In the last several years, headlines have promised cheap business aviation flights by tapping the millions of empty segments that are flown simply to position an aircraft for the next client. These so-called empty legs can offer a one-way flight for 25 percent to 75 percent cheaper than a private aviation charter, depending on passenger flight requirements.
For example, XO, an air charter broker which buys and resells seats on shared flights, estimates that 30 to 50 percent of the private jet charter fleet often flies empty. Wingly, a European-based flight sharing platform which matches pilots to passengers, estimates that 10 million seats fly without passengers in Europe alone every year.
“Every time a private jet is booked for a one-way flight, an empty leg becomes available for the return journey, because aircraft must fly empty to return to its previous destination and pick up its next set of passengers,” according to Victor, a global on-demand jet charter platform. “This means that by booking wisely you could save up to 75 percent on the cost of a conventional private jet charter.”
Clive Jackson, the founder and chairman of Victor, notes, “Private aviation is beginning to be perceived more broadly as a fundamental mobility and business tool. The opening of national borders and air corridors will see the massive pent-up demand for international travel rise exponentially, particularly as airlines struggle to reintroduce the breadth and diversity of routes they once operated.”
But, as enticing as all this is, experts say the key to flying private is the reliability, schedule, and time savings compared to airlines, which tips the scale in favor of business aviation, despite the higher costs. Consequently, travel managers whose clients ask about empty legs should be prepared to educate them about the pros and the cons.
“Empty legs are not reliable options for mission-critical business travel as they are predicated on an originating customer’s flight which could change or cancel leaving the empty-leg buyer in a worse situation than had they gone with a standard, non-empty-leg option,” cautions Kari Bigot, vice president of passenger sales Americas at Chapman Freeborn.
While new companies such as the online marketplace AeroBid, continue to sprout in the empty-leg space, even those who were early enthusiastic promoters of empty legs are moving away from the sector saying it does not provide the reliability or the premium experience that is key to private aviation’s brand.
“We don’t offer empty legs,” said Linear Air CEO William Herp, summarizing the problem. “Empty legs seem like a good concept but over our 20 years of experience they rarely match up with a traveler’s schedule. Unless the traveler is flying the reverse leg of a very popular route such as Nantucket to New York City in the summer, it is highly unlikely to find a match with an operator’s empty leg.”
Victor, which offers chartered business jets to supplement existing corporate air travel programs through its Victor for Business solution, does not recommend empty legs for business travel due to lack of flexibility and the risk involved when flights are cancelled at last minute if the primary charterer changes plans. It advises the place for empty legs is for flexible, leisure travelers who don’t mind booking things last minute, or whether the flight gets cancelled. “It is just not what we would recommend for corporate travelers,” Victor says on its website. “The alternative, is chartering, which is the key service we provide.”
Private Fly, one of the early promoters of using internet technology to match passengers with empty or shared legs, is likewise evolving into other private aviation models such as jet cards. Jet cards offer passengers savings by locking in the hourly flight hour price in blocks that are priced according to the type of aircraft.
One company, speaking off the record, told Business Travel Executive it does not encourage empty legs because “they are too unreliable in an industry where consumer expectations are very, very high and precision transport is key.”
In addition to the risks associated with last-minute cancellations which can leave the empty-leg passenger stranded, routes are also limited. “If a customer is on a critical business trip, using an empty leg promotion is highly risky,” Bigot says. “The terms and conditions attached to an empty leg contain a lot of stipulations and could ultimately cost the customer considerably more than they budgeted and represent a high risk to the possibility of the trip/mission not going as planned.”
Furthermore, empty legs are not the pampered, catered experience most private aviation users expect which means providing your own meals and inflight service. Availability is often at the last minute. Indeed, Herp points out that full-service charter companies like Linear Air offer more than just a seat on a plane. The real value is in helping clients understand the industry and make the right decision for the mission amongst all the available private aviation options, he says.
Leveraging Technology
While the personal client connection is a central feature of most charter brokers and operators, most rely on technology to leverage the search for flights. Linear Air, for example, is a digital marketplace for private commercial flights. Its search engine provides an easier solution to search, book and fly compared to traditional private charter brokers.
