FAA Airport Delays Scraper

Export current FAA airport delays, closures, ground stops, air traffic advisories, and runway configurations from the official National Airspace System status feeds.

The Actor converts the FAA's live airport event payload into flat, typed dataset rows that are ready for spreadsheets, dashboards, scheduled monitoring, APIs, and automation workflows.

What does FAA Airport Delays Scraper do?

The Actor requests the public FAA NAS airport events endpoint and returns one row for every active event exposed by the feed.

Supported event categories include:

• ground stops;
• ground delay programs;
• airport closures;
• free-form operational advisories;
• arrival delays;
• departure delays;
• runway configurations and arrival rates;
• deicing events.

Each result keeps the normalized fields needed for analysis and the original FAA event object for advanced use.

No FAA account, API key, browser, or proxy is required.

Who is it for?

Airline and airport operations teams can monitor active restrictions and traffic-management programs.

Travel intelligence teams can enrich disruption dashboards with FAA reasons and timing.

Data analysts can collect repeatable snapshots for operational research.

Developers can consume a stable JSON contract instead of parsing changing source payloads themselves.

Automation teams can schedule the Actor and trigger downstream alerts when the current event set changes.

This Actor reports airport-level NAS advisories. It does not predict individual flight arrival times or provide airline itinerary status.

Why use this Actor?

• Uses official anonymous FAA structured endpoints.
• Emits one normalized row per event rather than one deeply nested airport object.
• Includes stable event IDs where the FAA provides them.
• Preserves timing, reasons, delay minutes, runway data, and advisory links.
• Supports airport-code and event-type filters.
• Includes the official XML feed update time when available.
• Retries transient upstream failures and fails clearly on invalid authoritative data.
• Runs with a lightweight 256 MB HTTP configuration.

What data can I extract?

Field	Meaning
eventId	FAA event ID, or a deterministic fallback ID
airportCode	FAA/IATA/ICAO code exposed by the source
airportName	Airport long name when present
eventType	Normalized FAA event category
reason	Operational reason or impacting condition
details	Advisory text or status detail
startTime	Event start time when present
endTime	Event end time when present
updatedAt	Latest event/source timestamp
issuedAt	Advisory issue time when present
averageDelayMinutes	Average delay reported by FAA
maximumDelayMinutes	Maximum delay reported by FAA
arrivalRate	Published airport arrival rate
arrivalRunways	Current arrival runway configuration
departureRunways	Current departure runway configuration
advisoryUrl	Detailed FAA advisory link when available
feedUpdatedAt	Update time from the FAA status feed
latitude, longitude	Airport coordinates when present
sourceUrl	Official FAA source endpoint
fetchedAt	Time this Actor fetched the data
rawEvent	Original event object for advanced fields

Fields that are not relevant to an event type are returned as null.

How to run the Actor

1. Open the Actor in Apify Console.
2. Leave the airport list empty for all active airports, or add selected codes.
3. Select the event categories needed by your workflow.
4. Choose a maximum result count between 1 and 500.
5. Click Start.
6. Open the Dataset tab to view, download, or integrate the rows.

The default input collects up to 100 current events across all supported categories.

Input parameters

airports

Optional list of 3- or 4-character airport codes.

Matching is case-insensitive.

Examples: SFO, JFK, KJFK.

Leave the list empty to include every airport returned by the current FAA feed.

eventTypes

Optional list of normalized categories.

Available values are groundStop, groundDelay, airportClosure, freeForm, arrivalDelay, departureDelay, airportConfig, and deicing.

All categories are used when the field is omitted.

maxItems

Maximum matching records to save.

The minimum is 1 and the maximum is 500.

The limit is applied after airport and event-type filters.

Input examples

Collect all active delay and closure advisories:

{
  "eventTypes": [
    "groundStop",
    "groundDelay",
    "airportClosure",
    "freeForm",
    "arrivalDelay",
    "departureDelay"
  ],
  "maxItems": 100
}

Collect current operational programs for selected airports:

{
  "airports": ["SFO", "JFK", "EWR"],
  "eventTypes": ["groundStop", "groundDelay"],
  "maxItems": 50
}

Collect runway configuration records:

{
  "eventTypes": ["airportConfig"],
  "maxItems": 100
}

Output example

A current ground delay program is normalized like this:

{
  "eventId": "0ebec647-5b3d-4d09-8325-5e1bef4382a9",
  "airportCode": "SFO",
  "airportName": "San Francisco International",
  "eventType": "groundDelay",
  "reason": "low ceilings",
  "details": "low ceilings",
  "startTime": "2026-08-18T15:30:00Z",
  "endTime": "2026-08-18T19:59:00Z",
  "updatedAt": "2026-08-18T12:29:08Z",
  "averageDelayMinutes": 42,
  "maximumDelayMinutes": 89,
  "feedUpdatedAt": "2026-08-18T14:04:30.000Z",
  "sourceUrl": "https://nasstatus.faa.gov/api/airport-events",
  "fetchedAt": "2026-08-18T14:05:00.000Z"
}

The live dataset may contain different airports and event types because FAA advisories change throughout the day.

