Empty leg flights to and from Riyadh

Riyadh is the capital of Saudi Arabia and the centre of the country's transformation: the ministries, the Public Investment Fund and the towers of the King Abdullah Financial District are here, its population passed seven million in 2022, and it is preparing for Expo 2030 and for the football World Cup of 2034. Visitors come for business above all, but also for the mud brick old town of Diriyah, a UNESCO World Heritage site on the edge of the city, and for Riyadh Season, the programme of boxing, tennis and concerts that opens each autumn. A large cabin jet covers the distance from London in a little over six hours, and Saudi clocks run three hours ahead of British ones in winter and two in summer.

Every private flight from abroad lands at King Khalid International Airport, 35 kilometres north of the centre, where business aircraft have their own terminal and handlers. The year 2026 has been difficult for the region, and on 19 September a missile attack on Riyadh briefly halted flights at the airport.

Riyadh sectors on offer today

The first list gathers every sector our operator network has released into or out of Riyadh. Riyadh has no second airport of entry for private flights, so when it has nothing the list turns to Dammam and Qassim, two of the nearest airports with regular traffic, about four and three and a half hours away by road, which can be worth a look for a flexible trip or for a short positioning hop. Below that is our list of regular routes with full charter prices, the yardstick for judging whether a released sector is a real saving.

Why jets fly empty between Britain and Riyadh

Ministries, the sovereign fund and a crowded season of fights, concerts and conferences fill the aircraft, but rarely in both directions on the same day.

The route prices below use six aircraft. The Global 6000, the Gulfstream G650 and the Gulfstream G450 cross from Britain to Riyadh with range to spare, and the Challenger 604 does so comfortably too. The Challenger 350 and the Praetor 600, the two super midsize jets in the table, are the cheapest way to make the trip nonstop on a normal routing, but on the way home into a strong winter headwind with every seat taken, one of them may have to stop for fuel, and the operator will say so when it quotes.

King Khalid International Airport in detail

King Khalid International opened on 16 November 1983 on a desert site north of the city and is run today by Riyadh Airports. Besides its airline terminals it has a Royal Terminal for the royal family and the government, and its mosque holds a vast stained glass work by the British artist Brian Clarke. In 2025 it handled 40.8 million passengers, the second busiest airport in the Kingdom after Jeddah, and in summer 2025 it set a single day record of 142,538 passengers. Since December 2024 Line 4 of the Riyadh Metro has linked it with the city.

For a crew, King Khalid is a big, busy and well equipped airport with long runways and no night restrictions. Its particular feature is height combined with heat: at 625 metres above sea level, with July afternoons averaging close to 44 degrees in Riyadh, the air is thin, and a heavy jet leaving for Britain with full tanks needs a long take off run and may have to limit its load. Operators often plan summer departures for the evening or the night, when it is cooler, and the absence of a curfew makes that easy.

Security is the other question in 2026. Iranian strikes hit Saudi Arabia between late February and early April, and since mid July the Houthis in Yemen have fired missiles and drones at Saudi cities, airports and energy sites, Riyadh among them. In the early hours of 19 September 2026 air defences over Riyadh intercepted a ballistic missile, smoke rose from a fuel depot near the airport and flights stopped for about two hours; four departures were cancelled and 187 delayed, and by the next day average delays were down to about 20 minutes. At the end of September 2026 Saudi airspace was open and served as one of the main corridors for traffic avoiding the conflict zone, although the European safety agency EASA had an information note in force for the Jeddah FIR, which covers the whole Kingdom, and France restricted its own operators in parts of southern and eastern Saudi airspace.

The private terminal and the handlers at King Khalid

Private passengers at Riyadh do not pass through the airline terminals. They use the private aviation facilities, with their own apron, security check, passport control and customs, and the handler chosen by the operator looks after the aircraft and the party from the car to the steps.

For a straightforward arrival the lounge is a place to pause for a few minutes. It matters more when the permit or the weather holds a departure, when a party arrives after a night flight and the hotel room is not ready, and during Riyadh Season, when big fight nights bring many aircraft in at once. For a longer wait, the Radisson Hotel Riyadh Airport, about five kilometres away, has rooms and villas for a rest between flights.

Arriving at King Khalid, step by step

With the paperwork prepared, a private arrival at Riyadh takes about a quarter of an hour, and the departure runs the same way in reverse.

The delays we see at Riyadh almost never happen at the airport itself. They come from a visa applied for too late, a name that does not match between the permit and the passport, or a controlled medicine without its Saudi permit, and each of these can be settled a week before the flight.

Five checks before a Riyadh trip

Handled in advance, none of these stands in the way of a trip; handled on the day, any of them can hold it up.

Taxes and charges on a Riyadh trip

Saudi Arabia does not tax private flights as such, but the British duty on the way out is significant, and it depends on the size of the aircraft.

