The people at Empty Leg UK are career aviation brokers rather than travel agents who also sell flights. Between them they have arranged sectors out of every business aviation field in Britain, and they deal with operator schedulers daily, which is what makes it possible to move on an empty leg within minutes of it being released. Twenty six specialists work across our offices, and every client is given one named aviation consultant who stays with the booking from the first message until you land.
Our founder
Former pilot
Sets our operator standards
Empty Leg UK was founded by Jurģis Kairis, who came to broking from the cockpit rather than from travel retail. He has spent more than seventeen years in aviation, first as a pilot and later on the commercial side, and that background still shapes how the company works: we talk to operators in their own language, and we ask the questions about an aircraft that a passenger would not know to ask.
The company exists because of a gap he watched go unfilled for years. Operators had aircraft flying empty on sectors they had already paid for, travellers had no practical way of finding them, and the two sides almost never met in time. Closing that gap is still the whole business.
He remains closely involved in the operator relationships and in the standards we hold them to, and he reads the feedback from every flight we arrange.
A note on the name
Our founder is regularly confused with Jurgis Kairys, the Lithuanian aerobatic pilot born in 1952, who is well known for his championship freestyle flying and for the manoeuvres that carry his name. They are two different people. The surnames are spelled differently, Kairis and Kairys, and the two men work in entirely different parts of aviation: one in aerobatic display flying, the other in charter broking. If you have arrived here looking for the aerobatic pilot, this is not his company, and we have no connection with him.
Our team
Charlotte Mckinney
Commercial Director
Henry Richter
Head of Aviation
Emma Miller
Director of Development
Liam Bishop
Leading Aviation Consultant
Oliver Davis
Air Broker
Anna Laurent
Aviation Consultant
You can write to any of them directly. If something is not being resolved with your consultant, contact a department head and it will be picked up the same day. We would rather hear about a problem early than read about it in a review.
What your consultant actually does
People often ask what a broker adds that a booking form does not. This is the work that sits behind a quote.
How we choose the operator
A broker's real product is the operator behind the flight. Before an aircraft goes on a quote, our aviation department checks four things, and we will show you the answers on request.
Insurance. Current cover at the level the flight requires, checked against the certificate rather than assumed.
Crew. Two pilots, type rated and current, with the specific approvals a field demands where that applies, such as London City.
Track record. How the operator has handled the sectors we have placed with them before, which is the part no certificate covers.
Industry membership
British travellers are right to check who a broker answers to. We are currently preparing applications for membership of The Air Charter Association and the European Business Aviation Association, with a view to joining during the course of this year, and we are reviewing membership of the National Business Aviation Association alongside them.
Until those applications are granted we make no claim to membership, and you will not find their marks on this site. A trade body badge is worth something, but it is worth less than the checks described above, which we run on every single quote whether anyone is watching or not.
How quickly we come back to you
Who to contact, and about what
| If you need | Go to |
|---|---|
| A quote, or an alert set up on a route | Any consultant, or WhatsApp on +44 7857 574938 |
| Anything about a flight that is already booked | Your named consultant, at any hour |
| Aircraft, operators or technical questions | Head of Aviation Department |
| Invoices, contracts and accounts | Commercial Director |
| A complaint, or something that went wrong | Any department head, directly. We answer these ourselves. |
What we will take on
Our clients reach a worldwide fleet of aircraft and helicopters, so a board can be matched to the job rather than the other way round. Around the flight itself, this is what we arrange as a matter of course.
Working with a broker: what people ask us
We have spent years on the awkward requests as much as the simple ones, and we would rather tell you a route will not produce what you want than sell you something that does not fit. If you would like to talk it through with a person, leave your number below and one of the team will ring you back.