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By the end of this guide, you will have reviewed positioning flights detected across your trip schedule, set pricing for empty legs, and published them to the charter marketplace.
The Operations module must be enabled for your workspace. You also need the appropriate operations permissions. Contact your workspace administrator if you cannot access these features.
Publishing and pricing empty legs requires the flights.update ops permission. Any user with flights.read can view the empty legs list.

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What are empty legs?

An empty leg (also called a dead leg or positioning flight) is a flight segment where the aircraft flies without revenue passengers — typically to reposition for the next charter or to return to its home base after completing a trip. PlaneConnection automatically detects these segments by analyzing your trip schedule and flags them as opportunities to recover revenue.

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View empty legs

Go to Ops > Empty Legs. The page displays all detected positioning flights from your active trip schedule. Each row shows:
ColumnDescription
RouteOrigin and destination as ICAO codes with a directional arrow.
AircraftTail number and aircraft type.
DateScheduled date and time of the positioning flight.
Flight TimeEstimated flight duration.
SeatsAvailable seats on the aircraft for this leg.
ReasonWhy this leg is a positioning flight (e.g., repositioning, return to base).
Linked TripThe trip number that generated this positioning requirement.
Pricing RuleThe pricing method applied (flat rate, per-seat, percentage of charter rate, custom).
PriceCurrent asking price for the empty leg.
StatusPublished (visible on marketplace) or Unpublished (internal only).
Use the controls at the top of the page to narrow the list:
  • Search by route, trip number, or aircraft tail number.
  • Filter by status — toggle between Published, Unpublished, or All.
  • Filter by aircraft — select one or more tail numbers to show only their positioning flights.

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Set pricing for an empty leg

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Step 1: Select a leg
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Click any row in the empty legs table to open the pricing editor.
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Step 2: Set or adjust the price
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Enter the asking price for the leg. The pricing rule from your workspace settings is applied by default, but you can override it per leg. Common pricing methods:
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  • Flat rate — a fixed dollar amount for the entire leg.
  • Per seat — price multiplied by available seats.
  • Percentage — a percentage of the equivalent charter rate for the same route.
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    Step 3: Save
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    Click Save to update the price. The change takes effect immediately — if the leg is already published, the marketplace listing updates automatically.

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    Publish empty legs to the marketplace

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    Step 1: Select legs to publish
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    Check one or more empty legs in the list.
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    Step 2: Click Publish
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    Click Publish in the bulk actions bar. The selected legs become visible on the charter marketplace where prospective customers can browse and request them.
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    Step 3: Monitor interest
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    Published empty legs appear with a green Published badge. When a customer submits a request for an empty leg, it enters the standard trip request qualification workflow (see Manage Trip Requests).
    To remove a leg from the marketplace, select it and click Unpublish. The leg remains in your internal list but is no longer visible to customers.

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    Dead leg detection in trip creation

    When you create or edit a trip, PlaneConnection automatically checks whether the routing will generate a positioning flight. If a dead leg is detected, an inline banner appears on the trip form showing the expected positioning segment, estimated flight time, and suggested pricing. You can choose to publish the detected leg directly from the trip editor.

    Manage Trip Requests

    Handle customer requests that come in for published empty legs.

    Charter Marketplace

    How the marketplace connects operators with charter customers.

    Create a Trip

    Full walkthrough of trip creation including dead leg detection.

    Trip Statuses

    Lifecycle statuses that apply once an empty leg becomes a booked trip.
    Last modified on April 11, 2026