- Very light and light jets
- About £1,500 to £4,500 per flight hour
- Midsize and super-midsize
- About £3,000 to £7,000 per flight hour
- Heavy jets
- About £5,000 to £11,000 per flight hour
- Biggest hidden variable
- Positioning and empty return sectors
- UK APD (1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027)
- £16 to £1,141 per passenger on aircraft of 5.7 tonnes or more, depending on aircraft and distance
Last reviewed
Indicative hourly rates by aircraft category
Charter is usually priced per trip, but the trip price is built largely from flight hours, so an hourly rate is a useful starting point. Published price guides from UK, European and US charter brokers in 2025 and 2026 do not agree exactly, which is itself a lesson: rates move with season, demand, fuel and which aircraft happen to be nearby. The ranges below take the spread across those guides, converted to sterling where needed and rounded, and should be read as indicative, not as quotes. They were checked in October 2026.
Rates usually exclude some or all of the costs described further down, which is why two quotes with similar hourly rates can end up thousands of pounds apart.
| Category | Typical use | Indicative cost per flight hour |
|---|---|---|
| Turboprop | Short regional sectors, smaller airfields | About £1,100 to £2,500 |
| Very light and light jet | Up to around 7 passengers on short European trips | About £1,500 to £4,500 |
| Midsize and super-midsize jet | Longer European sectors, more cabin space | About £3,000 to £7,000 |
| Heavy (large-cabin) jet | Long-range trips, bigger groups | About £5,000 to £11,000 |
| Ultra-long-range jet | Intercontinental non-stop | About £7,000 to £16,000 |
What drives the price
The flight you take is only part of what you pay for. The operator also has to get the aircraft to you and, unless it has another booking, back to base. These are the main cost drivers to look for on any quote.
- Positioning: if the nearest suitable aircraft is based away from your departure airport, the flight time to reach you is normally charged.
- Repositioning and empty sectors: on a one-way trip the aircraft often flies home empty, and that return is usually built into the price.
- Overnight crew costs: when the aircraft waits for you away from base, the crew need hotels and allowances, and some operators add a daily charge for the aircraft standing idle.
- Landing, parking and handling fees: these vary widely between airports, and busy or premium airports with private terminals tend to cost more.
- De-icing: in cold weather the aircraft may need de-icing before departure, which is normally charged at cost because the need is not known until the day.
- Catering: standard catering is often included, while special requests are added at cost.
- Taxes: VAT and, on departures from UK airports in aircraft of 5.7 tonnes or more, Air Passenger Duty (both covered below).
VAT and UK Air Passenger Duty
VAT treatment of a charter depends on the aircraft and the journey. In outline, HMRC's guidance on passenger transport (VAT Notice 744A) zero-rates domestic UK passenger transport in an aircraft with at least 10 seats, counting the crew seats, and standard-rates it in smaller aircraft. A journey that goes both inside and outside the UK is zero-rated for the part within the UK, whatever the size of the aircraft. How the supply is structured also matters, so this is a simplified summary rather than tax advice: ask for VAT to be shown clearly on the quote.
Air Passenger Duty (APD) is charged per passenger on flights departing UK airports in aircraft of 5.7 tonnes or more, and the operator accounts for it. For the period from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 the published rates per passenger are as follows. Business jets between 5.7 and 20 tonnes usually pay the standard rate, because their cabins have seat pitch over 40 inches. The higher rate applies to aircraft of 20 tonnes or more equipped to carry fewer than 19 passengers, and the government increased it by an additional 50 per cent from 1 April 2026.
These rates were checked against GOV.UK in October 2026 and are set each year. The government has also announced that from 1 April 2027 the higher rate will extend to aircraft of 5.7 tonnes or more used as a private or business jet, and that the child exemption will not apply on business jets. Always check current rates on GOV.UK before relying on them.
| Destination band (1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027) | Standard rate | Higher rate |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic | £16 | £142 |
| Band A (destination capital up to 2,000 miles from London) | £32 | £142 |
| Band B (2,001 to 5,500 miles) | £244 | £1,097 |
| Band C (over 5,500 miles) | £253 | £1,141 |
A worked example
Assumptions: four passengers, a one-way flight of two hours from a London airport to a European city, in a light jet costing £3,500 per flight hour. The aircraft is already at the departure airport, so there is no positioning, but it has no onward booking and must fly home empty. The aircraft weighs between 5.7 and 20 tonnes, so the APD standard rate for Band A applies.
Flight time is two hours out and two hours back empty, so four hours at £3,500, or £14,000. Add, say, £1,500 for landing, handling and parking at both ends. APD at £32 for each of four passengers adds £128. The indicative total is £15,628, or around £15,600, before VAT and any de-icing or special catering. If the same aircraft had a booking out of the destination, the two empty hours (£7,000) would fall away and the total would drop to around £8,600, a saving of about 45 per cent. The same flight from 1 April 2027 would pay the APD higher rate instead, announced at £146.63 per passenger for Band A, or about £587 for four passengers.
This is an illustration of the arithmetic, not a quote. Real prices depend on the actual aircraft available on your dates.
Ways to reduce the cost
A few decisions make more difference than any negotiation over the hourly rate.
- Compare one-way and return: if you return within a day or two, a return booking can cost little more than a one-way with an empty return, because the aircraft would be flying back anyway.
- Ask about empty legs: an aircraft repositioning on your route can be much cheaper, if your dates are flexible.
- Be flexible on airports: a nearby airport with lower fees, or one where an aircraft is already based, can remove positioning time.
- Match the aircraft to the trip: a light jet on a short sector is far cheaper than a large cabin you do not need.
- Book early where you can: more aircraft to choose from usually means a better price.
How Oryx quotes
Oryx Global Aviation is an independent broker. We do not own aircraft, so we compare options across vetted operators and quote a fixed price per trip. A quote covers flight time, positioning, handling, airport fees and standard catering, and where an empty leg or a different aircraft would be materially cheaper for the same trip, we say so.