The honest answer is a range, and the range is wide. An empty leg is a discount on a specific flight that is already happening, so its price depends on the aircraft, the distance, how soon it departs and how badly the operator wants it filled. Here is how to read that range instead of being surprised by it.
Across the legs EmpTleg tracks, empty legs typically price 35% to 80% below what the same flight would cost as a standard charter. The discount is deepest on long legs in large aircraft that depart soon, and shallowest on short popular legs in light jets that the operator knows will sell anyway.
That is still an entire private aircraft, one way. A light jet leg of an hour or two can land in the low thousands; a transcontinental heavy-jet leg can be tens of thousands and still be less than half the charter price. Nobody is flying a Gulfstream for the price of a first-class ticket, and any listing that suggests otherwise is a lead form.
Charter is priced by the flight hour, and the hour depends on the category. As broad 2026 market ranges for a full charter in the United States, not any one operator's rate card: turboprops and very light jets in the low thousands per hour, light jets roughly $5,000 to $8,000, midsize $7,000 to $10,000, super-midsize $9,000 to $13,000, heavy jets $12,000 to $18,000, and ultra-long-range aircraft above that. Add fuel, positioning, crew overnights and taxes and a two-hour light-jet charter lands well above $10,000.
An empty leg strips most of that out. The positioning is the flight. The crew is already paid. The operator's alternative is to fly it empty and collect nothing, which is why the discount can be as deep as it is.
Many operators do not publish a number, because the number depends on the conversation: how many passengers, how far the extension, whether you can meet their departure time. Where an operator has posted a price, EmpTleg shows it to subscribers exactly as posted, with no markup, because we are paid by the subscription and not by the flight. Where they have not, the listing says so and you get it from the operator directly.
Search a wide radius and a wide date window, so you are choosing among many legs rather than negotiating over one. Watch the same route for a week with an alert and you will see how prices move as departure approaches. Be a complete, fast, serious inquiry. And remember that the cheapest empty leg is often the one that lands an hour's drive from where you wanted, which is why the arrival-radius trick pays for itself on the first trip.
Yes, materially. Across the legs EmpTleg tracks they typically run 35% to 80% below the same flight booked as a charter, because the flight is happening whether or not anyone is on it.
Generally no. An empty leg is the whole aircraft, one way. A few operators and membership programs sell seats on selected repositioning flights, but those are a different product with different rules.
Ask. Posted prices usually cover the flight as listed; landing fees, international handling, catering and any extension or time change may be added. The operator's written quote is the number that counts.
No. EmpTleg is a search and alert service paid by subscription. You book with the operator at the operator's price and we take no commission.
EmpTleg is a search and alert service, not a broker. Market figures on this page are broad 2026 industry ranges for context, not quotes; every price on a listing is set by the operator and confirmed by them directly.