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Private flying, by the leg.

A jet can fly the whole journey, or only the last leg, where the airlines stop. Here are this week’s empty legs, the five sizes of aircraft drawn to one scale, and how a jet leg is priced and passed to the charter desks.

This week’s empty legs

An empty leg is an aircraft flying anyway: home after a drop-off, or on to its next job. You get the whole aircraft for the price of the flight, one way, on the operator’s day. Sampled on 30 October from the Aviapages empty-leg board; legs sell or move without notice, so the charter desk confirms what is still available.

Europe and the Mediterranean

The Americas

Aircraft, drawn to one scale

One drawing per class, measured from the published length and wingspan of a typical type, with its seats. On this scale the ultra-long-range jet is about twice the light jet in each direction. No photographs, liveries or registrations.

  • Light jet

    Citation CJ3+, 15.6 m
    Up to 7 guests
    About 3,800 km, 4½ hours nonstop

    Seated cabin; you can't stand up.

  • Midsize

    Citation XLS+, 16.0 m
    Up to 8 guests
    About 3,400 km, 4 hours nonstop

    A cabin you can stand up in: the gain is room, not range.

  • Super-midsize

    Challenger 350, 20.9 m
    Up to 9 guests
    About 5,900 km, 6½ hours nonstop

    Flat floor; across a continent nonstop.

  • Heavy

    Falcon 7X, 23.4 m
    Up to 12 guests
    About 11,000 km, 12½ hours nonstop

    Three cabin areas; across the Atlantic nonstop.

  • Ultra-long-range

    Gulfstream G650, 30.4 m
    Up to 14 guests
    About 13,000 km, 14 hours nonstop

    A crew rest area; Europe to Asia nonstop.

Ranges are each type’s published maximum. A real flight plans for winds, reserves and a full cabin, so the desk may add a fuel stop on the longest legs.

The last leg, by jet

Any journey you compose can end in a private jet: an airline to the nearest big airport, then the whole aircraft for the stretch the airlines don’t fly. The jet reads as an estimate on the journey, and the charter desk takes it from there.

  • The short sloping runway of Courchevel altiport in deep snow, seen from above

    Courchevel, by private jet

    Jets land at Chambéry, at the foot of the valley. The altiport above the resort takes only small propeller aircraft and helicopters, so a helicopter makes the last stretch.

    Compose this journey: Courchevel with a private jet for the last leg

    Courchevel altiport from Bellecôte, FebruaryFlorian Pépellin, CC BY-SA 4.0

  • The pool and the sandstone mesa at sunset

    Amangiri, by private jet

    No airline sells a business seat into Page, Arizona, the nearest airport. A jet makes the hop from a hub such as Phoenix, then a car takes about 25 minutes to the gate.

    Compose this journey: Amangiri with a private jet for the last leg

    Amangiri, the pool at sunsetSteve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0

  • A quiet Mustique beach with clear shallow water and palms

    Mustique, by private jet

    The island's strip is too short for jets. They land on Barbados, and a small island aircraft makes the last hop.

    Compose this journey: Mustique with a private jet for the last leg

    Mustique, the GrenadinesStefan Schäfer, CC BY-SA 4.0

Start a journey with a jet

Nothing runs until you press Find routes.

The charter desk

We don’t sell flights. When you ask about a jet, the request goes to a partner charter desk with your journey already filled in. They check which aircraft can fly it, confirm the price and book it with you directly.

  1. Compose the journey and choose Private jet for the leg you want flown.

  2. Read the estimate. The jet shows a price for the whole aircraft, marked as an estimate.

  3. Ask a desk. A partner quotes the real price, holds the aircraft and books it with you.

Partner desks

They quote and book; we may earn a referral fee when they do, and we say so. Empty legs and charter offers are supply, not bookings.

How a jet leg is priced

A jet leg on Meridian is an estimate, never a quote, and it always says so. We time the flight from the aircraft’s cruise speed, or from an airway model with historical winds where we have one, then multiply by an hourly charter rate for that aircraft and add landing fees.

Where the charter market publishes a price range for that aircraft on that route, the range sits beside the estimate; for a type we hold no rate for, the market’s own estimate is the price. The partner desks quote the real figure, which moves with where the aircraft is, the crew’s hours and the day.

Empty-leg prices are the operator’s own, as listed on the board and in their currency. We never convert them or mark them up.