Empty leg flights to and from Mykonos

Mykonos is the summer capital of the Aegean: a small, dry, windswept island in the Cyclades whose beaches, beach clubs, villas and yacht anchorages draw one of the wealthiest crowds in Europe from May to October. It has a single airport, four kilometres from Mykonos Town, with one narrow runway and almost nowhere to park a private jet in summer.

That last point shapes the whole empty leg market. From 1 June to 15 September a private aircraft may stay on the ground at Mykonos for no more than 40 minutes during the day, so nearly every private arrival is a drop and go: the jet lands, unloads its passengers and leaves empty, then returns empty for the pickup. Few airports in Europe turn such a large share of their private flights into positioning sectors.

Empty legs to and from Mykonos right now

The board shows every sector released into or out of Mykonos. When Mykonos itself has nothing, it lists the rest of the Cyclades and Athens instead: Santorini, Paros, Syros and Naxos, and the Athens airport through which many visitors reach the islands. Underneath, a table of regular routes shows what the same aircraft would cost as a full charter.

Also moving across the other Cyclades and Athens

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

Three features of the island's season fill the Mykonos board every summer.

Flying time from London is roughly three hours forty. That sits within the range of a midsize or super midsize jet with a full cabin, while the smaller light jets may have to stop for fuel on the way, so most British parties fly something larger. The Legacy 600, the Phenom 300 and the Citation XLS are all common choices on the route. In the routes table the London row is priced on a Challenger 350 for up to nine and the other routes on an eight seat Legacy 500.

Mykonos Airport in detail

Mykonos is a small island airport run by a large company, and its rules are written for the summer crowds. These are the points that decide how a private flight works.

Two rows matter more than the rest: the ground time and the lounge. Together they mean that a summer trip to Mykonos is always planned as two drops, and that the airport costs are higher than at most European holiday destinations.

Where private passengers are handled at Mykonos

Private passengers at Mykonos pass through the Delos lounge, the airport's own private aviation facility, set apart from the airline halls, with direct access to the apron. It is compulsory for private flights and replaces the airline check in hall entirely.

For the passenger this is simple: one lounge for everyone flying privately, a car at the door and a short walk or drive to the aircraft. What it is not is cheap, which is one more reason to look at empty legs.

The terminal from a passenger's side

This is how a departure and an arrival run through the Delos lounge, from the car to the aircraft steps and back.

The two things to organise in advance are the car and the timing. Everything inside the lounge takes minutes, but the taxi queue outside and the 40 minute clock on the apron do not forgive a late start.

Four rules that shape a Mykonos trip

None of this puts people off. It simply means that at Mykonos the empty sectors are built into the timetable, and a traveller who can fit one of them saves more than almost anywhere else in Europe.

What the ground costs on Mykonos

Mykonos is one of the more expensive airports in Europe for a private flight, and the extra costs fall into three places.

The lounge charge is the one visitors notice. Where Greek VAT at 24 per cent is added, it comes to about 2,480 euros for the flight in and the same again for the flight out, so a round trip can add almost 5,000 euros before any other airport charge. The positioning cost is larger still in summer, because the aircraft cannot wait on the island; travelling on a sector that is already being flown empty is the most direct way to avoid paying for it.

Britain adds Air Passenger Duty to the departure from a British airport and to nothing else. A Challenger 350 and a Legacy 500 both weigh under 20 tonnes and pay the standard rate of 32 GBP a head until April 2027, while a Legacy 600 or anything heavier pays the higher rate of 142 GBP; from April 2027 the higher rate is due to cover every private jet above 5.7 tonnes. Greece's climate resilience fee is collected by the hotel or villa with the bill, not at the airport.

Santorini, Athens, Paros and the other airports nearby

For a jet, Mykonos Airport is the only way onto the island, but the airports around it matter for island hopping and for where the aircraft waits between flights.

From the airport to Mykonos Town, Psarou and the south coast

Mykonos is small, and nothing on the island is much more than twenty minutes from the runway. The times below are for a car outside the evening rush; in August the roads to the south coast beaches slow down in the late afternoon.

A metered taxi from the airport to Chora costs roughly 17 to 25 euros, depending on the hour and the luggage, but there are too few of them in summer to rely on, so a pre booked car is the norm for private passengers. Boats to the island of Delos, with its ancient sanctuary, leave from the old port below Chora, and helicopters and tenders connect the island with yachts anchored off the south coast.