Of the six aircraft priced on this route, the Challenger 350 and the Praetor 600 weigh less than 20 tonnes, so a party leaving Britain in one of them pays the standard rate for now. From 1 April 2027 that difference disappears: every private jet of 5.7 tonnes or more will pay the higher rate, 1,132.76 GBP a passenger in band B, and departures from Scotland will come under the Scottish Parliament's own tax. The flight home from Riyadh carries only the Saudi airport charges, which the operator includes in its price.

Shopping can win back some of the Saudi tax. Since 2025 visitors who do not live in the Kingdom, aged 18 or over, can reclaim the VAT, charged at 15 per cent, on goods from participating shops, provided they spend at least 500 riyals in one shop, with up to three receipts from the same shop and day counted together, and take the goods out of the country within 90 days. Hotel bills, meals, tobacco and fuel do not qualify. Claims are validated at the airport before departure, at ten points at King Khalid, so on a private departure ask the handler well ahead how the validation will be done.

Other Saudi airports for a longer trip

Riyadh is often only one stop on a trip to the Kingdom, and since May 2025 a foreign charter operator can apply to fly the domestic legs as well.

From King Khalid to the city, Diriyah and the event venues

Riyadh spreads for tens of kilometres along its ring roads, and the airport sits on its northern edge. Allow for traffic: the figures below are off peak, and a weekday evening can add half an hour or more.

For most meetings the drive from the private terminal to a hotel in Olaya or the financial district is the only transfer you need. Ask the handler to book the car with the flight, especially on Riyadh Season nights, when the roads to the venues are busy. The chauffeur service sold through the airport's website, also under the Hayakum name, starts at 419 riyals a passenger.

Routes between the UK and Riyadh, and which way they run empty

An empty leg is sold as a complete aircraft, so the fare below is the same for one passenger or a full cabin. Hired as an ordinary charter, the same aircraft costs nearly two and a half times the empty leg figure, and the route list under the board shows both. The flight times are for a normal routing; while airspace to the north is avoided, the usual line over Egypt adds some 200 to 300 kilometres, around 15 to 20 minutes.

Most traffic between Britain and Riyadh runs through the London airports, which is where the widest choice of sectors appears. From the regions, a London sector with a domestic connection at the British end is often the cheaper plan.

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.

Entering Saudi Arabia from the UK

Saudi Arabia has opened up to visitors in recent years, but its entry rules and its customs list are stricter than in the Emirates next door. These points apply to every arrival at King Khalid.

• Visa options. British citizens can apply online for an electronic travel authorisation, introduced on 1 July 2026, valid for a year and allowing up to 180 days in that year for tourism, business or short study, or for a tourist eVisa, valid for a year, allowing up to 90 days and including health insurance.
• Passport. It must remain valid for six months or more after the day you land.
• Prohibited goods. Alcohol, pork products, pornography, weapons and narcotics may not be imported, whatever the aircraft.
• Medicines. Controlled medicines need a Saudi Food and Drug Authority permit before travel, and the quantity is limited to the length of the stay or a month's supply.
• Cash and gold. Cash or precious metals worth 60,000 riyals or more must be declared, which can be done in advance through the customs authority's app or website.
• Behaviour in public. Dress modestly, avoid public displays of affection, ask before photographing people, especially women, and do not photograph official buildings.
• Back in Great Britain. Coming home, each adult may land duty free with 200 cigarettes, 4 litres of spirits, 18 litres of wine, 42 of beer and 270 GBP of other goods, and from 1 October 2026 sparkling wine counts within the wine allowance and cider within the beer.

Empty leg calendar for Riyadh, month by month

Riyadh's busy season is the cooler half of the year, from October to April, and summer is when Saudi families travel abroad. Each card below gives the month's level of demand and the supply of empty sectors.

Southbound sectors are easiest to find in June, July and the first days of January, northbound ones in late August and after the big October and November weekends of Riyadh Season.

Three situations in Riyadh, three answers

Taking a dog or a cat to Riyadh

Saudi Arabia is one of the harder countries to take a pet to. The animal needs an import permit from the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, applied for through its Anaam platform and valid for 30 days, a microchip, a rabies vaccination with at least six months of validity left and a health certificate from an accredited vet. Cats are the simpler case; dogs are admitted mainly as working animals, such as guard, hunting and guide dogs, and several breeds are refused, so check before planning a trip around a dog.

Coming home needs more planning than going. Saudi Arabia is not a listed country for Great Britain, so a pet returning from Riyadh needs a rabies blood test taken at least 30 days after its vaccination and may enter only three months after the sample was taken. It also needs a Great Britain pet health certificate, dogs need tapeworm treatment one to five days before landing, and the aircraft must belong to an operator approved to carry animals into Great Britain. Having the blood test done in Britain well before departure avoids a long wait at the end of the trip.

Private flights to Riyadh: what clients ask

Call +44 7857 574938 , message the same number on WhatsApp , or write to flight@empty-leg.co.uk . Tell us who is travelling, the British airport you prefer, your dates and how flexible they are, and we will reply with the Riyadh sectors that fit and the price of a full charter with the landing permit and the handling included.