Quick answer
Book an empty leg when your plans can flex and price is the priority — it's up to 75% cheaper but the route, date and direction are the operator's, not yours. Charter outright when the trip is fixed or time-critical and you need to control everything. The smartest move is usually to decide per leg, not per trip.
Key takeaways
- Empty leg: up to 75% cheaper, but route, date and timing are the operator's — and it's one-way only.
- Full charter: you choose everything and nothing vanishes, at several times the cost.
- The same aircraft and crew fly both — only the economics and control differ.
- The smart play is per trip: fly out on a leg if one matches, charter only the half you can't flex.
- If no leg matches, a one-way charter still beats a return on price.
Empty leg: the bargain with strings
An empty leg is a repositioning flight sold at up to 75% off (see empty legs, explained for how that works). The catch is that the route, the date and roughly the timing are set by the operator, not you. It's one-way only — any return is a separate leg that may or may not exist — and the deal can disappear before you book. It's the right choice when your plans are flexible, or when price is the priority and you're willing to work around the schedule.
Full charter: you call the shots
Charter the jet outright and you choose everything: the aircraft, the route, the date, the departure time and the return. Nothing vanishes from under you, and the trip is built entirely around your plans. You pay the full hourly rate for that control — typically several times the cost of a comparable empty leg. It's the right choice when the trip is fixed, time-critical, or hinges on a specific return.
Side by side
Here's the honest comparison on the things that actually differ.
| Empty leg | Full charter | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | 25–75% off charter | Full hourly rate |
| Route | Fixed by the operator | Your choice |
| Date & time | Fixed, roughly | Your choice |
| Direction | One-way only | One-way or return |
| Availability | Perishable — may vanish | Guaranteed once booked |
| Best for | Flexible plans, price-led | Fixed, time-critical trips |
The hybrid most people miss
You don't have to pick one approach for good. The smart move is to decide per trip: fly out on an empty leg if one matches your dates, and charter the return — or set an alert and only charter if no leg appears in time. Plenty of travellers fly one direction on a discounted leg and pay full freight only for the half they can't flex. Choosing trip by trip is how you get the savings without surrendering the schedule.
What it costs, both ways
To put figures on it: a London–Nice empty leg might run roughly £4,500–£11,000, against £14,000–£22,000 to charter the same aircraft outright. The saving is real — when your dates line up. When they don't, a charter quote tells you the true cost of going anyway, and a one-way charter still sits below a full return.
Which should you choose?
A quick way to decide: if your date is immovable or the return is critical, start with a charter quote and treat any matching empty leg as a bonus. If you're chasing value and can move by a day or shift airport, start with empty legs and keep a charter quote as your fallback. Either way, see the price first — it costs nothing and it's the fastest way to know which path your trip belongs on.
Don't think of it as empty leg or charter. Think of it leg by leg — discount the half you can flex, pay for the half you can't.
Common questions
Is the aircraft any different on an empty leg?
No — it's the same operators, aircraft and crew as a full charter, to the same standards. Only the price and the fixed routing differ.
Can I book a one-way charter?
Yes. If no empty leg matches your dates, a one-way charter still costs less than a return — and gives you a fixed date and aircraft.
Which works out cheaper?
An empty leg, whenever one matches your route and dates — often dramatically so. A charter is the cost of certainty when one doesn't.