How much does it cost to export FAA airport delays?

This is a pay-per-event Actor.

Each run has a one-time $0.001 start fee.

Each saved advisory is charged through the item event. The current BRONZE rate is $0.00144 per record, with lower per-record prices on higher Apify plans.

At the BRONZE rate:

• 10 records cost approximately $0.0154 including the start fee;
• 25 records cost approximately $0.037 including the start fee;
• 100 records cost approximately $0.145 including the start fee.

You are charged only for normalized records saved to the dataset. An empty result has no item charge, although the start fee still applies.

Monitoring and automation workflows

Schedule the Actor every 5, 15, or 30 minutes to capture current NAS conditions.

Use stable event IDs to compare snapshots and identify new, updated, or removed events.

Send selected event types into Slack, email, a webhook, or an incident-management system.

Export results to Google Sheets for an operations watchlist.

Load datasets into a warehouse for historical analysis.

Use airportCode and eventType as dashboard dimensions.

Apify schedules and integrations are configured outside this Actor; the Actor itself returns the current source snapshot.

Download and integration options

Dataset results can be downloaded as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or RSS through Apify.

Typical destinations include:

• Google Sheets;
• Make;
• Zapier;
• webhooks;
• Python and JavaScript pipelines;
• BI tools and data warehouses.

Use the Dataset API to retrieve only the columns required by your application.

Run with the Apify API

Replace APIFY_TOKEN with your token.

cURL

curl -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~faa-nas-status-airport-delays-scraper/runs?token=APIFY_TOKEN&waitForFinish=120" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"eventTypes":["groundStop","groundDelay"],"maxItems":100}'

JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/faa-nas-status-airport-delays-scraper').call({
  eventTypes: ['groundStop', 'groundDelay'],
  maxItems: 100,
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient(token="APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("automation-lab/faa-nas-status-airport-delays-scraper").call(
    run_input={"eventTypes": ["groundStop", "groundDelay"], "maxItems": 100}
)
items = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items
print(items)

Use through Apify MCP

Add the Actor to Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http apify \
  "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/faa-nas-status-airport-delays-scraper"

Claude Desktop, Cursor, and VS Code setup

Desktop and editor clients can use this MCP configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/faa-nas-status-airport-delays-scraper"
    }
  }
}

Example prompts:

• “Export current FAA ground stops and summarize the affected airports.”
• “Check current FAA airport closures and return their start and end times.”
• “Get current runway configurations and arrival rates from the FAA feed.”

Freshness, limits, and failure behavior

Results are a snapshot of what the official FAA source exposes when the run executes.

The Actor does not manufacture events for airports with no current advisory.

A filtered run can therefore succeed with zero records.

The authoritative JSON endpoint is retried for transient network, HTTP 429, and server errors.

If that endpoint remains unavailable or returns an invalid shape, the run fails rather than returning stale data.

The supplemental XML feed is used only for feedUpdatedAt; its temporary failure leaves that field null without discarding valid JSON events.

The Actor does not provide historical records unless you schedule runs and retain their datasets.

Legality

FAA NAS status information is public operational data.

Review the FAA source terms and Apify's acceptable-use requirements before operating a production workflow.

Do not present this dataset as a safety guarantee, official dispatch instruction, or substitute for NOTAM, airline, airport, or air traffic control channels.

Operational decisions should be confirmed with authoritative aviation sources.

Avoid collecting or combining data in ways that violate applicable laws or contractual obligations.

Troubleshooting

Why is my dataset empty?

The selected airport or event type may have no active FAA event. Remove filters and run again to confirm the current feed contains records.

Why is feedUpdatedAt null?

The supplemental XML status feed was temporarily unavailable. Event rows still came from the authoritative JSON endpoint.

Why did the run fail after retries?

Check the run log for an FAA HTTP or payload error. Wait for the public FAA service to recover, then rerun; a proxy is not required or supported.

Why is an event field null?

Different FAA event types expose different fields. For example, runway configuration events do not have delay minutes.

Frequently asked questions

Does this Actor track individual flights?

No. It returns airport-level NAS events and advisories, not flight itineraries or tail-number movements.

Can I filter by airport?

Yes. Pass one or more 3- or 4-character codes in airports.

Can I monitor changes?

Yes. Schedule repeated runs and compare eventId, updatedAt, and event fields between datasets.

Does it require an FAA API key?

No. It uses public FAA NAS status endpoints.

Are all US airports always returned?

No. The feed primarily returns airports that currently have an event or published operational record.

Related Automation Lab Actors

This Actor currently stands alone in the Automation Lab portfolio because its buyer job is specifically current FAA NAS delay, closure, and airport-status monitoring.

Use general flight-data products instead when you need individual itineraries, fares, or aircraft tracking rather than airport-level FAA advisories.

Support

If a source payload changes or a field appears incorrect, open an issue from the Actor page.

Include the run URL, input, expected event type, and affected airport code.

Do not include credentials or private operational information in a public report.