canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/airlabs.co/airlabs

# AirLabs Data API

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for AirLabs Data API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. AirLabs provides real-time and reference aviation data covering live flight tracking, airport and airline databases, schedules, delays, routes, fleets, and timezone reference data. The API exposes 17 endpoints suitable for travel apps, dashboards, and operational tools. Authentication uses an API key passed as the api_key query parameter.

## For AI agents

Look up live flights, airport and airline reference data, schedules, delays, and routes from the AirLabs aviation database.

## Scope

Does not handle flight booking, ticketing, or seat selection - use for live tracking, schedules, and aviation reference data only.

## Capabilities

- Pull real-time flight positions and tracking data via /flights
- Fetch flight-level details (status, schedule, aircraft) via /flight
- Look up airport, airline, city, country, and aircraft fleet reference data
- Query global flight schedules and delay reports filtered by airport or airline
- Find airports near a geographic point using /nearby
- Search the airport autocomplete index via /suggest for typeahead UIs
- Create flight alerts to be notified of status changes

## Use cases

### Live Flight Tracking Dashboard

Power a flight tracking dashboard with live aircraft positions and per-flight detail. GET /flights returns the active aircraft set with bounding-box and airline filters, and GET /flight returns full status, route, and aircraft information for a specific flight identifier.

Example prompt: Fetch all flights operating between LHR and JFK right now, then for each flight return its current altitude, speed, and estimated arrival time

### Airport and Schedule Reference

Build a travel-planning experience that lets users search airports, view schedules, and check delays. /suggest powers airport autocomplete, /schedules returns scheduled departures and arrivals filtered by airport, and /delays surfaces problem flights for an airport on a given day.

Example prompt: Search airports matching 'San Francisco', then list scheduled departures from SFO for the next 6 hours along with any current delays

### Flight Status Alerts

Notify users when a tracked flight's status changes. POST /alert registers an alert against a flight identifier and contact channel, and the alerting service pushes an update when the flight is delayed, cancelled, or arrives.

Example prompt: Create a flight alert for flight UA1234 on 2026-06-15 with email recipient ops@example.com so any delay or gate change triggers a notification

### AI Agent Travel Concierge

An agent embedded in a travel concierge product can pull live flight status, suggest airports, and trigger alerts on the user's behalf - all through Jentic. The api_key query parameter stays in the vault and only scoped operations are exposed.

Example prompt: Search Jentic for 'get flight status', load the GET /flight schema, and return current status for flight LH404 including any delay reason

## Key endpoints

| Method | Path | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| GET | /flights | Real-time flight positions |
| GET | /flight | Detailed information for a specific flight |
| GET | /schedules | Scheduled flights for an airport or airline |
| GET | /delays | Currently delayed flights |
| GET | /airports | Airport reference database |
| GET | /airlines | Airline reference database |
| GET | /nearby | Find airports near a geographic point |
| POST | /alert | Create a flight status alert |

## Key resources

- **Flights** — Real-time and historical flight tracking endpoints
- **Schedules** — Scheduled departures and arrivals filtered by airport or airline
- **Delays** — Reported delays and disruptions
- **Reference Data** — Airports, airlines, cities, countries, fleets, routes, taxes, and timezones
- **Utility** — Health check, autocomplete, and session creation endpoints
- **Alerts** — Flight status change alert subscriptions

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring AirLabs by hand means appending its api_key as a query parameter, choosing between flights, schedules, and reference endpoints, and writing your own retry logic. Through Jentic you install once, import AirLabs from the API Directory, store the key once, and your agent calls it.
- **Permission scoping:** AirLabs takes its filters as query parameters and is read-only aviation data, so scope your agent by operation: limit it to the operations it needs, such as /flights or /schedules, and leave out the alert endpoint if it does not create alerts.
- **Credential handling:** Your AirLabs api_key is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'get flight status', and Jentic returns the matching AirLabs operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.

## Related APIs

- **Flightradar24 API** — Live flight tracking with deeper historical playback and global ADS-B coverage
- **ADS-B Exchange API** — Unfiltered ADS-B aircraft tracking data including military and blocked flights
- **Airbyte API** — Pipe AirLabs reference and tracking data into a warehouse for analytics

## FAQ

### Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for AirLabs Data API?

AirLabs does not publish an OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call AirLabs Data API via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started with Jentic One, the self-hosted execution layer.

### What authentication does the AirLabs Data API use?

AirLabs uses an API key passed as the api_key query parameter on every request. Jentic stores the key encrypted in the vault and appends it at call time, so the raw key is never visible to the agent.

### Can I get the live position of all flights with the AirLabs API?

Yes. GET /flights returns active flights with position, altitude, and speed; the response can be filtered by bounding box, airline, or aircraft type to keep payload sizes manageable.

### What are the rate limits for the AirLabs Data API?

Rate limits are tied to the AirLabs subscription plan rather than declared in the spec. For high-frequency tracking, throttle /flights polling to once every 30-60 seconds and use /flight for on-demand detail rather than per-second polling.

### How do I look up airport information with the AirLabs API through Jentic?

Run pip install jentic, search Jentic for 'airlabs airport lookup', load the schema for GET /airports, then execute with the IATA or ICAO code. Jentic appends the api_key automatically.

### Can I create alerts for flight delays via the AirLabs API?

Yes. POST /alert registers an alert tied to a flight identifier and contact channel; AirLabs notifies the recipient when the flight's status changes.

### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the AirLabs Data API?

Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, your own rules decide which AirLabs operations and credentials the agent can use. Since AirLabs is read-only aviation data driven by query-parameter filters, you can scope the agent to just the operations it needs, such as GET /flights or GET /schedules, and leave out POST /alert if it should not create flight alerts. The api_key is injected by your own instance at call time, so the agent only ever reaches the operations you expose.