FlightAware > Commercial Services > FlightXML

Index

Overview
Procedures/Functions
Code examples

Overview

About

This document contains everything you should need to know to create a fully functional application using FlightAware's FlightXML API. Every function available is documented as well as the array result for that query. Additionally, code examples in various languages are provided to make the procses as easy as possible.

FlightXML uses SOAP/WSDL to easily integrate into new or existing applications using any modern development platform. Applications should fetch the FlightXML WSDL, parse and cache the result, and then make queries as necessary by submitting SOAP requests directly to FlightAware with your FlightAware-supplied FlightXML key.

Authentication

To acccess FlightXML, all requests must include a username and FlightXML Key (don't have one?). This data is transmitted via basic HTTP Authentication methods that encode user:key in base64 and send the data to the Directflight server as a "Authorization" header as part of the HTTP request.

Most programming languages and HTTP/SOAP/XML/WSDL packages allow you to specify your username and password as an argument for the request so that the authentication is transparent to your application as it makes requests.

Web Services / WSDL

View: FlightXML 1.0 WSDL XML

Although you can read the WSDL and generate SOAP queries manually, it is recommended that you develop your applications to automatically parse the WSDL and populate your application namespace with the FlightXML functions. Additionally, it is strongly suggested that you ensure that your applications cache the WSDL file so that it is not necessary to fetch and parse the WSDL for every request or instance of your application. This will vastly improve the performance and efficiency of your application.

FlightAware will continue to develop FlightXML and expand the 1.0 WSDL. However, in the event of major changes or a lack of compatibility, FlightAware will increment the version number and notify you that you should consider upgrading your application to the latest version.

Procedures / Functions

FlightInfo
InFlightInfo
GetLastTrack
Search
SearchCount
Scheduled
Departed
Enroute
FleetArrived
Arrived
AllAirports
ZipcodeInfo
AirportInfo
TailOwner
RoutesBetweenAirports
AircraftType
countAirportOperations
blockIdentCheck
METAR
TAF
NTAF
LatLongsToDistance
LatLongsToHeading
MapFlight_Beta

FlightInfo

FlightInfo returns information about flights for a specific tail number (e.g., N12345) or ICAO airline and flight number (e.g., SWA2558) and the maximum number of flights to be returned. Flight information will be returned from newest to old est with the oldest not being more than 3-4 days in the past.

Times are in integer seconds-since-1970 (UNIX epoch) time, except for estimated time enroute, which is in hours and minutes.

Arguments
- ident string
- howMany int

Returns
- FlightInfoStruct

InFlightInfo

InFlightInfo looks up a specific tail number (e.g., N12345) or ICAO airline and flight number (e.g., SWA2558) and returns current position/direction/speed information. It is only useful for airborne flights.

Arguments
- ident string

Returns
- InFlightAircraftStruct

GetLastTrack

GetLastTrack looks up a flight by specific tail number (e.g., N12345) or ICAO airline and flight number (e.g., SWA2558). It returns the track log from the current IFR flight or, if the aircraft is not airborne, the most recent IFR flight. It returns an array of positions, with each including the timestamp, longitude, latitude groundspeed, altitude, altitudestatus, updatetype, and altitudechange. Altitude is in hundreds of feet or Flight Level where appropriate, see http://flightaware.com/about/faq.rvt#flightLevel. Also included altitude status, update type, and altitude change
Altitude status is 'C' when the flight is more than 200 feet away from its ATC-assigned altitude. (For example, the aircraft is transitioning to its assigned altitude.) Altitude change is 'C' if the aircraft is climbing (compared to the previous position reported), 'D' for descending, and empty if it is level. This happens for VFR flights with flight following, among other things. Timestamp is integer seconds-since-1970.

