International empty Leg Flights

Schwartz said that even during the downturn, those who could operate charters appreciate the advantages, but also want to do so at a discounted cost. The sale of empty routes - the repatriation of a one-way charters - gave airlines the possibility to generate revenues by replenishing these otherwise empty flights. Charters do not charge for the use of the services.

Charters shall be charged a season ticket for participation and shall post their forthcoming empty runs on the EmptyLegMarket website. The operator may ask for a price quotation for empty routes or ask clients to request a quotation. If a prospective client sees an empty section that fits an imminent voyage, that client will contact the charters company directly.

EmptyLegMarket contains a hyperlink to Argus' valuation information for the owner. "We give the client immediate oversight of the selling process," Schwartz said. EmptyLegMarket showed 17 available travels on its homepage on August 9th. 8 of the tours were available at Oklahoma City's Am. Jet charter and 9 at Valley Air Service of Elgin, Illinois. No international tours were recorded, but Schwartz pointed out that travel comes and goes on the website.

He said some journeys to Brazil were recently on the construction site. A European carrier has acquired a season ticket and will offer empty runs in Greece and Turkey. Hensley, proprietor of America Jet Charter, said he hardly ever sold an empty leg, although he sold it to 110 prospective businesses using EmptyLegMarket, CharterX, his corporate website and email blast.

Hensley will try to resell the empty leg when a client book a one-way ticket to help the client compensate for the costs of the trip, but only about 10 per cent of the times, he said. Schwarz is constantly testing AmptyLegMarket to make the site more useful, such as the addition of an 80 mile turn to show the user that an empty leg near the site could meet their needs.

A further function allows the operator to resell parts of empty flights instead of the whole route. An empty trip from Chicago to the West Coast, for example, could bring some sales if you take a traveller who only wants to go to Las Vegas. EmptyLegMarket may also be used by charters to post information about the available empties on their own websites.

On August 9, 64 companies were quoted on the EmptyLegMarket. Schwarz welcomes Charterbrokers who want to use EmptyLegMarket to fill their empty leg. Agents' advantage is that if they are listing empty feet, the client would still get in touch with them to organise the real trip, which helps maintain the agent's relation with the client.