KinectAir, a relatively new on-demand charter operator/software platform, leverages partnerships with aircraft owners and charter companies to keep their aircraft flying to mitigate aircraft ownership costs. “The average passenger load in private aviation is two to three passengers and 80 percent of all travel is under 1000 miles,” CEO Jonathan Evans says.
“There is so much blank space that airlines do not serve. We are targeting these spaces.” The company aims to attract households making $200,000 or more a year to build out regional networks in a point-to-point model and just launched an app that will do just that.
Like others, Vista Global is leveraging technology through its unique shared flights and elevated service, according to chief product officer Vinay Roy. It touts itself as the world’s first private aviation ecosystem, integrating a portfolio of companies including XO and VistaJet to offer different private flying solutions.
“We’re consistently working to make private aviation more accessible and efficient for business travelers, and for leisure travelers too by offering both the XO shared flight and the VistaJet Charter model,” Roy says.
XO, it says, is defining the future of travel and revolutionizing global access to private aviation through its unique shared flights, elevated service, and groundbreaking technology. The company reported an increase of 93 percent of shared flights compared to the first half of 2021. Still, it sees empty legs as “perfect for short-notice trips and the best value option to fly privately.” But success depends on the flexibility of the passenger.
“A degree of flexibility is essential when booking empty leg flights,” said Roy noting booking through its app could yield an empty-leg flight for as little as $120 per seat. “For example, if the original flight is cancelled, then that exact flight will no longer be available. However, travelers can go on the XO app and find hundreds of other flight options to be booked instantly. Through our XO app we offer multiple ways to fly, and we provide real-time access for travelers to browse pricing ad availability of aircraft worldwide.”
Meanwhile, for those who require more reliability and need the value offered by charter companies, Vista offers Vista Jet, which serves the more traditional charter market and offers a subscription membership at a fixed hourly rate which reduces some costs.
Another Way to Fly
One attractive factor in the empty legs saga continues to the price point. The Points Guy analyzed popular routes for a realistic view of savings and the lengths to which passengers must go to achieve those savings. For instance, a New York-Florida charter could be $20,000 but an empty-leg positioning flight could cut that cost in half. However, a group traveling together could affect significant savings in money and airport hassles bringing down the cost to as little as $1,115 per person if all eight seats on an aircraft were filled. Its analysis of San Diego-Chicago yielded a $1000 per person rate and between Cannes and Toulouse might be as little as €80 per person.
Passengers are drawn to point-to-point operations. They know such flights are more reliable and easier than the network airline/connecting airport experience, especially given the disruptions, cancellations and delays that are historically a part of airline travel. Indeed, that attraction is a major reason private aviation is sustaining its popularity – and its higher costs.
“Business aviation continues to experience consistent high demand and consequently healthy market prices,” Bigot says. “Given a continued robust environment within business aviation, aircraft operators or plane owners have no incentive to promote their aircraft at any less than going market rate.”
With so many limitations in such a competitive market, it’s hard to see those repositioning flights ever carrying a major percentage of business travelers. However, at the crossroads of charter flying and empty legs, a more intriguing option is emerging in the form of quasi-private flights – regularly scheduled private aviation services connecting popular tourist destinations which promise a way to achieve the connectivity that is needed by private aviation travelers at airline-like prices.
Companies such as Tailwind Air, Surf Air and JSX which sell on a per-seat basis fill a niche between private and commercial service, driving down the individual cost while providing the perks of faster, more hassle-free transit through private terminals. With its Hop-On service, JSX is an example of what enterprising charter operators are doing. It offers regularly scheduled flights to 20 destinations at airline fare levels. You can fly cheaper on an airline, but not much cheaper and JSX claims to provide the transport in private aviation style.
Similarly, Surf Air offers regional air travel that saves time and money while Tailwind connects popular destinations with seaplanes including shuttles between to Boston Harbor, New York City, Bridgeport, CT, or one of three destinations in the Hamptons. In December Imperium Jet, a digital platform and charter company Flying Zebra teamed to offer 11 roundtrips between Miami-New York by-the-seat service with no membership required.
Travel managers should keep their eye on these quasi-private, per-seat air services since the sector is expected to grow in popularity as more communities are dropped from the national air transportation grid. These companies, and empty legs, make private aviation more accessible and given the dramatic pandemic and chaos-induced shift from airlines, it is something corporate travel managers now need to know about if for no other reason than to educate their clients who might be reading fetching headlines.
