One of the most searched for terms, phrases, whatever you’d call it, in our industry is “Empty Legs”.
For the uninitiated, and technically speaking, an empty leg is a leg of a trip that has no passengers assigned to it; meaning the aircraft is “empty”. Any time clients request a trip, the aircraft utilized will either 1) stay on the ground at the destination for the duration of the trip or 2) drop passengers off and relocate to another location (to either pick up passengers for another trip or return to its base).
How option 1 or 2 is decided on is a post for a different day. The important thing to note is that any time option 2 occurs, there is a corresponding trip created wherein the aircraft will be moving empty. The specifics of the empty leg (“when” and “where”) are determined by the trip original trip that created the leg.
As a hypothetical example, it’s November. It’s Nebraska. It’s cold, it’s gross, you hate it…..I hate it. You made the right choice months ago and joined Silverhawk. You want to fly from Omaha to Scottsdale to escape the misery that is a midwestern winter. You don’t want to come back until Spring. You call us and request a trip. We say “yes”. A few hours later you’re warm, it’s sunny, you’re at peace, and the Midwest is left in your rearview mirror (metaphorically…..planes don’t have those).
Obviously, I can’t leave that aircraft down there until the Spring, so I’ve got to bring it back. Thus, an empty leg (from Scottsdale to Omaha) is born.
The beauty of empty legs, and the biggest reason we recently overhauled the way we offer them, is because they are a true win-win. Clients spend less, Silverhawk recovers (some) cost for moving an aircraft we had to move anyway. Win. Win.
Every operator handles them a bit differently but Silverhawk, because we’re awesome, reasonable people, simplified it with flat pricing. Truly all-inclusive for the trips we post. Straightforward, easy to understand. The best part? If you don’t see the exact trip you want, ask us. Often times we, can make minor adjustments to the posted trips.
I’m a firm believe that everyone should use empty legs. Heck, even I use them when I can. Best way to stay in the know?
- Head to Silverhawkaviation.com. Click on Empty Leg Flights. Subscribe by email. You’ll get a daily email with posted or updated legs.
- Soon you’ll be able to subscribe by state (meaning you’ll get everything to/from selected states).
- Get our app. Click “find a deal” which is where we post all of our empties.
- In a couple weeks, go into our app. click the spring in the top left. Click “log in”. Click “register”. Click “profile”. Select the states you want to get push notifications for.
- Follow on the book of faces. A couple days a week we post upcoming featured empties.
- Also, because if we’re in for a dime we’re in for a dollar, get a jet card.
As always, send questions my way and let’s get you flying.
Mark
