christmas worth watching on the board.
The Monday after the Grand Prix, the days after a fair week and the run up to Christmas are the moments worth watching. Going the other way, August offers the cheapest charters into a city that has largely gone to the coast.
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Three situations, three answers
A board meeting and a night in the city
Fly in on the Monday morning, keep the aircraft at Barajas overnight and fly home on the Tuesday. Because Madrid has parking to spare, waiting is usually cheaper than sending the jet away and bringing it back, and that is the opposite of the advice we give for Barcelona or Nice.
The Grand Prix weekend at the Madring
Ask early. The circuit is five minutes from the terminal, which makes Barajas the obvious choice for almost every party, and parking is available but not guaranteed across the race weekend. Plan for the aircraft either to stay or to reposition, decide which before the slots are booked, and expect the road transfer to take three times as long on the Sunday.
Madrid first, then the coast or the islands
Spend two days in the capital and continue to Malaga, Ibiza or Palma in about an hour. Traffic on those domestic hops is heavy right through the summer, and an aircraft that has just dropped a party at the coast is often looking for passengers back inland.
Flying to Madrid with a dog or a cat
The paperwork going out is the standard EU set: a chip that can be read, a rabies vaccination that is at least 21 days old on the day you fly, and an animal health certificate signed by an official vet no more than ten days before departure. A British resident can no longer travel on the old EU pet passport, which stopped being accepted on 22 April 2026. Madrid is a good city for a dog, with the Retiro and the Casa de Campo both open to dogs on a lead, though the summer pavement heat is hard on paws and most owners walk early and late.
The journey home is the harder half. The flight itself has to be with an operator that holds British approval for animals, and the dog needs worming by a vet within a window that opens five days before landing and closes twenty four hours before it. Madrid vets fill in these forms every week, so make that appointment at the same time as the booking, and tell us at the start that an animal is travelling; we will then put forward only aircraft that can take one.
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Common questions about private flights to Madrid
How long does it take to reach Madrid from London?
Around 2h 10m airborne from the London fields and a few minutes under that from Farnborough, with Jersey the shortest at roughly 1h 45m. Add fifteen minutes for Manchester or Dublin, twenty five for Belfast, and between thirty five and forty five for the Scottish airports.
Which airport do private jets use in Madrid?
Barajas, and in practice only Barajas. It has a dedicated executive terminal that never closes, and the region has no second airport open to jets since Torrejon closed to business aviation in 2013.
Do we need a slot to fly privately into Madrid?
Yes, one each way. The handler puts the requests in and an answer normally comes back within the hour. What matters afterwards is that the filed time and the allocated time agree, because a mismatch is grounds for refusal.
Can the aircraft wait for us in Madrid?
Usually yes, and it is the thing that most distinguishes a Madrid trip from a coastal one. There is enough apron here that a jet on a two day visit simply stays, and you pay for one pair of flights instead of two.
What is the executive terminal like?
Small, quiet and entirely separate from the airline side. Each handling company runs its own lounges within it, and between them the building offers crew rest rooms, showers, a meeting room and the police and customs desks. The apron beside it holds over fifty aircraft.
What does an empty leg to or from Madrid cost?
A whole Phenom 300 from Jersey to Madrid starts at about 4,200 GBP and a Citation CJ3 from Madrid to Southampton at about 4,600 GBP, against roughly 9,900 to 26,700 GBP to charter the same aircraft on our listed routes for dates of your own.
Is there a tourist tax in Madrid?
No. Madrid is one of the few big European capitals without one, and the city and the region both refused to introduce it again in July 2026. Nothing is added per person per night at the hotel.
Can the car meet us on the apron?
No, Barajas does not allow private vehicles onto the apron. The driver meets you inside the building and the last stretch of tarmac is covered by the handler, who also escorts the party to and from the aircraft rather than letting anyone cross alone.
Can we fly a helicopter or a small propeller aircraft into Barajas?
No. Those are exactly the categories the aerodrome excludes, along with anything not flying on instruments. The alternative is Cuatro Vientos, about 8 kilometres south west of the centre, which works in visual conditions only, from 9 am until sunset.
How close is the Formula 1 circuit to the airport?
About five minutes on an ordinary day. The Madring runs through the IFEMA grounds beside the airport, which is why the Grand Prix weekend fills Barajas rather than spreading across the region.
Does the altitude of the airport matter?
On a hot day it can. Barajas sits at 609 metres and plans against a reference temperature of 34 degrees, and that combination limits what a small jet can carry and how far it can go. Where it matters to your route we say so in the quote rather than leaving the crew to discover it.
Can we take the dog?
Yes, with the usual three documents going out: a readable chip, rabies cover that is three weeks old or more, and a health certificate signed inside the previous ten days. The return needs an operator licensed for animals, plus the worming visit in the days before you land back in Britain.
And if nothing is released for my dates?
Tell us the party size, the dates you want and how much movement either side of them you could accept. We watch Madrid and the wider Spanish network and come back as soon as a sector lines up, which is most often in the days after a fair or the race weekend.
Call +44 7857 574938 , message the same number on WhatsApp , or write to flight@empty-leg.co.uk . Tell us where you are going in the city or out in Castile, which dates you have in mind, the number of passengers and bags, and whether an animal is travelling. We will come back with the sectors that fit, the full charter figure beside them, and a plan covering the slot and the car.
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