Flight status

Runnable examples for live flight tracking using the Flight Status endpoint. Each script answers a practical dispatch or monitoring question — from checking a single flight to building a live departure board.

#	Question	Data used
1	What is the current status of flight BA123?	Flight Status
2	Is flight AA100 delayed, and by how much?	Flight Status
3	Poll multiple flights for a departure board	Flight Status

Requirements

Auth

x-api-key on every request (direct subscription). Learn more →

Install

The scripts below use requests for API calls and rich for terminal output. Install once:

pip install requests rich

1. Current flight status summary

Question: What is the current status of flight BA123?

GET /flight_status/BA123 returns live departure and arrival info. Gate, terminal, and baggage fields are often empty strings — the script treats those as unknown.

import os

import requests
from rich.console import Console
from rich.panel import Panel
from rich.table import Table

console = Console()

HEADERS = {
    "X-RapidAPI-Key": os.getenv("RAPIDAPI_KEY", "YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY"),
    "X-RapidAPI-Host": "skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com",
}
BASE = "https://skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com"

STATUS_STYLE: dict[str, str] = {
    "En Route": "green",
    "Arrived": "green",
    "Departed": "green",
    "Delayed": "yellow",
    "Cancelled": "red",
    "Scheduled": "white",
    "Unknown": "white",
}


def fetch_flight_status(flight_number: str) -> dict | None:
    r = requests.get(
        f"{BASE}/flight_status/{flight_number}",
        headers=HEADERS,
        timeout=(10, 15),
    )
    if r.status_code == 404:
        return None
    r.raise_for_status()
    return r.json()


def fmt_time(scheduled: str | None, actual: str | None) -> str:
    if not scheduled:
        return "—"
    if actual and actual != scheduled:
        return f"{scheduled} (actual {actual})"
    return scheduled


def main() -> None:
    data = fetch_flight_status("BA123")
    if not data:
        console.print("[yellow]Flight BA123 not found.[/]")
        return

    status = data.get("status", "Unknown")
    style = STATUS_STYLE.get(status, "white")
    dep = data.get("departure", {})
    arr = data.get("arrival", {})

    table = Table(title=f"Flight {data.get('flight_number', 'BA123')}")
    table.add_column("Field", style="cyan", min_width=20)
    table.add_column("Value")

    table.add_row("Airline", data.get("airline", "—"))
    table.add_row("Status", f"[{style}]{status}[/]")
    table.add_row("Aircraft", data.get("aircraft_type") or "—")
    table.add_row("Departure airport", f"{dep.get('airport_name', '—')} ({dep.get('airport', '—')})")
    table.add_row("Departure time", fmt_time(dep.get("scheduled_time"), dep.get("actual_time")))
    table.add_row("Arrival airport", f"{arr.get('airport_name', '—')} ({arr.get('airport', '—')})")
    table.add_row("Arrival time", fmt_time(arr.get("scheduled_time"), arr.get("actual_time")))

    delay = data.get("delay_minutes")
    if delay:
        table.add_row("Delay", f"[yellow]{delay} min[/]")

    console.print(table)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Output: A table with airline, status (color-coded), aircraft type, departure and arrival airports with scheduled times, and delay minutes when non-zero. Actual time shown when it differs from scheduled.

2. Delay check for a specific flight

Question: Is flight AA100 delayed, and by how much?

import os

import requests
from rich.console import Console
from rich.panel import Panel
from rich.table import Table

console = Console()

