Repositioning flights, when they line up.

When an aircraft flies somewhere to collect passengers, or returns home after dropping them off, it flies empty. That repositioning flight already has to happen and its cost is largely already covered, so an operator will often sell it well below a normal charter price. The aircraft, the crew and the safety standards are exactly the same — only the economics differ.

Discounts vary enormously and any broker quoting you a fixed percentage is guessing. What matters more is the catch: empty legs run on the operator's schedule, not yours. If your dates and route happen to line up with one, the saving can be substantial. If they don't, a normal charter quote is usually the better answer.

Because most of them wouldn't be real. Empty legs are canceled, re-sold and re-timed constantly — a page of stale listings is a lead-generation trick, not a service. We publish repositioning flights we have confirmed with an operator, and if that list is short on a given day, it's short. Altessair would rather show you nothing than something we can't fly.

Rarely, and only slightly. The flight exists because the aircraft has to be somewhere at a particular time. Small timing shifts are sometimes possible; a different route usually isn't. Tell us how flexible you are and we'll tell you honestly what can move.

The repositioning flight can disappear with it — that's the trade-off for the price. If that happens we tell you immediately and work to re-source the trip on another aircraft, and any payment you've made is refundable per the trip agreement.