Arguments
- ident string

Returns
- ArrayOfTrackStruct

Search

Search searches data on all airborne aircraft to find ones matching the search query. Query parameters include a latitude/longitude box, aircraft ident with wildcards, type with wildcards, prefix, suffix, origin airport, destination airport, origin or destination airport, groundspeed, and altitude. It takes search terms in a single string comprising "-key value" pairs and returns an array of flight structures.
Keys include:

-prefix

-type

-suffix

-idents

-destination

-origin
-originOrDestination

-aboveAltitude

-belowAltitude

-aboveGroundspeed

-belowGroundspeed

-latlong

To search for all aircraft below ten-thousand feet with a groundspeed over 200 kts:
-belowAltitude 100 -aboveGroundspeed 200

To search for all in-air Boeing 777s:
-type B77*

To search for all aircraft heading to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) that are "heavy" aircraft:
-destination LAX -prefix H

To search for all Continental Airlines flights in Boeing 737s
-idents COA* -type B73*

Arguments
- query string
- howMany int
- offset int

Returns
- InFlightStruct

SearchCount

SearchCount works like Search but returns a count of matching flights rather than information about each flight.

Arguments
- query string

Returns
- int

Scheduled

Scheduled returns information about scheduled flights (technically, filed IFR flights) for a specified airport and a maximum number of flights to be returned. Scheduled flights are returned from soonest to furthest in the future to depart.

The airport argument must be the ICAO airport ID (e.g., KLAX, KSFO, KIAH, KHOU, KJFK, KEWR, KORD, KATL, etc.

The howMany argument must be an integer value less than or equal to 15 and determines the number of results.

The offset argument must be an integer value of the offset row count you want the search to start at. Most requests should be 0.

The filter argument can be "ga" or "airline" to only show GA or Airline traffic, respectively, or null/empty to show all traffic.

The next_offset value returned advises an application of the next offset to use (if more data is available).

Times returned are UNIX epoch (integer seconds since 1970) format.

Arguments
- airport string
- howMany int
- filter string
- offset int

Returns
- ScheduledStruct

Departed

Departed returns information about already departed flights for a specified airport and maximum number of flights to be returned. Departed flights are returned in order from most recently to least recently departed.

The airport argument must be the ICAO airport ID (e.g., KLAX, KSFO, KIAH, KHOU, KJFK, KEWR, KORD, KATL, etc.

The howMany argument must be an integer value less than or equal to 15 and determines the number of results.

The offset argument must be an integer value of the offset row count you want the search to start at. Most requests should be 0.

The filter argument can be "ga" or "airline" to only show GA or Airline traffic, respectively, or null/empty to show all traffic.

The next_offset value returned advises an application of the next offset to use (if more data is available).

Arguments
- airport string
- howMany int
- filter string
- offset int

Returns
- DepartureStruct

Enroute

Enroute returns information about flights already in the air for the specified airport and maximum number of flights to be returned. Enroute flights are returned from soonest estimated arrival to least soon estimated arrival.

The airport argument must be the ICAO airport ID (e.g., KLAX, KSFO, KIAH, KHOU, KJFK, KEWR, KORD, KATL, etc.

The howMany argument must be an integer value less than or equal to 15 and determines the number of results.

The offset argument must be an integer value of the offset row count you want the search to start at. Most requests should be 0.

The filter argument can be "ga" or "airline" to only show GA or Airline traffic, respectively, or null/empty to show all traffic.

The next_offset value returned advises an application of the next offset to use (if more data is available).

Arguments
- airport string
- howMany int
- filter string
- offset int

Returns
- EnrouteStruct

FleetArrived

The fleet argument must be an ICAO prefix (e.g., COA, DAL, UAL, OPT, etc.)

The howMany argument must be an integer value less than or equal to 15 and determines the number of results.

The offset argument must be an integer value of the offset row count you want the search to start at. Most requests should be 0.

The next_offset value returned advises an application of the next offset to use (if more data is available).

Arguments
- fleet string
- howMany int
- offset int

Returns
- ArrivalStruct

Arrived

Arrived returns information about flights that have recently arrived for the specified airport and maximum number of flights to be returned. Flights are returned from most to least recent.

