Private Jet London to Ibiza

Why the aircraft goes home rather than waiting for you

On most routes we tell clients that booking the return with the outbound is cheaper, because the aeroplane simply waits. Ibiza in summer is the exception. Ramp space on the island is finite and expensive in the peak weeks, and for any stay beyond a couple of days it is almost always cheaper to send the aircraft back to base and bring one out again than to pay for it to sit on a Balearic apron. That is why the price table below shows a day return and a one way rather than a week-long hold, and why a Friday out and a Sunday back are quoted as two separate sectors. It also happens to be what creates the empty legs this corridor is known for.

What the peak weeks add, and which weeks are the peak

Late July to mid-August and the closing weekends in September are the expensive windows, and the market puts the difference at a third to a half above the figures here. The useful corollary is the one most clients miss: early June and the first half of September deliver the same island, warm sea and open venues, at appreciably less. Shifting a booking by two or three weeks does more to the total than dropping a class of aircraft does, and on this route we say so before quoting rather than after.

Two things the table does not show

– Most bookings here are a one way out and a one way back several days later rather than a day return, so the two columns are worth reading as separate products. The day return column is there for the business traveller and for the occasional long lunch;

– Air Passenger Duty is charged per passenger leaving the United Kingdom and sits inside the figures. It applies to the outbound leg only, not to the return from Spain.

On this route the London field is the least important decision you will make

Four minutes of flying separates the closest field from the furthest, which is nothing at all. What does matter is the Friday afternoon. Every London airport is sending aircraft to the Balearics inside the same three or four hours, and the fields with the deepest resident fleets are the ones that still have something. Luton and Farnborough hold options longest. Northolt is the first to run dry, its civil quota being what it is. Where a client has any flexibility at all, a Thursday evening or a Saturday morning departure buys more than any choice of airport will.

The slot is the booking, not a formality attached to it

From June to September the window you want is frequently not the window you get, and the airport is working at a level that leaves little room to negotiate. What that means in practice is that we ask for firm dates earlier on this route than on any other in Europe, and that a request made ten days out is a different exercise from the same request made in April. It also means the departure time is often set by Ibiza rather than by London. Where an hour genuinely cannot move, tell us at the outset and we will work to it, though the earlier we know the more we can do. Where there is an hour or two of latitude, that latitude is worth a great deal on this route.

Two operational points

– Spain is in the European Union and in Schengen, and Britain is in neither, so there is a border on arrival. The formality happens in the general aviation building rather than the main hall, and British passport holders need no visa for a short visit;

– Ramp congestion at the peak adds taxi time at both ends of the day. On a two-hour flight that is a smaller proportion than it is on the short northern routes, but it is worth building into a tight schedule rather than discovering it.

Three things to settle with the transfer

– Tell us where the villa is, not just that it is on Ibiza. Fifteen minutes and an hour are both accurate answers depending on which end of the island you have rented;

– For Formentera the aeroplane only gets you part of the way. There is no airfield there, so the last leg is a boat from the port or a helicopter, and both want arranging in advance in season;

– Heat is a real consideration between June and September. The car meets the aircraft on the apron rather than waiting in a car park, which after two hours in the air with children matters more than it sounds.

Moving the week beats changing the aircraft

On most routes the largest lever a client has is the cabin. Here it is the calendar. The gap between a mid-August Friday and a mid-September one is wider than the gap between a light jet and a midsize, which means a party willing to move a fortnight can travel a class up for less than they would have paid to travel a class down in the peak. Sea temperature in September is higher than in June, the venues are still running, and the island is noticeably easier to move around. We say this to every client whose dates are genuinely their own, and a fair number of them take it.

Four levers you control

– Move the fortnight. Early June or the first half of September delivers the same island for meaningfully less;

– Avoid the Friday afternoon. Thursday evening and Saturday morning departures cost less and are far easier to slot;

– Give firm dates early. On this route the slot is the scarce commodity, and a request in April is a booking while the same request in July is a search;

– Ask us to price the hold against two separate sectors. On a stay of more than a couple of days sending the aircraft home and bringing one back usually works out cheaper, which surprises most people.

How to read those figures

– Each price is for the whole aircraft rather than per seat. A Legacy 600 at 8,600 pounds carrying thirteen works out at under seven hundred a head for a two-hour flight;

– Compare each line with the same class in the price table above. A Citation XLS+ at 5,700 against a fresh charter at 10,300 is the discount in plain terms;

– An outbound leg and a return leg are separate opportunities. Catching both on the same trip is possible and uncommon, so most clients take one and book the other properly.

Where a charter earns its keep on this route

The case builds with the party size and sharply with the month. Eight people travelling on an August Friday are paying eight peak fares into an airport running at capacity, and once the ground time either side is valued at anything the gap to a light jet is smaller than the headline numbers suggest. Where a charter wins outright is a group that wants to arrive together and start the weekend on board, a villa in the north of the island where the transfer matters, and any trip built around a specific evening rather than around whatever the airline offers.

Three points on rotary legs here

– Anything crossing open water is worth doing on a twin, and the Formentera and Palma legs both do. We quote the single where the routing follows the coast and the twin where it does not, and explain which is which;

– Summer heat reduces what a machine can lift, so a full party with luggage on a hot afternoon may need a larger type or a second rotation. That is settled at the quote rather than on the pad;

– Landing at a villa or on a yacht needs permission and a certified site, which takes days rather than hours. In August the rotary slots go alongside the jet slots rather than after them.

The paperwork, in order

The chip goes in first and the rabies jab second, never the other way round, and the vaccination needs to be three weeks old by the time you land. On top of that comes an Animal Health Certificate signed by an Official Veterinarian no more than ten days before you cross into the European Union, and that single document then serves every return journey for the next half year. Worming is a separate matter and it governs only the flight home: a Spanish vet administers it somewhere between one and five days before departure and writes the date and the product into the certificate. Coming the other way, into Spain, no treatment is needed at all.

Three points particular to a summer island

– Heat is the whole of the ground problem. An Ibiza apron at two in the afternoon in August is punishing for a dog, so the car meets the aircraft and the transfer is timed for the cooler hours where the schedule allows;

– Veterinary practices on the island are busy through the season, so the Spanish appointment for the journey home wants booking before you travel rather than on arrival;

– If the trip continues to Formentera by boat, the ferry operators have their own rules about animals, which differ from the aircraft and want checking separately.

Related pages

Both ends of this route in detail: private jet charter from London, private jet charter to Ibiza and the wider Spain guide.

The rest of the Balearics and the Spanish coast: Palma de Mallorca, Majorca, Valencia, Barcelona and Malaga.

Departing from London: Biggin Hill, Farnborough, London City, RAF Northolt, Stansted, Luton and Oxford.

Also here: what is currently free on empty legs and our guide to flying with animals.