In this article, we will talk about how Aviation Edge Historical Flight Delay API can be a good source to track historical flight delay data, what details are there in the data, and how to access it.

Flight delays and cancellations are pretty painful. No one ever likes to experience them, and no one wants to deal with them. But it happens and at least the passengers have the right to some sort of compensation. In short, how it works is that passengers have the right to demand compensation from airlines depending on how long their flight was delayed, or canceled, sometimes at hundreds of dollars plus accommodation depending on the case, and maybe even a first-class ticket on the next flight! For agencies in the sector, flight delay and cancellation data is an important asset. We aggregate, store, and maintain flight delay and cancellation data so you don’t have to do this yourself.

The Historical Flight Delay API provides airport schedule data based on a historical date or date range. It is a JSON REST API with global coverage except for military and private airports, and sometimes local airports with very little traffic. It returns either the complete departure or the arrival schedule of an airport on the given date(s).

The API is great for building apps where your clients may choose their past flight and view its delay/cancellation status to make a claim.

Take notes! Two crucial points for the flight compensation use case:

• The data includes total delay information for each flight if the response, shown as “none” in case of no delay. If there is a value, this is the minutes of the delay.
• It includes the latest recorded flight status (including “canceled”, “landed”, “scheduled”, and more) and it is possible to filter the data based on flight status with a “&status=” parameter. So, for example, you can view all canceled flights on a specific date or date range in the past. We will talk more about the filters below. You’ll like them!

Flight Delay API Filters

The API returns the complete schedule when no filters are used but we know it sounds painful to go through hundreds (maybe even thousands) of flights before finding the ones you are looking for. This is why we have developed filters that only return the exact flights you are looking for in the API call. You can use the following filters with the Flight Delay API:

• &code= (must specify) Airport IATA code
• &type= (must specify) schedule type, either “departure” or “arrival”
• &date_from= (must specify) start date of the schedule. For single dates, only “&date_from” is enough without an end date.
• &date_to= end date if requested a date range
• &dep_iataCode= flights scheduled to depart at Airport X out of the requested arrival schedule
• &arr_iataCode= flights scheduled to arrive at Airport X out of the requested departure schedule
• &airline_iata= airline IATA code
• &flight_num= flight number in “1234” format (good to use it with the airline filter for specific flights)
• &status= last recorded flight status (landed, active, cancelled, etc.)

Tip: The first 3 parameters are obligatory to use to tell the API which schedule it should return. You can then use the following ones to filter this data to get the exact part of it you need.

An example API output for a delayed flight.

Interested so far? Feel free to visit the documentation on the Aviation Edge Website or the GitHub repo of the API for full example input, output, filter information, and more.

Can the Flight Delay API Be Useful For My Business?

Obviously, airlines are not always very excited about accepting flight compensation demands. This is where flight compensation agencies come in. The API is particularly useful for these businesses but there is no limit to who can benefit from it. Anyone and any business interested in historical airport schedule data are welcome to use the API and build awesome projects implementing it.

Some Example Use Cases:

• Historical flight delay and cancellation analysis for flight compensation

• Websites, tools, or mobile iOS or Android apps on historical flight status and routes

• Viewing changes in airport or airline traffic over a specific time (for example, after COVID-19)

• Average delay and cancellation data for airlines and airports

• Academic or non-profit projects (Tip: Say hi to us if you are building non-profit or academic projects and we can talk about free keys or discounts!)

Features of the Flight Delay Data — Accuracy, Sources, Speed

The data sounds good! But is it accurate? Reliable? Where do you get the data from? How long will it take the API to return data to my app? I want to build an app that runs smoothly!

Let’s talk about these a bit.

Aviation Edge Historical Flight Delay API is trusted by multiple major airlines, airport operators, government bodies, software companies, compensation claims, travel agencies of all sizes, independent developers, academics, non-profit projects, and aviation enthusiasts. The historical database is the stored version of our real-time data which we collect from our trusted data partners in the sector as well as official sources when available, for example from airlines or airports. It is basically a database of multiple sources for you to access anytime without having to create and maintain your own and spend time and money updating this.

As developers ourselves, we agree that speed and server uptimes matter. We would not like to see you build an awesome app using our flight delay data just to see that it takes forever to respond to a request. Thankfully, we have an average uptime of 99.8% with response rates at around 0.3 ms. This, of course, may depend on the data volume requested in one API call, just like with any other API.

I’m Interested! How Do I Access the Flight Delay API?

Simple! Create an API subscription on the Premium API page within a minute and get your API key to your email address right away.

Access the API for as long as you keep your subscription active. Choose the best plan for your requirements and downgrade, upgrade or cancel your plan anytime without commitments. You’re good to go!

Contact: Feel free to contact the team anytime. We are always happy to hear about your projects and exchange ideas about how our data can be an asset for you!

We are now on social media. Follow us everywhere! linktr.ee/AviationEdgeAPI