HEADERS = {
    "X-RapidAPI-Key": os.getenv("RAPIDAPI_KEY", "YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY"),
    "X-RapidAPI-Host": "skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com",
}
BASE = "https://skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com"


def fetch_flight_status(flight_number: str) -> dict | None:
    r = requests.get(
        f"{BASE}/flight_status/{flight_number}",
        headers=HEADERS,
        timeout=(10, 15),
    )
    if r.status_code == 404:
        return None
    r.raise_for_status()
    return r.json()


def main() -> None:
    data = fetch_flight_status("AA100")
    if not data:
        console.print("[yellow]Flight AA100 not found.[/]")
        return

    status = data.get("status", "Unknown")
    delay = data.get("delay_minutes") or 0
    dep = data.get("departure", {})

    gate = dep.get("gate", "") or ""
    terminal = dep.get("terminal", "") or ""
    gate_info = f"Gate {gate}" if gate else "Gate unknown"
    terminal_info = f"Terminal {terminal}" if terminal else "Terminal unknown"

    if delay > 0:
        body = (
            f"Flight {data.get('flight_number', 'AA100')} is delayed by [red bold]{delay} minutes[/].\n"
            f"Current status: {status}\n"
            f"Departure: {terminal_info}, {gate_info}"
        )
        console.print(Panel(body, title="[red]Delay Warning[/]", style="red"))
    else:
        body = (
            f"Flight {data.get('flight_number', 'AA100')} is on time.\n"
            f"Current status: {status}\n"
            f"Departure: {terminal_info}, {gate_info}"
        )
        console.print(Panel(body, title="[green]On Time[/]", style="green"))


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Output: A colored panel — red with delay minutes when the flight is delayed, green when on time. Includes current status and departure gate/terminal when available.

3. Live departure board (multiple flights)

Question: Poll multiple flights and display a compact departure board.

import os

import requests
from rich.console import Console
from rich.table import Table

console = Console()

HEADERS = {
    "X-RapidAPI-Key": os.getenv("RAPIDAPI_KEY", "YOUR_RAPIDAPI_KEY"),
    "X-RapidAPI-Host": "skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com",
}
BASE = "https://skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com"

FLIGHTS = ["BA123", "AA100", "UA1"]

STATUS_STYLE: dict[str, str] = {
    "En Route": "green",
    "Arrived": "green",
    "Departed": "green",
    "Delayed": "yellow",
    "Cancelled": "red",
    "Scheduled": "white",
    "Unknown": "dim",
}


def fetch_flight_status(flight_number: str) -> dict | None:
    r = requests.get(
        f"{BASE}/flight_status/{flight_number}",
        headers=HEADERS,
        timeout=(10, 15),
    )
    if r.status_code == 404:
        return None
    r.raise_for_status()
    return r.json()


def main() -> None:
    table = Table(title="Departure Board")
    table.add_column("Flight", style="cyan")
    table.add_column("Airline")
    table.add_column("Status")
    table.add_column("Dep", min_width=5)
    table.add_column("Arr", min_width=5)
    table.add_column("Gate")

    for flight_number in FLIGHTS:
        try:
            data = fetch_flight_status(flight_number)
        except requests.HTTPError as exc:
            table.add_row(flight_number, "—", f"[red]Error {exc.response.status_code}[/]", "—", "—", "—")
            continue

        if not data:
            table.add_row(flight_number, "—", "[dim]Not found[/]", "—", "—", "—")
            continue

        status = data.get("status", "Unknown")
        style = STATUS_STYLE.get(status, "white")
        dep = data.get("departure", {})
        arr = data.get("arrival", {})
        gate = dep.get("gate", "") or "—"
        dep_time = dep.get("actual_time") or dep.get("scheduled_time") or "—"
        arr_time = arr.get("estimated_time") or arr.get("scheduled_time") or "—"

        table.add_row(
            data.get("flight_number", flight_number),
            data.get("airline", "—"),
            f"[{style}]{status}[/]",
            dep_time,
            arr_time,
            gate,
        )

    console.print(table)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Output: A compact table with one row per flight showing flight number, airline, color-coded status, departure time, arrival time, and gate. Flights returning 404 are shown as "Not found" without crashing the board.

Install

1. Current flight status summary

2. Delay check for a specific flight

3. Live departure board (multiple flights)

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