The airport argument must be the ICAO airport ID (e.g., KLAX, KSFO, KIAH, KHOU, KJFK, KEWR, KORD, KATL, etc.

The howMany argument must be an integer value less than or equal to 15 and determines the number of results.

The offset argument must be an integer value of the offset row count you want the search to start at. Most requests should be 0.

The filter argument can be "ga" or "airline" to only show GA or Airline traffic, respectively, or null/empty to show all traffic.

The next_offset value returned advises an application of the next offset to use (if more data is available).

Arguments
- airport string
- howMany int
- filter string
- offset int

Returns
- ArrivalStruct

AllAirports

AllAirports returns the ICAO airport IDs of all known airports.

Arguments
- None

Returns
- ArrayOfString

ZipcodeInfo

ZipcodeInfo returns information about a five-digit zipcode. Of particular importance is latitude and longitude.

Arguments
- zipcode string

Returns
- ZipcodeInfoStruct

AirportInfo

AirportInfo returns information about an airport given an ICAO airport code such as KLAX, KSFO, KORD, KIAH, O07, etc. Data returned includes name (Houston Intercontinental Airport), location (typically city and state), latitude and longitude.

Arguments
- airportCode string

Returns
- AirportInfoStruct

TailOwner

TailOwner returns information about an the owner of an aircraft, given a flight number or N-number. Data returned includes owner's name, location (typically city and state), and website, if any.

Arguments
- ident string

Returns
- TailOwnerStruct

RoutesBetweenAirports

RoutesBetweenAirports returns information about assigned IFR routings between two airports. For each known routing, the route, number of times that route has been assigned and the filed altitude are returned.

Arguments
- origin string
- destination string

Returns
- ArrayOfRoutesBetweenAirportsStruct

AircraftType

Given an aircraft type string such as GALX, AircraftType returns information about that type, comprising the manufacturer (for instance, "IAI"), type (for instance, "Gulfstream G200"), and description (like "twin-jet").

Arguments
- type string

Returns
- AircraftTypeStruct

countAirportOperations

Given an airport, returns integer values on the number of aircraft scheduled or actually en route or departing from the airport. Scheduled arrival is a non-airborne flight that is scheduled to the airport in question.

Arguments
- airport string

Returns
- countAirportOperationsStruct

blockIdentCheck

Given an aircraft identification, returns 1 if the aircraft is blocked from public tracking, 0 if it is not.

Arguments
- ident string

Returns
- int

METAR

Given an airport, return the METAR weather info, if available.

Arguments
- airport string

Returns
- string

TAF

Given an airport, return the terminal area forecast, if available.

Arguments
- airport string

Returns
- string

NTAF

Given an airport, return the terminal area forecast, if available.

Arguments
- airport string

Returns
- TafStruct

LatLongsToDistance

Given two latitudes and longitudes, lat1 lon1 lat2 and lon2, respectively, determine the great circle distance between those positions in miles.

Arguments
- lat1 float
- lon1 float
- lat2 float
- lon2 float

Returns
- int

LatLongsToHeading

Given two latitudes and longitudes, lat1 lon1 lat2 and lon2, respectively, calculate and return the initial compass heading (where 360 is North) from position one to position two. Quite accurate for relatively short distances but since it assumes the earth is a sphere rather than on irregular oblate sphereoid may be inaccurate for flights around a good chunk of the world, etc.

Arguments
- lat1 float
- lon1 float
- lat2 float
- lon2 float

Returns
- int

MapFlight_Beta

This function will return a base64 encoded GIF (with the height and width as specified in pixels) of the most recent (past or current) flight of a specified ident. This service is in beta. Future versions will allow viewing of past flights, configuring nexrad, and configuring zoom.

