That aircraft is flying anyway.
Empty, if you're not on board.
Every day in Europe hundreds of jets fly with nobody on board: they return to base or go to collect the next client. In the Alps it happens more than anywhere else, for a precise reason: Chambéry has no hangar and weekend parking is assessed case by case, so the aircraft leaves the same day. For the operator that flight is a dead cost. For you it is the same aircraft, the same crew, the same private terminal — at a different price.
That flight is happening with you or without you. That is why the operator lets it go at a figure it would never quote on a normal charter: better to recover part of it than nothing at all.
Same aircraft, same crew, same private terminal. The only thing that changes is the reason the flight existed in the first place. What you save depends on the route and the day: we tell you straight, with the actual figure in front of you.
is the window in which an empty leg usually appears. And at Chambéry the T-10 rule releases unused slots only ten days before arrival: availability keeps moving until the last minute.
A client gets off at Chambéry.
The aircraft does not stay there.
There is no hangar, and Friday, Saturday and Sunday parking is assessed case by case across some thirty stands. The aircraft has to return to base or reach whoever booked it next. That return sector exists already: the fuel burns, the crew is on duty, the charges are paid. The operator would rather recover part of it than none.
Four constraints.
Accept them and it's the best deal in the business.
We set them out in full, because this is where every disappointment comes from when someone books an empty leg without knowing what they are buying.
The time doesn't move
Departure is what it is, or shifts by very little. The aircraft has a commitment afterwards, and that is what rules.
The route doesn't change
It goes from that airport to that other one. You can't add a stop, you can't move the arrival fifty kilometres.
It can disappear
If the paid flight that creates it is moved or cancelled, the empty leg no longer exists. That is the real risk, and it is the reason for the discount.
You get the aircraft that's flying
You don't choose the category: you take the one that is coming back. It may be bigger than you need, or smaller than you'd like.
The alpine winter breathes once a week,
and every breath leaves an aircraft empty.
From December to April, the Saturday changeover moves dozens of aircraft in the same direction: full going up, empty coming back. Anyone who knows that rhythm buys well, and pays a fraction.
Climbing into the Alps
- London and Paris → Geneva, Chambéry, Sion
- Milan and Turin → Geneva, Salzburg, Innsbruck
- Munich and Zurich → Chambéry and Grenoble
Aircraft go up full on Saturday morning. The return the same afternoon is almost always empty.
Coming down empty
- Geneva and Chambéry → northern Europe
- Salzburg and Innsbruck → Germany and the United Kingdom
- Samedan → Zurich and Milan, before sunset
There are no night operations at Samedan: the window shuts at sunset, and in December that means mid-afternoon.
When the whole region empties at once
- 22 and 23 January 2027, right after the World Economic Forum
- 24 and 25 January 2027, at the end of the Hahnenkamm
- 2 and 3 January, the New Year return
- The White Turf Sundays: 7, 14 and 21 February 2027
These are the dates when the most aircraft are already in position and have to head home at the same moment.
Fewer flights, and you have to catch them
- Geneva, Zurich, Milan and Lyon → northern European bases
- Repositioning between bases, when an aircraft changes region
- Returns after the summer mountain fixtures
- Return legs to the Gulf after the festive season
Outside winter, alpine empty leg volume collapses. Few flights are left, and you catch them through the alert list — not by hunting for them.
Tell us where you want to go.
We'll write the moment one opens up.
No newsletter, no generic offers. Just a message when something really comes up on your routes, on your dates.
We reply within 3 hours, as everywhere on this site. But empty-leg requests jump the queue ahead of everything else: that seat exists only until the aircraft leaves, and whoever comes second finds it already sold.
You're on the list
An aircraft is paid for whole.
How many of you split it is up to you.
This holds for all three bands, not just the first: a business or boutique flight can look for travel companions too. You ask for your quote as usual; if you tell us yes, in parallel we look for people heading where you are heading.
We put it into our network
The flight goes into the list that circulates among our partners: route, day, seats and hold space left. Your name and contact details never leave.
You share it, if you want to
We give you a link to send to whoever you like, or to put on your own channels. Whoever opens it sees the flight, not your details.
You do not have to decide now. We ask you right after you send the request, with a yes or a no: the request goes off without one more question, and you answer once you already have your reference number.
The request goes out anyway and the quote arrives all the same: the search does not hold it up. The flight stays a single contract, in your name — we do not sell individual seats and we take money from nobody else. And it needs at least a working week for anything serious to come together.
Six items make the difference
between an estimate and a contract.
When a first figure looks too good, it is almost always because it contains the flight and nothing else. This is nobody’s particular trick — it is how the market works. Knowing the items is what lets you compare two quotes that are genuinely talking about the same thing.
Positioning
The aircraft is almost never where you are. The flight that brings it to you, and the one that takes it away, are real flights and somebody pays for them. In our figure they are already there.
Parking and repositioning
In high season a full apron forces the aircraft to move to another airport for the whole of your stay: two more empty flights. It is known in advance, and it is said in advance.
Airport charges and handling
They change from airport to airport and they change with the season. They are the main reason an estimate found online drifts away from the contract.
Passenger tax
On air-taxi flights Italy applies a state tax per passenger, due by law and paid over by the carrier. It is not a mark-up and it is not negotiable: it is written down.
Crew waiting time
If the aircraft waits for you at destination instead of returning, the crew has duty limits and a waiting cost. It is the item that most often surprises people coming back late the same day.
Ground services
Car with driver, helicopter for the last stretch, particular catering. We always quote these separately, with the figure written: they are not flying and they should not hide inside the flight.
We send one figure, taxes included. Where we do not have a number yet we write «to be quoted»: it reads less smoothly, and it is the only honest thing to write.