Empty leg flights to and from Oslo

Oslo is the Norwegian capital and the home of the country's energy, shipping and finance companies, set at the head of the Oslofjord with forests and ski slopes on its doorstep. Private flights use Oslo Airport Gardermoen, code OSL, about 35 kilometres north east of the centre in a straight line and roughly 50 by road, where business jets have their own general aviation terminal on the west side of the airfield. A midsize jet from London needs about 2h 05m, and from Aberdeen about 1h 35m.

Gardermoen is a slot coordinated airport on the Schengen border, and winter brings real snow. Sandefjord Torp, 110 kilometres to the south, is the second option for the coast and the south of Norway.

Oslo sectors available today

Our first list holds every sector into or out of Oslo Gardermoen; when Gardermoen is quiet, it adds flights at Sandefjord Torp and Gothenburg Landvetter instead. Directly beneath, a second list prices the same aircraft as a full charter for dates you choose, which makes the saving on each empty leg easy to judge.

Why Oslo produces empty legs

Oslo sits roughly two hours from most British airports, a distance at which few operators pay a crew to wait. Business trips of a day or two and ski and fjord holidays of a week both leave jets flying one way without passengers.

Empty sectors turn up most reliably between Oslo and London, Aberdeen or the Scottish Central Belt on working days, while holiday traffic adds the most in February, March and July. Late November and the first week of January are the quietest periods.

Oslo Airport Gardermoen in detail

Gardermoen replaced the old city airport at Fornebu on 8 October 1998, on the site of a military air station that still houses the transport squadron of the Royal Norwegian Air Force. It is the second busiest airport in the Nordic countries and the main base of SAS and Norwegian in Norway. The airport sits on a large groundwater reservoir, so the use of chemicals for de icing is strictly controlled.

For crews Gardermoen is a big, well equipped airport, but its inland position brings cold winters, freezing fog and heavy snowfalls from November to March, when de icing can add half an hour to a departure. The slot is the other planning point. We request it as soon as the aircraft is confirmed, keep Torp or Gothenburg Landvetter as the alternate, and use Torp directly when the passengers are heading for the south coast.

Arriving in Oslo by private jet: the GA terminal, lounges and formalities

At Gardermoen private passengers never enter the main terminal. Business aircraft park by a separate general aviation terminal on the west side, where two executive handlers run their own lounges.

How we plan an Oslo flight

• Gardermoen or Torp. We match the airport to where you are going: Gardermoen for Oslo and the mountains, Torp for the coast and the south.
• Slots. Gardermoen slots for both directions are requested on the day the jet is confirmed.
• The handler. We choose Access Oslo or Sundt Air according to the lounge, catering and timing the trip needs.
• Winter time. From November to March we build in de icing and a margin for snow.
• Pets. A flight with a dog or cat goes to Gardermoen, the only Norwegian airport open to pets from Britain, and we notify the food authority two days ahead.
• Ski kit and cars. We confirm the luggage space for skis and book a car or minibus large enough for the party and the equipment.

Four things to know before booking Oslo

These four points come up on nearly every Oslo trip, and we settle them before any aircraft is confirmed.

From the airport to Oslo, the mountains and the fjord

Oslo itself is under an hour away, while the main ski areas lie between 1h 45m and 3 hours away by road. Drive times assume a car leaving the GA terminal away from the rush hour.

For Hemsedal or Geilo a helicopter saves most of the drive when the weather allows; the old mountain airport at Fagernes lost its airline service in 2018 and is now used mainly by a flying club. For the summer coast, Torp is closer to Kragerø, Tjøme and the islands of Vestfold than Gardermoen is.

What else you pay on a trip to Oslo

The charges beyond the aircraft itself are modest on an Oslo flight, and the operator usually quotes them together with the jet.

