Empty leg helicopter flights, already going your way

An empty leg is a sector a helicopter has to fly with nobody on board. After dropping passengers at Lukla or freight at a base camp, the aircraft still has to get home, and the operator has already paid for that flying. Selling the seats on that return sector recovers part of a cost that is spent either way, so the price is typically 40 to 70 per cent below chartering the same aircraft. It is the same helicopter, the same CAAN-certified operator and the same pilot — the only thing you give up is choosing the date and time, because the aircraft is going when it is going.

Usually 40 to 70 per cent below the charter price for the identical sector, and it is the cheapest way to fly a helicopter in Nepal by a wide margin. The saving is largest on long repositioning sectors, because that is where the operator's sunk cost is largest. There is no fixed discount, because there is no list price being discounted: the operator is pricing spare capacity on a flight already scheduled.

Usually a day or two before departure, occasionally the same morning. They cannot be listed earlier because the leg only exists once the outbound charter is confirmed, and it disappears if that charter moves. There is rarely more than one on any given sector, and they go quickly. If nothing here matches your plan, sending a normal request to every operator is the better route — it costs nothing and closes in four hours.

You are refunded in full. An empty leg exists because of somebody else's charter, so if that charter moves or the weather closes the valley the return sector moves with it — this is the real trade-off for the price, and it is the reason not to build a connecting flight around one. Seats close 90 minutes before departure so the operator's weight and balance is final, and you will be weighed like any other passenger.