# Flightradar24 API — Real-Time Aircraft, Bbox & Search (`tugelbay/flightradar-live-tracker`) Actor
Real-time aircraft positions worldwide via Flightradar24 mobile-app feed. Bbox queries, airport search, VIP-jet registration tracking. Premium PPE for AI agents, journalism, logistics dashboards.
- **URL**: https://apify.com/tugelbay/flightradar-live-tracker.md
- **Developed by:** [Tugelbay Konabayev](https://apify.com/tugelbay) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, AI, Travel
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet
## Pricing
Pay per usage
This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.
Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-usage
## What's an Apify Actor?
Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".
## How to integrate an Actor?
If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.
In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):
```bash
npm install apify-client
```
In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):
```bash
pip install apify-client
```
In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):
````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash
In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).
If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).
For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.
For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).
# README
## Flightradar24 Live Tracker — Real-Time Aircraft Positions API
Pull **real-time positions of every commercial and private aircraft in the air** worldwide. Bbox-based queries, airport search, VIP/celebrity jet tracking by tail number. PPE pricing, AI-agent native, no Playwright/proxy/captcha gymnastics — built directly on Flightradar24's mobile-app data feed.
### What it does
Three modes covering the most common live-aviation use cases:
1. **`bbox`** — get every aircraft inside a lat/lon bounding box (or convenience preset like `nyc`, `europe`, `russia`, `tokyo`).
2. **`airports`** — search for airports/airlines/aircraft by IATA code or name. Returns the matching entities with metadata.
3. **`registrations`** — track specific tail numbers worldwide (e.g., `N628TS` for Elon Musk's Gulfstream, `RA-96021` for Putin's IL-96).
Each flight returns a structured record: position (lat/lon/altitude/speed/heading), identity (registration/callsign/aircraft type/airline IATA), itinerary (origin/destination/flight number), and a Flightradar map link.
### Why this actor
There is **no equivalent on the Apify Store** today. Closest paid alternatives:
| Source | Pricing | Notes |
| -------------------------- | -------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| Flightradar24 Business API | $200-2000+/mo (enterprise tiers) | Full features but pricey, contract-only |
| ADSBexchange | $19.95/mo | Raw ADS-B feeds only, no airline/route enrichment |
| aviationstack | $29-499/mo | Slow, rate-limited |
| OpenSky Network | free (academic) | ADS-B only, sparse coverage |
| **This actor** | **PPE, $0.005/flight** | Pay only for results you actually use, AI-agent native |
For agents that occasionally need aviation data, our PPE model is dramatically cheaper than monthly subscriptions.
### Input examples
#### Live flights over New York
```json
{
"mode": "bbox",
"preset": "nyc",
"maxItems": 100
}
````
#### Compare US east-coast vs Europe traffic
```json
{
"mode": "bbox",
"bboxes": ["50,24,-130,-65", "72,35,-12,40"],
"maxItems": 500,
"includeOnGround": false
}
```
#### Track specific VIP/celebrity jets
```json
{
"mode": "registrations",
"registrations": ["N628TS", "M-YBLU", "T7-LXG"],
"maxItems": 20
}
```
#### Search airports by code
```json
{
"mode": "airports",
"airports": ["JFK", "LHR", "SVO", "NRT"]
}
```
#### Filter Russia airspace by airline
```json
{
"mode": "bbox",
"preset": "russia",
"onlyAirlineIatas": ["SU", "S7", "U6"],
"maxItems": 200
}
```
### Output
```json
{
"id": "3f8d7b02",
"icao24": "A7DC99",
"lat": 40.533,
"lon": -74.956,
"heading": 200,
"altitude": 4700,
"speed": 44,
"squawk": "1200",
"aircraft_type": "P28A",
"registration": "N6053F",
"timestamp": 1778006362,
"origin": "MMU",
"destination": "FRG",
"flight": "",
"callsign": "N6053F",
"vertical_rate": -192,
"airline_iata": "",
"onGround": false,
"mapUrl": "https://www.flightradar24.com/N6053F"
}
```
### Use cases
- **VIP jet tracking** — journalists tracking oligarch / politician movements (open-source intelligence)
- **Travel-app ETA prediction** — cross-reference scheduled vs actual arrival times
- **AI agents** — give your assistant "where is flight UA42?" and "is JFK busy?" capabilities
- **Logistics dashboards** — cargo aircraft routing visualization
- **Aviation research** — flight emissions, route optimization, fleet utilization
- **Drone safety apps** — ground-airspace conflict awareness
- **News/incident detection** — diversions, emergency squawks (7500/7600/7700)
### Programmatic usage
#### Python
```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient("YOUR_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("tugelbay/flightradar-live-tracker").call(run_input={
"mode": "registrations",
"registrations": ["N628TS"],
})
for flight in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
if flight.get("registration") == "N628TS":
print(f"Elon's plane is at {flight['lat']},{flight['lon']} alt={flight['altitude']}ft")
```
#### LangChain tool
```python
from langchain_core.tools import tool
@tool
def find_flight(callsign_or_registration: str) -> dict | None:
"""Locate a specific aircraft worldwide right now."""
from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient("YOUR_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("tugelbay/flightradar-live-tracker").call(run_input={
"mode": "registrations",
"registrations": [callsign_or_registration.upper()],
"maxItems": 5,
})
items = list(client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items())
return items[0] if items else None
```
### Pricing (PPE)
| Event | Price | Note |
| ------------------ | ------ | --------------------- |
| Actor start | $0.005 | One-time per run |
| Live flight record | $0.005 | Per aircraft returned |
A typical 100-flight bbox query: $0.005 + 100×$0.005 = **$0.51 per run**.