British Air Passenger Duty is due on departures from the UK in jets of 5.7 tonnes or more. For the year to 31 March 2027, Band A is 32 GBP for each passenger on an aircraft of 5.7 to 20 tonnes and 142 GBP on heavier jets; from April 2027 every private jet of 5.7 tonnes or more pays a single rate of 146.63 GBP per passenger. Jets under the 5.7 tonne line, the Citation M2 and CJ2 among them, are free of the duty, and so are the Channel Islands. Scotland takes over the tax on its own departures in April 2027 and has promised a private jet surcharge on top.

Torp, Gothenburg, Stavanger and the other airports near Oslo

Gardermoen takes almost all private traffic to Oslo. The list below shows where crews divert to and where a trip may begin or end instead.

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

Each price in the table is for the entire aircraft on a flight that would operate in any case; no seats are sold individually. Times are for the flight only, not the drive to and from each airport. Because Oslo is about two hours from Britain, the list covers light jets such as the Citation M2 and CJ2 up to the Challenger 350. For dates that cannot change, the second list near the top shows each aircraft as a full charter.

Business sectors run all year, bunching on Monday mornings and Thursday or Friday afternoons. In winter the ski weeks add Saturday sectors in both directions, and in summer the weekend traffic shifts towards Torp and the coast.

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 Norway

Norway takes part in Schengen but stays outside the EU customs union, so passports are checked on Schengen rules while goods follow Norway's own, much stricter, limits. For a private flight from Britain these are the rules to know.

• Passport. A British passport used to enter Norway needs to be under ten years old on arrival and to remain valid for three further months after your last day in Schengen.
• 90 days in 180. Norway counts as part of the Schengen area, so days spent there and in any other Schengen state share a single limit of 90 in every 180.
• EES. On the first crossing the Norwegian police record fingerprints and a facial image in the EES, while under 12s are photographed only.
• Alcohol. The duty free quota is 1 litre of spirits, 1.5 litres of wine and 2 litres of beer, and spirits may be exchanged for wine or beer. Drinks up to 22 per cent need an age of 18, stronger ones an age of 20.
• Tobacco. Non residents are allowed 200 cigarettes, or 250 grams of pipe or rolling tobacco, without duty.
• Food. Meat and dairy products from the UK need a special permit from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, so in practice they stay at home.
• Money. The currency is the Norwegian krone, and cards and phone payments are accepted almost everywhere, including taxis and ski lifts.
• Back in Britain. Landing in the UK on a private aircraft, each adult may import presents and other goods worth 270 GBP free of duty, with 42 litres of beer, 18 of wine, 4 of spirits or 9 of drinks up to 22 per cent, and 200 cigarettes. When the UK categories change on 1 October 2026, cider will count towards beer and sparkling wine towards wine.

Empty leg calendar for Oslo, month by month

Oslo is busy with business travel all year, with a long ski season, bright summer nights on the fjord and a festive, crowded December.

The keenest prices are on Monday to Friday business routes between Oslo and London or Aberdeen, and on Saturdays in the ski season when jets return after changing over a party. With fixed dates, the widest choice of aircraft comes in January, September and November.

Three situations, three answers

Flying a dog or cat to Norway

From Britain a dog or cat needs a microchip, a rabies vaccination given at least 21 days before travel and an animal health certificate from an official vet; no blood test is needed. Norway, unlike most of Europe, also requires every dog to be wormed against Echinococcus by a vet between 24 and 120 hours before it arrives, with the treatment written on the certificate. Animals from Britain may enter Norway only through Oslo Airport or the Storskog border post in the far north, so a pet must land at Gardermoen, not Torp, and the Norwegian Food Safety Authority should be told at least 48 hours before arrival.

Flying home is easier, because Britain waives its own tapeworm rule for dogs coming straight from Norway. On a private jet your pet travels in the cabin with you. Tell us about your pet straight away; some operators refuse animals.

Oslo by private jet: frequently asked questions

Call +44 7857 574938 , message the same number on WhatsApp , or write to flight@empty-leg.co.uk . Let us know whether you are travelling for business in Oslo, for a ski week or for the summer coast, with the dates, the number of travellers, the luggage and skis, and any pet. You will get back the matching sectors, the full charter fare for each, and our view on Gardermoen or Torp, the best handler and the ground transport.