aviation

For anyone who loves flying or luxury travel, traveling by private jet may seem like the ultimate way to travel. With queues and strikes still the order of the day in airports, traveling through a private jet terminal is even more appealing than before.

However, this type of flying may seem out of reach even to those who happily pay for business or first class. What people may not understand is that there are ways to pay much less than chartering a private jet yourself, although this is the ultimate jet experience. Empty legs are the key to getting a full private jet experience and paying substantially less than chartering a flight yourself. An empty leg is when an aircraft flies without any passengers to position for another flight or back to their base.

Understandably, these are expensive to the carrier as they are not earning any revenue. So jet companies will sell these “empty legs” at a substantial discount, usually around 50% off the full charter price. Prices for turboprop aircraft can be as low as $370 (£300) per person and from $620 (£500) for a jet on a short route such as London to Paris.

Obviously, private jets may be viewed as not being a particularly sustainable way to fly. However, with an empty leg, you can at least feel that you are stopping a jet from flying without passengers and instead is fulfilling a purpose. Some companies, such as Luxaviation, have entered a voluntary offsetting scheme whereby they offset all flight emissions in addition to…