Callsign → Route

Map a live callsign (flight callsign broadcast on ADS-B, e.g. BAW178) to departure and arrival airports. When SkyLink has an exact callsign match, the response includes departure_icao and arrival_icao with confidence: "high". If the exact callsign is absent, the API falls back to an airline-level route list in the routes array (same shape as airport routes).

Requirements

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

Request

GEThttps://data.skylinkapi.com/v3.1/routes/callsign/{callsign}
ParameterTypeRequiredDescription
callsignstringYesFlight callsign path parameter — airline designator plus numeric suffix, e.g. BAW178

Response

Exact match example:

{
  "callsign": "BAW178",
  "callsign_prefix": "BAW",
  "airline_code": "BAW",
  "departure_icao": "KJFK",
  "arrival_icao": "EGLL",
  "airports": ["KJFK", "EGLL"],
  "confidence": "high",
  "source": "vrs"
}

Fallback example (no exact callsign row — airline-level routes returned):

{
  "callsign": "BAW999",
  "callsign_prefix": "BAW",
  "airline_code": "BAW",
  "departure_icao": null,
  "arrival_icao": null,
  "airports": null,
  "confidence": "low",
  "source": "vrs",
  "routes": [
    {
      "departure": "LHR",
      "arrival": "JFK",
      "airlines": ["British Airways"],
      "km": 5555,
      "duration_min": 430
    }
  ]
}
FieldTypeRequiredNull?Description
callsignstringYesNeverEcho of the requested callsign
callsign_prefixstringYesNeverICAO airline prefix extracted from the callsign
airline_codestringYesNeverResolved airline ICAO code
departure_icaostringExact matchYes (fallback)Departure airport ICAO when known
arrival_icaostringExact matchYes (fallback)Arrival airport ICAO when known
airportsarrayExact matchYes (fallback)Ordered [departure, arrival] ICAO codes
confidencestringYesNeverMatch quality — high for exact callsign hits
sourcestringYesNeverOpaque route data source identifier from the API
routesarrayFallbackYes (exact match)Airline-level route list when no exact callsign row exists — same item shape as Airport Routes

Important: Treat confidence: "high" as a reliable city pair with departure_icao/arrival_icao. When only routes[] is present, show the top route as a suggestion and let the user confirm — do not assume the first row is the active flight.

Client types

"""Route detection response models for /routes/* endpoints."""from __future__ import annotationsfrom dataclasses import dataclass@dataclassclass RoutePair:    departure: str    arrival: str    airlines: list[str]    km: int    duration_min: int@dataclassclass CallsignRouteResponse:    """Exact callsign match from GET /routes/callsign/{callsign}."""    callsign: str    callsign_prefix: str    airline_code: str    departure_icao: str    arrival_icao: str    airports: list[str]    confidence: str    source: str    routes: list[RoutePair] | None = None@dataclassclass AirportRoutesResponse:    code: str    direction: str    count: int    routes: list[RoutePair]@dataclassclass RoutePairsResponse:    count: int    routes: list[RoutePair]@dataclassclass RouteGuess:    """Shape returned by route_guess() helper."""    callsign: str    departure: str | None    arrival: str | None    confidence: str    source: str

Integration

Resolve a live ADS-B callsign to a departure/arrival guess for map overlays and flight cards.

The example below caches callsign lookups for 24 hours because assigned routes change infrequently. Each request uses explicit timeouts (10 s connect / 15 s read). The helper normalizes both exact-match and fallback responses into a single RouteGuess object for UI code.

import osimport timefrom dataclasses import dataclassimport requestsHEADERS = {    "x-api-key": os.getenv("SKYLINK_API_KEY", "YOUR_API_KEY")}BASE = "https://data.skylinkapi.com/v3.1"CACHE: dict[str, tuple[dict, float]] = {}ROUTE_TTL = 86_400  # 24 h@dataclassclass RouteGuess:    callsign: str    departure: str | None    arrival: str | None    confidence: str    source: strdef fetch_route_by_callsign(callsign: str) -> dict:    callsign = callsign.upper().strip()    key = f"route:callsign:{callsign}"    cached = CACHE.get(key)    if cached and time.time() < cached[1]:        return cached[0]    try:        r = requests.get(            f"{BASE}/routes/callsign/{callsign}",            headers=HEADERS,            timeout=(10, 15),        )    except requests.Timeout as exc:        raise RuntimeError(f"SkyLink timeout resolving route for {callsign}") from exc    r.raise_for_status()    data = r.json()    CACHE[key] = (data, time.time() + ROUTE_TTL)    return datadef route_guess(callsign: str) -> RouteGuess | None:    data = fetch_route_by_callsign(callsign)    dep = data.get("departure_icao")    arr = data.get("arrival_icao")    if not dep and not arr:        routes = data.get("routes") or []        if not routes:            return None        top = routes[0]        dep, arr = top.get("departure"), top.get("arrival")    return RouteGuess(        callsign=data.get("callsign", callsign),        departure=dep,        arrival=arr,        confidence=data.get("confidence", "unknown"),        source=data.get("source", "vrs"),    )if __name__ == "__main__":    import json    from dataclasses import asdict    guess = route_guess("BAW178")    print(json.dumps(asdict(guess), indent=2) if guess else "Route not found")

Implementation notes

Code normalization. Uppercase callsigns before lookup (baw178 → BAW178). Strip whitespace from ADS-B feeds.

Airport code mixing. Route rows may use IATA or ICAO depending on the source row — normalize through Airports before joining with other datasets.

Error responses

Validation 422: Routes hub.

GET
/routes/callsign/{callsign}
x-api-key<token>

Your SkyLink licence key, for keys bought direct from skylinkapi.com.

In: header

Path Parameters

callsign*Callsign

Response Body

application/json

application/json

curl -X GET "https://data.skylinkapi.com/v3.1/routes/callsign/UAL100"
null
{
  "detail": [
    {
      "loc": [
        "string"
      ],
      "msg": "string",
      "type": "string",
      "input": null,
      "ctx": {}
    }
  ]
}