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

A row shows the price at which one released sector usually sells, and it pays for the whole aircraft, not a seat in it. Booking that aircraft outright for your own dates tends to cost two and a half times the empty leg figure; see the price list below the board for the exact charter amount on each route. Flight times are airborne times only; add roughly half an hour at each end for the ground.

Because almost no aircraft can wait on the island in summer, every trip produces sectors in both directions, and their timing follows the passengers closely: the aircraft leaves within 40 minutes of landing and comes back on the day of departure. Mondays and Fridays are the busiest days at the airport and Saturday one of the quietest, so sectors cluster around the start and the end of the week, and a traveller who can fly midweek has the widest choice.

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 Mykonos from the UK

Greece belongs to the Schengen area and Britain does not, so a flight between them crosses the EU's external border, and Greek officers carry out the checks in the private lounge at Mykonos, never on board.

• Passport. Greek officers want a passport issued no more than ten years before the date of entry, with at least three months of validity left after the date you plan to leave the Schengen countries. Time on the Greek islands counts towards the shared Schengen allowance of 90 days in any 180.
• Entry/Exit System. British visitors are enrolled in the EU's electronic border register the first time they arrive, with a facial photograph and, from the age of twelve, fingerprints, and the record takes the place of passport stamps. In the spring of 2026 Greece suggested that Britons would be spared the biometric step, then confirmed that no nationality is exempt, and practice on the islands has varied, so check the FCDO advice for Greece shortly before you travel.
• ETIAS. Not needed yet. In July 2026 the launch was put back to 2027, with no firm date. Travellers aged 18 to 70 will then pay 20 euros, and the authorisation will last three years or until the passport expires, whichever is sooner.
• Customs on arrival. Arriving from outside the EU, each traveller has the standard duty free allowances for tobacco and alcohol and may bring other goods worth up to 430 euros; more than that, or cash of 10,000 euros or more, has to be declared. Greek customs will confiscate British ham, cheese or milk.
• Between the islands. Flights and ferries between Greek islands are domestic, so there is no passport control on a hop from Mykonos to Santorini or Athens, although identity documents are still checked when boarding.
• Flying home. Back in Great Britain the duty free limits per adult are 42 litres of beer, 18 of wine, 4 of spirits and 200 cigarettes, with 270 GBP of other goods; EU meat and dairy produce may not be brought in. A change on 1 October 2026 moves sparkling wine into the wine limit and cider into the beer limit. Travellers who hold neither a British nor an Irish passport should find out before the trip whether they need a UK electronic travel authorisation.
• Taxes. Air Passenger Duty on the flight out of Britain, the private lounge charge at Mykonos on each flight with passengers, and the Greek climate resilience fee on every night in a hotel or villa.

Empty leg calendar for Mykonos, month by month

Mykonos has one of the most sharply seasonal calendars on our board: almost closed in winter, and among the busiest private destinations in Europe from June to September. The cards show what drives each month.

For the widest choice, look at June to September, when every trip generates two empty sectors, and fly midweek if you can. For the calmest island, choose late May, early June or September: the season is open, the crowds are thinner, and the meltemi is weaker than at the height of summer.

Three situations, three answers

Flying to Mykonos with a dog or a cat

The documents for a pet travelling from Britain to Greece are the same as for any EU country: a microchip, a rabies vaccination, with 21 days to wait after the first dose, and an animal health certificate issued by an official vet no more than ten days before the flight. Since 22 April 2026 EU pet passports issued to owners living in Britain are no longer accepted either, so the certificate is needed even for an animal that used to travel on one. The route is where Mykonos differs. Pets arriving from outside the EU may enter Greece only through designated points, and Mykonos is not one of them; Athens is. A pet flying from Britain therefore needs to land first at an entry point such as Athens for its check, and then continue to the island. Summer heat on Mykonos is the other consideration, as is the shortage of shade on many beaches.

The journey home needs its own planning. Dogs, cats and ferrets may enter Great Britain only on approved routes with approved operators, and a dog must be treated for tapeworm by a vet between 24 hours and five days before it arrives. Mykonos has vets, but August appointments go quickly, so fix one at the time of booking, and name the animal in your first enquiry: we then approach only operators that accept pets.

Questions about flying private to Mykonos

Call +44 7857 574938 , message the same number on WhatsApp , or write to flight@empty-leg.co.uk . Say where on the island you will stay, which dates suit you, how many are flying and whether a yacht or Santorini comes into the plan; our reply lists the matching sectors alongside a charter price for the same trip.