Flight tracking


Flight tracking is a service that involves the tracking of flights, aircraft and airport activity, often using software.
Flight tracking enables travelers as well as those picking up travelers after a flight to know whether a flight has landed or is on schedule, for example to determine whether it is time to go to the airport.
With development of cell phones and other small PDA devices, flight trackers provide near real-time arrival and departure information for airplanes to people who need it. Modern trackers can track airlines virtually all around the world and inform concerned parties via such commonplace mediums as SMS.
Flight tracking can be integrated with travel management and travel tracking services, allowing increased automation of travel software. This application of flight tracking is currently in its infancy, but is set to grow significantly as systems get more connected.
Despite the progress, many abrupt events like sudden weather changes are not captured by existing flight trackers because they take their information not from the airplane itself but from dispatcher centers which often do not know the actual status of plane's whereabouts.
Flight tracking software is available for commercial operators to track their aircraft and monitor if they deviate from an agreed flight path. If they do, a warning alarm is generated to alert to a potential problem. The type of software available also imports and reviews global weather and NOTAM information to monitor any emerging issues that could affect the flight.

List of flight tracking services

NameInitializationNotes
Airportia2013includes data widgets
FlightArrivals.com2000
FlightAware2005includes API / data feeds
Flightradar242006
FlightStats.com2005includes API
FlightView1996Sold to OAG in 2015
OpenSky Network2012includes free live API, research initiative
Plane Finder2009includes API, owned by Pinkfroot
RadarBox2007owned by AirNav Systems
VariFlight2005