Arguments
- ident string
- mapHeight int
- mapWidth int

Returns
- string

Classes/Structs | Enumerations | Array Types | Simple Types

Classes/Structs

DepartureStruct
TafStruct
FlightStruct
ScheduledFlightStruct
EnrouteStruct
AirportInfoStruct
TrackStruct
ArrivalStruct
ZipcodeInfoStruct
AircraftSuffixDescriptionStruct
RoutesBetweenAirportsStruct
MetarStruct
InFlightAircraftStruct
EnrouteFlightStruct
ScheduledStruct
InFlightStruct
countAirportOperationsStruct
TailOwnerStruct
DepartureFlightStruct
AircraftTypeStruct
ArrivalFlightStruct
FlightInfoStruct

DepartureStruct

next_offset int
departures ArrayOfDepartureFlightStruct

TafStruct

airport string
timeString string
forecast ArrayOfString

FlightStruct

ident string
aircrafttype string
filed_ete string
filed_time int
filed_departuretime int
filed_airspeed_kts int
filed_airspeed_mach string
filed_altitude int
route string
actualdeparturetime int
estimatedarrivaltime int
actualarrivaltime int
diverted string
origin string
destination string
originName string
originCity string
destinationName string
destinationCity string

ScheduledFlightStruct

ident string
aircrafttype string
filed_departuretime int
estimatedarrivaltime int
origin string
destination string
originName string
originCity string
destinationName string
destinationCity string

EnrouteStruct

next_offset int
enroute ArrayOfEnrouteFlightStruct

AirportInfoStruct

name string
location string
longitude float
latitude float
timezone string

TrackStruct

timestamp int
latitude float
longitude float
groundspeed int
altitude int
altitudeStatus string
updateType string
altitudeChange string

ArrivalStruct

next_offset int
arrivals ArrayOfArrivalFlightStruct

ZipcodeInfoStruct

latitude float
longitude float
city string
state string
county string

AircraftSuffixDescriptionStruct

description string

RoutesBetweenAirportsStruct

count int
route string
filedAltitude int

MetarStruct

name string
timeString string
reading string

InFlightAircraftStruct

ident string
prefix string
type string
suffix string
origin string
destination string
timeout string
timestamp int
firstPositionTime int
longitude float
latitude float
groundspeed int
altitude int
heading int
altitudeStatus string
updateType string
altitudeChange string

EnrouteFlightStruct

ident string
aircrafttype string
actualdeparturetime int
estimatedarrivaltime int
origin string
destination string
originName string
originCity string
destinationName string
destinationCity string

ScheduledStruct

next_offset int
scheduled ArrayOfScheduledFlightStruct

InFlightStruct

next_offset int
aircraft ArrayOfInFlightAircraftStruct

countAirportOperationsStruct

enroute int
departed int
scheduled_departures int
scheduled_arrivals int

TailOwnerStruct

owner string
location string
location2 string
website string

DepartureFlightStruct

ident string
aircrafttype string
actualdeparturetime int
estimatedarrivaltime int
actualarrivaltime int
origin string
destination string
originName string
originCity string
destinationName string
destinationCity string

AircraftTypeStruct

manufacturer string
type string
description string

ArrivalFlightStruct

ident string
aircrafttype string
actualdeparturetime int
actualarrivaltime int
origin string
destination string
originName string
originCity string
destinationName string
destinationCity string

FlightInfoStruct

next_offset int
flights ArrayOfFlightStruct

Enumerations

Array Types

ArrayOfScheduledFlightStruct ScheduledFlightStruct()
ArrayOfTrackStruct TrackStruct()
ArrayOfRoutesBetweenAirportsStruct RoutesBetweenAirportsStruct()
ArrayOfEnrouteFlightStruct EnrouteFlightStruct()
ArrayOfFlightStruct FlightStruct()
ArrayOfDepartureFlightStruct DepartureFlightStruct()
ArrayOfArrivalFlightStruct ArrivalFlightStruct()
ArrayOfInFlightAircraftStruct InFlightAircraftStruct()
ArrayOfString string()

