flightradar.com APIflightradar.com ↗
Track live flights, search airports and airlines, and retrieve aircraft positions with the Flightradar24 API. 5 endpoints covering global aviation data.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/b555692e-b82d-4248-9882-e92e4b9e5f0a/get_nearby_flights?bounds=51.60%2C51.40%2C-0.25%2C0.05' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
Get all nearby flights within a specified bounding box. Returns flight positions, altitudes, speeds, and routing information for aircraft currently within the defined geographic area.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| bounds | string | Bounding box as 'lat_max,lat_min,lon_min,lon_max' (decimal degrees). |
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"stats": "object with total and visible flight source counts",
"flights": "array of flight objects with id, hex, latitude, longitude, track, altitude, speed, squawk, radar, aircraft_type, registration, timestamp, origin, destination, flight_number, on_ground, vertical_speed, callsign, airline",
"version": "integer API version",
"full_count": "integer total number of flights tracked globally"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"stats": {
"total": {
"faa": 58,
"uat": 30,
"mlat": 1252,
"ads-b": 13145,
"flarm": 640,
"other": 51,
"estimated": 247,
"satellite": 883
},
"visible": {
"faa": 1,
"uat": 0,
"mlat": 0,
"ads-b": 16,
"flarm": 0,
"other": 0,
"estimated": 0,
"satellite": 0
}
},
"flights": [
{
"id": "3fb465eb",
"hex": "A54245",
"radar": "T-KTEB74",
"speed": 0,
"track": 317,
"origin": "TEB",
"squawk": "",
"airline": "EJA",
"altitude": 0,
"callsign": "EJA438",
"latitude": 40.8464,
"longitude": -74.068,
"on_ground": 1,
"timestamp": 1778842428,
"destination": "BED",
"registration": "N438QS",
"aircraft_type": "E55P",
"flight_number": "EJA438",
"vertical_speed": 0
}
],
"version": 4,
"full_count": 16345
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the flightradar.com API
This API provides access to Flightradar24 aviation data across 5 endpoints, covering live aircraft positions, airport and airline directories, and keyword search. The get_nearby_flights endpoint returns real-time flight objects including latitude, longitude, altitude, speed, squawk code, aircraft type, and registration for every aircraft within a defined geographic bounding box. Static reference endpoints cover the full global list of airports and airlines.
Live Flight Tracking
The get_nearby_flights endpoint accepts a bounds parameter in lat_max,lat_min,lon_min,lon_max format and returns all aircraft currently within that box. Each flight object includes positional data (latitude, longitude, track), performance data (altitude, speed), transponder info (squawk, hex), and routing context (aircraft_type, registration, radar). The response also includes a full_count integer representing total flights tracked globally at that moment, useful for system-level monitoring.
Search Across Aviation Entities
The search endpoint accepts a free-text query (flight number, airport code, airline name) and an optional limit. Results are typed — each object carries a type field that distinguishes between operators, airports, live flights, scheduled flights, and aircraft. The match and detail fields clarify why a result was returned, making it straightforward to build disambiguation UI for ambiguous queries.
Airport and Airline Directories
The get_airports endpoint returns a versioned snapshot of every tracked airport, with each row containing iata, icao, lat, lon, alt, size, timezone, and countryId. The get_airlines endpoint returns airline rows with iata, icao, active status, hub, photoId, and a url slug. Both endpoints take no parameters and return the full dataset, making them suitable for populating local reference tables.
IP-Based Geolocation
The get_geoip endpoint resolves the calling IP to a pos object with lat/lng, plus country, region, eu flag, and radiuskm. This is useful for defaulting map center or bounding box without requiring the client to provide explicit coordinates.
- Render a live map of aircraft in a geographic region using bounding box coordinates from
get_nearby_flights - Build a flight status lookup tool by querying flight numbers via the
searchendpoint - Populate an airport selector dropdown with IATA/ICAO codes, city names, and timezone data from
get_airports - Display airline logos and active status badges using
photoIdandactivefields fromget_airlines - Auto-center a flight map to the user's region using coordinates returned by
get_geoip - Monitor global traffic volume by polling the
full_countfield fromget_nearby_flights - Disambiguate user input (airline vs. airport vs. flight number) using the
typefield insearchresults
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 100 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 250 req/min |
One credit = one API call regardless of which marketplace API you call. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.
Does Flightradar24 have an official developer API?+
What fields does `get_nearby_flights` return for each aircraft, and can I filter by altitude or aircraft type?+
id, hex, latitude, longitude, track, altitude, speed, squawk, radar, aircraft_type, registration, and tim. The endpoint accepts only a bounds bounding box — there is no server-side filter by altitude, aircraft type, or airline. Filtering must be done client-side on the returned array.Does the API return historical flight data or departure/arrival times?+
get_nearby_flights, search results via search, and static reference data via get_airports and get_airlines. You can fork this API on Parse and revise it to add an endpoint targeting historical or schedule data.Does `get_airports` include closed or military airports?+
size field on each row. The dataset reflects Flightradar24's own coverage, which is weighted toward commercial civil aviation. Military-only or closed airports may not appear. You can fork this API on Parse and revise it to supplement with additional airport sources.