Empty leg flights from Austin

Austin's private aviation market has expanded faster than any other US city over the past decade, driven by tech company relocations and organic startup growth. Oracle moved its headquarters to Austin in 2021, Tesla built Gigafactory Texas in east Austin, Apple's second campus is in northwest Austin, and Dell Technologies has been headquartered here since its founding. The resulting corporate travel pattern resembles Silicon Valley: frequent trips to San Francisco for venture capital meetings, to New York for banking and investor relations, and to Seattle for technology partnerships.

The outbound corporate travel generates inbound empty legs that price well below charter rates. Aircraft delivering Austin executives to San Francisco need to reposition, and those Tuesday-through-Thursday return legs from the Bay Area to Austin appear regularly. The same applies to New York: heavy inbound traffic after weekend delivers creates Monday morning legs from KTEB to KEDC that price at 40-60% below standard charter rates.

Austin also has a significant event market. Formula 1 brings the US Grand Prix in October, South by Southwest draws 300,000 people in March, and Austin City Limits Festival runs two weekends in October. Each event concentrates aircraft demand into a narrow window and produces repositioning legs afterward. Outside event weeks, the tech corporate market sustains baseline demand year-round.

Austin Executive Airport (KEDC) in Pflugerville is the primary GA airport for Austin, 18 miles northeast of downtown. It handles aircraft up to large-cabin heavy jets. Aero Center Austin operates the FBO. The airport is well-positioned for north Austin, Round Rock, and the Tesla Gigafactory in eastern Travis County. Ground time to downtown is 25-35 minutes; to the Domain (Apple, indeed, and other north Austin tech offices) is 15-20 minutes.

Austin Bergstrom International Airport (KAUS) has Signature Flight Support for private jets requiring the longer runway or international customs facilities. It's south of downtown, 20-25 minutes from the central tech corridor and 25-35 minutes from north Austin. KAUS handles ultra-long-range and large heavy jets that need more runway than KEDC can provide.

Georgetown Executive Airport (KGTU) in Williamson County is 35 miles north of downtown Austin and serves the Round Rock, Georgetown, and northern Williamson County corridor. Dell's headquarters in Round Rock is about 15 miles from KGTU. For meetings in the north tech corridor, Georgetown cuts drive time significantly compared to routing through KEDC or KAUS.

Empty legs departing from Austin currently range from $1,400 to $10,000. The average listed price sits around $3,401. Broken down by aircraft: midsize jets averaging $4,600, super-midsize jets averaging $3,782, turboprops averaging $1,400.

Popular routes with current pricing: Dallas, TX at $1,803-$5,761; Houston, TX at $1,853-$3,800; Houston, TX at $1,400. Route availability rotates as operators reposition aircraft, so today's routes may differ from next week's.

We track 35 active legs from this area. 9 have published prices; the rest are quote-on-request. Operators often add pricing closer to the departure date, so checking back frequently or setting an alert catches deals as they appear.