Newsletter
ES
Sign in

Aviation glossary

Ferry flight

Also: positioning flight, repositioning flight, delivery flight, empty leg

Operations and flight

A flight without passengers or paying cargo that moves an aircraft to where it is needed: another base, a maintenance shop, a new operator or storage.

What it is

Not every flight earns money. Airlines fly empty aircraft to start a route from another base, to take them in for maintenance or a repaint, to deliver them or hand them back to a lessor, to replace an aircraft that has gone unserviceable, or to put them into storage.

A special case is a flight under a special flight permit, which allows an aircraft that temporarily falls short of full airworthiness requirements to fly, with restrictions and only essential crew aboard, to a place where it can be repaired. Another is the delivery flight, when a new aircraft leaves the factory for its airline.

Short-range aircraft that must cross an ocean on delivery, such as some regional turboprops, may be fitted with temporary extra fuel tanks and stop in Iceland or Greenland on the way.

On Vuelopedia

On an aircraft's record, the operator history with dates traces the hand-overs that are often completed by a flight of this kind.

Related terms

DeliveryThe handover of a new aircraft from its manufacturer to the customer, an airline or a lessor, after acceptance checks and final payment. StorageThe status of an aircraft that stops flying for a time and is parked under a preservation programme while its future is decided. LessorCompany that owns aircraft and rents them out to airlines for years at a time in return for regular payments, without operating them itself. Certificate of airworthinessDocument issued by the state of registry to an individual aircraft, confirming that it conforms to its approved design and is in a condition for safe operation. Operator historyThe time-ordered sequence of airlines that have operated an aircraft, with the registration it carried with each and, where known, its owner.
Whole glossary

Cite

To cite this page in academic work, an article or Wikipedia, choose the style and copy the reference. The access date is today.

This page was last updated on October 9, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Ferry flight. Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/ferry-flight

MLA

“Ferry flight.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/ferry-flight. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Ferry flight.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/ferry-flight.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Ferry flight. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/ferry-flight (Accessed: 17 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_ferry_flight,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Ferry flight}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/ferry-flight},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/ferry-flight}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-17},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-17}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/ferry-flight |title=Ferry flight |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-17 |language=en}}

Explore the encyclopedia

Homethe record of every aircraftAirlinesdocumented fleetsModelsfrom the Airbus A220 to the Boeing 747Compareup to three aircraft, side by sideManufacturerswho builds the aircraft, and their enginesIVCA Rankingair quality, from 0 to 100Newsthe latest from the recordsOn this dayaviation, day by dayVideosone aviation story a day, on videoAirportsthe world's leading onesAccidentswhat every accident changedTimelinethe whole century, 1903 to todayPeoplewho made all of this possibleOn Screenwhen the airliner was the plotTriviaa daily aviation challengeMemoriesa name in an aircraft's historyPresspress releases and Vuelopedia in the mediaYour profilesign in or create your accountAboutwhat Vuelopedia is and who makes it