### FAQ
**Q: Is this legal?**
A: We use Flightradar24's public data feed, the same one their iOS/Android/Web apps consume. No login required. Standard web-scraping rules apply — check Flightradar24's ToS for your specific use case if commercial.
**Q: How fresh is the data?**
A: Real-time — positions are updated within ~5-30 seconds depending on aircraft transponder type (ADS-B / MLAT / FLARM).
**Q: Coverage?**
A: Worldwide. Coverage is excellent over land in developed countries; sparse over open ocean. Flightradar combines ADS-B receivers, MLAT triangulation, and satellite ADS-B.
**Q: What's the max bbox size?**
A: Whole-world bbox returns ~18-20K concurrent flights. Pricing × 18K = $90 — use bbox subdivision if you only need a region.
**Q: Can I run this on a schedule?**
A: Yes. Use Apify Schedules to run every minute / 5 min / hour and pipe to your database for historical position tracking.
**Q: Does it follow a specific aircraft?**
A: For live position only, yes (mode=`registrations`). For historical track of one aircraft over time, build a schedule that runs every N minutes and accumulate records.
### Limitations
- **Position-only**: this actor returns the current position snapshot. Historical track-replay of past flights requires Flightradar24's enterprise API (we may add v0.2 if there's demand).
- **Bbox-bound**: large queries cost more (priced per flight returned). Scope your bbox to the region you actually care about.
- **Some private operators** opt out via FAA's LADD/PIA programs — those flights won't appear.
### Changelog
- 0.1.0 (2026-05-05): Initial release — bbox, airports, registrations modes; presets for major regions; airline/on-ground filters.
# Actor input Schema
## `mode` (type: `string`):
What to query.
## `preset` (type: `string`):
Convenience preset bounding box. Either pick one OR pass custom bboxes.
## `bboxes` (type: `array`):
List of 'N,S,W,E' lat/lon strings. Example: '50,24,-130,-65' for the contiguous US.
## `airports` (type: `array`):
Used in 'airports' mode. Pass IATA codes (JFK, LHR, SVO) or free-text.
## `registrations` (type: `array`):
Used in 'registrations' mode. Tracks specific aircraft like 'N628TS' (Elon's plane), 'RA-96021', etc.
## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):
Hard cap on returned records (1-50000). Default 25 for fast first runs — bump up for production.
## `includeOnGround` (type: `boolean`):
Include taxiing/parked aircraft. Disable to filter to airborne only.
## `onlyAirlineIatas` (type: `array`):
Only return flights operated by these airlines (e.g., DL, UA, BA, LH). Empty = all airlines.
## Actor input object example
```json
{
"mode": "bbox",
"bboxes": [
"42,40,-75,-72"
],
"airports": [
"JFK"
],
"registrations": [
"N628TS"
],
"maxItems": 25,
"includeOnGround": true
}
```
# API
You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.
## JavaScript example
```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
token: '',
});
// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
"mode": "bbox",
"bboxes": [
"42,40,-75,-72"
],
"airports": [
"JFK"
],
"registrations": [
"N628TS"
],
"maxItems": 25
};
// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("tugelbay/flightradar-live-tracker").call(input);
// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
console.dir(item);
});
// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs
```
## Python example
```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient
# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("")
# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
"mode": "bbox",
"bboxes": ["42,40,-75,-72"],
"airports": ["JFK"],
"registrations": ["N628TS"],
"maxItems": 25,
}
# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("tugelbay/flightradar-live-tracker").call(run_input=run_input)
# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
print(item)
# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start
```
## CLI example
```bash
echo '{
"mode": "bbox",
"bboxes": [
"42,40,-75,-72"
],
"airports": [
"JFK"
],
"registrations": [
"N628TS"
],
"maxItems": 25
}' |
apify call tugelbay/flightradar-live-tracker --silent --output-dataset
```
## MCP server setup
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"apify": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"mcp-remote",
"https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=tugelbay/flightradar-live-tracker",
"--header",
"Authorization: Bearer "
]
}
}
}
```
## OpenAPI specification
```json
{
"openapi": "3.0.1",
"info": {
"title": "Flightradar24 API — Real-Time Aircraft, Bbox & Search",
"description": "Real-time aircraft positions worldwide via Flightradar24 mobile-app feed. Bbox queries, airport search, VIP-jet registration tracking. Premium PPE for AI agents, journalism, logistics dashboards.",
"version": "0.1",
"x-build-id": "kgPIRxr7UVm6U3zNz"
},
"servers": [
{
"url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
}
],
"paths": {
"/acts/tugelbay~flightradar-live-tracker/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
"post": {
"operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-tugelbay-flightradar-live-tracker",
"x-openai-isConsequential": false,
"summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
"tags": [
"Run Actor"
],
"requestBody": {
"required": true,
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
}
}
}
},
"parameters": [
{
"name": "token",
"in": "query",
"required": true,
"schema": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Enter your Apify token here"
