The little-known cheap way to travel by private jet

How to fly on a private jet without breaking the bank

I am sure we all dream from time to time about living the champagne lifestyle. Part of this dream may include travelling on a private jet and relaxing while we fly off to some exotic location.

Now this dream could become a reality as a number of companies now offer 'empty leg flights' at a massive discount. So you can travel in luxury with a group of your friends at a reduced price and in some cases for not much more than the cost of a standard plane ticket.

What are 'empty leg flights'?

• empty leg flights are basically where an aircraft repositions itself to a location (often the airlines operating base) without any booked passengers
• the seats on these empty leg flights are then sold at a large discount to a group of travellers available to travel at short notice
• although prices can rarely be placed in the  'budget' category they can often be affordable for that special occasion

How much would I have to pay for an empty leg flight?

There is no standard price due to the varied nature of the journeys and aircraft used, here are a few examples of flights available at the time of writing this article.

• 4th Sept - Newcastle to Paris £2,500 (4 seats) airpartner.com
• 5th Sept - London to Paris £2,750 (8 seats) flyvictor.com
• 7th Sept - Farnborough to Ibiza £6,416 (8 seats) flyvictor.com
• 7th Oct  - Luton to Faro £9,500 (8 seats) privatefly.com

Because the flights are available at short notice customers have to regularly search the various sites to get the best deals.

What else should I know about empty leg flights

• flights tend to be in small prop aircraft to medium size jets
• all flights are one-way only so you will need to book a return flight - that's assuming you are planning to come back!
• light catering can be arranged on most flights and in some cases served by one of the two pilots!

How can I find out more about empty leg flights?

• a good starting point would be to look at websites such as privatefly.com or Air Partner and search their selection of available flights

 

Image: yingyo