Empty Leg Flights for the Masters

The Masters

The Masters runs the second full week of April at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. It's the first major of the golf season and one of the hardest tickets in sports -- the club controls everything from badge distribution to TV coverage, and the tournament has been at the same course since 1934.

For private aviation, Masters week is one of the busiest events of the year. Augusta Regional Airport handles around 1,500 aircraft during the tournament. The airport converts one of its runways to aircraft parking and brings in over 100 temporary staff to manage the surge. If you're planning to fly in, book your ramp slot early -- they fill up weeks in advance.

Augusta National operates as a private members-only club that has run the tournament on its own terms since Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts co-founded it in 1934. Those terms include its own TV rights deal, a cell phone ban on course grounds, and a media structure unlike any other major. The controls are part of what makes Masters week feel separate from the rest of professional sports.

The patron badge system is famous for its scarcity. Augusta National closed the public waiting list in 1978. Badges pass within families and occasionally through long-standing corporate relationships. That scarcity concentrates the attendee pool: the people who can get tickets are largely the same people who fly privately, and they're not going to waste a patron badge on a commercial connection through Atlanta.

Corporate hospitality runs through a parallel system. Companies with long-standing Augusta National relationships lease cabins along the course for the week. Those invitations drive a significant portion of the private jet traffic -- corporate aircraft positioning executives and clients for Wednesday through Sunday.

When to book empty legs for the Masters

Empty legs to Augusta start appearing about two weeks before the tournament. Inventory peaks the weekend before and Monday/Tuesday of tournament week. That's when the positioning flights happen -- operators moving aircraft into Augusta to drop off passengers, then flying back empty.

The best deals tend to show up on outbound legs from the Northeast and Southeast, especially from Teterboro, Atlanta, and the Florida airports. Return legs from Augusta spike on Sunday evening and Monday as everyone heads home.

Practice rounds Monday through Wednesday are an underrated option. The course is more accessible, the atmosphere is more relaxed, and aircraft parking is meaningfully less compressed than tournament days. If you're attending for the golf rather than the corporate calendar, Tuesday or Wednesday arrivals during practice rounds give you a better experience all around.

The Par 3 Contest runs Wednesday afternoon and draws its own crowd. Wednesday morning sees an arrivals spike as practice round attendees fly in, and Wednesday afternoon sees a small departure wave from short-stay guests leaving before the main tournament begins.

Sunday afternoon is the worst departure window. The conclusion of the final round triggers an immediate outbound surge. FBO operations get chaotic for a few hours as the ramp clears simultaneously. If you have flexibility, departing Monday morning typically means shorter ground hold times and more organized ramp operations.

If your dates are flexible, Wednesday arrivals and Monday departures give you the widest selection of empty legs in both directions.