}
],
"responses": {
"200": {
"description": "OK"
}
}
}
},
"/acts/tugelbay~flightradar-live-tracker/runs": {
"post": {
"operationId": "runs-sync-tugelbay-flightradar-live-tracker",
"x-openai-isConsequential": false,
"summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
"tags": [
"Run Actor"
],
"requestBody": {
"required": true,
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
}
}
}
},
"parameters": [
{
"name": "token",
"in": "query",
"required": true,
"schema": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Enter your Apify token here"
}
],
"responses": {
"200": {
"description": "OK",
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
}
}
}
}
}
}
},
"/acts/tugelbay~flightradar-live-tracker/run-sync": {
"post": {
"operationId": "run-sync-tugelbay-flightradar-live-tracker",
"x-openai-isConsequential": false,
"summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
"tags": [
"Run Actor"
],
"requestBody": {
"required": true,
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
}
}
}
},
"parameters": [
{
"name": "token",
"in": "query",
"required": true,
"schema": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Enter your Apify token here"
}
],
"responses": {
"200": {
"description": "OK"
}
}
}
}
},
"components": {
"schemas": {
"inputSchema": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"mode": {
"title": "Query mode",
"enum": [
"bbox",
"airports",
"registrations"
],
"type": "string",
"description": "What to query.",
"default": "bbox"
},
"preset": {
"title": "Region preset (optional)",
"enum": [
"",
"world",
"us",
"europe",
"asia",
"russia",
"nyc",
"london",
"moscow",
"almaty",
"tokyo"
],
"type": "string",
"description": "Convenience preset bounding box. Either pick one OR pass custom bboxes."
},
"bboxes": {
"title": "Custom bounding boxes",
"type": "array",
"description": "List of 'N,S,W,E' lat/lon strings. Example: '50,24,-130,-65' for the contiguous US.",
"items": {
"type": "string"
}
},
"airports": {
"title": "Airport / aircraft / airline search queries",
"type": "array",
"description": "Used in 'airports' mode. Pass IATA codes (JFK, LHR, SVO) or free-text.",
"items": {
"type": "string"
}
},
"registrations": {
"title": "Aircraft registrations / callsigns",
"type": "array",
"description": "Used in 'registrations' mode. Tracks specific aircraft like 'N628TS' (Elon's plane), 'RA-96021', etc.",
"items": {
"type": "string"
}
},
"maxItems": {
"title": "Max records",
"minimum": 1,
"maximum": 50000,
"type": "integer",
"description": "Hard cap on returned records (1-50000). Default 25 for fast first runs — bump up for production.",
"default": 25
},
"includeOnGround": {
"title": "Include on-ground aircraft",
"type": "boolean",
"description": "Include taxiing/parked aircraft. Disable to filter to airborne only.",
"default": true
},
"onlyAirlineIatas": {
"title": "Filter by airline IATAs",
"type": "array",
"description": "Only return flights operated by these airlines (e.g., DL, UA, BA, LH). Empty = all airlines.",
"items": {
"type": "string"
}
}
}
},
"runsResponseSchema": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"data": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"id": {
"type": "string"
},
"actId": {
"type": "string"
},
"userId": {
"type": "string"
},
"startedAt": {
"type": "string",
"format": "date-time",
"example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
},
"finishedAt": {
"type": "string",
"format": "date-time",
"example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
},
"status": {
"type": "string",
"example": "READY"
},
"meta": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"origin": {
"type": "string",
"example": "API"
},
"userAgent": {
"type": "string"
}
}
},
"stats": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"inputBodyLen": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 2000
},
"rebootCount": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"restartCount": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"resurrectCount": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"computeUnits": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
}
}
},
"options": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"build": {
"type": "string",
"example": "latest"
},
"timeoutSecs": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 300
},
"memoryMbytes": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 1024
},
"diskMbytes": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 2048
}
}
},
"buildId": {
"type": "string"
},
"defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
"type": "string"
},
"defaultDatasetId": {
"type": "string"
},
"defaultRequestQueueId": {
"type": "string"
},
"buildNumber": {
"type": "string",
"example": "1.0.0"
},
"containerUrl": {
"type": "string"
},
"usage": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATASET_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATASET_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 1
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"PROXY_SERPS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
}
}
},
"usageTotalUsd": {
"type": "number",
"example": 0.00005
},
"usageUsd": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATASET_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATASET_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
"type": "number",
"example": 0.00005
},
"KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
},
"PROXY_SERPS": {
"type": "integer",
"example": 0
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
```