Examples

Microsoft .NET

Save file as test.cs:

using System.Net;
class test {
  public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
	DirectFlight df = new DirectFlight();
	df.Credentials = new NetworkCredential("sampleUser", "abc123abc123abc123abc123abc123");
       	df.PreAuthenticate = true;
	EnrouteStruct r = df.Enroute("KAUS", 10, "", 0);

	foreach (EnrouteFlightStruct e in r.enroute) {
            		System.Console.WriteLine(e.ident);
        }

        System.Console.WriteLine(df.METAR("KAUS"));
     }
}

Run commands:

	wsdl http://flightaware.com/commercial/flightxml/data/wsdl1.xml

	csc test.cs DirectFlight.cs
	test.exe

PHP

Requirements

PHP4 or PHP5
pear-HTTP
pear-SOAP

 	<?php
 
        require_once('SOAP/Client.php');
 
        $DirectFlight_Authentication = array(
                'user'          => 'sampleUser',
                'pass'          => 'abc123abc123abc123abc123abc123abc123',
        );
 
	$wsdl_url = 'http://flightaware.com/commercial/flightxml/data/wsdl1.xml';
 	$WSDL = new SOAP_WSDL($wsdl_url,$DirectFlight_Authentication);
 	$soap = $WSDL->getProxy();
 
 	$result = $soap->Enroute('KIAH',10,'airline',0);
 
 	php?>

Perl

Requirements

Perl5 or above
SOAP::Lite

Save as test.pl:

# API Configuration

my $username = "sampleUser";
my $apiKey = "abc123abc123abc123abc123abc123abc123";

# Example code

use strict;
use DirectFlight;
use SOAP::Lite;

sub SOAP::Transport::HTTP::Client::get_basic_credentials {
        return $username => $apiKey;
}

my $DF = new DirectFlight;

my $enroute = $DF->Enroute('KSMO',10,'',0);

print "Aircraft en route to KSMO:\n";

my $flights = $enroute->{enroute};

foreach my $flight (@$flights) {
        print $flight->{'ident'} . " (" . $flight->{'aircrafttype'} . ") \t" .
        $flight->{'originName'} . " (" . $flight->{'origin'} . ")\n";
}

Run commands:

    perl /usr/local/bin/stubmaker.pl -v http://flightaware.com/commercial/flightxml/data/wsdl1.xml

    ./test.pl

Java

Requirements

Java 1.5
Apache AXIS

test.java:

import com.flightaware.directflight.soap.DirectFlight.*;

class test {
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        try {
            DirectFlightLocator locator = new DirectFlightLocator();
            DirectFlightSoap df = locator.getDirectFlightSoap();
            DirectFlightSoapStub stub = (DirectFlightSoapStub)df;
            stub.setUsername("sampleUser");
            stub.setPassword("abc123abc123abc123abc123");
            EnrouteStruct r = df.enroute("KAUS", 10, "", 0);
            for (EnrouteFlightStruct e: r.getEnroute()) {
                System.out.println(e.getIdent());
            }
            System.out.println(df.METAR("KAUS"));
        } catch (javax.xml.rpc.ServiceException x) {
            System.err.println(x);
        } catch (java.rmi.RemoteException x) {
            System.err.println(x);
        }
    }
}

Windows-specific build (requires wsdl1.xml):

set CLASSPATH=axis-1_4\lib\axis-ant.jar;axis-1_4\lib\axis.jar;axis-1_4\lib\commons-discovery-0.2.jar;
axis-1_4\lib\commons-logging-1.0.4.jar;axis-1_4\lib\jaxrpc.jar;axis-1_4\lib\log4j-1.2.8.jar;
axis-1_4\lib\saaj.jar;axis-1_4\lib\wsdl4j-1.5.1.jar;.

java org.apache.axis.wsdl.WSDL2Java wsdl1.xml 

javac test.java

java test

Tcl

Coming soon

Python

Coming soon

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