flightaware-mcp

MCP server for FlightAware AeroAPI (v4) — live flight tracking and aviation data for Claude. Track flights, read airport boards, look up operators and aircraft, fetch scheduled flights, and manage flight alerts, all over stdio.

Developed and maintained by AI (Claude Code). Use at your own discretion.

Quick start

config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "flightaware": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@chrischall/flightaware-mcp"],
      "env": { "AEROAPI_API_KEY": "your-aeroapi-key-here" }
    }
  }
}

Get a key at flightaware.com/aeroapi/portal. The free Personal tier (500 calls/month) is enough to start; AeroAPI bills per query.

Tools

Area	Tools
Flights	`fa_get_flights`, `fa_search_flights`, `fa_search_flights_advanced`, `fa_search_flight_positions`, `fa_count_flights`, `fa_get_flight_track`, `fa_get_flight_position`, `fa_get_flight_route`, `fa_get_flight_map`, `fa_get_flight_history`, `fa_resolve_flight`
Airports	`fa_get_airport`, `fa_get_airport_flights`, `fa_get_airport_flight_counts`, `fa_get_airport_routes`, `fa_list_airports`, `fa_get_nearby_airports`, `fa_get_airport_delays`, `fa_get_airport_weather`, `fa_resolve_airport`
Operators / aircraft	`fa_get_operator`, `fa_get_operator_flights`, `fa_list_operators`, `fa_get_aircraft_owner`
Schedules / predictive	`fa_get_scheduled_flights`, `fa_foresight_search` (premium tier)
Alerts	`fa_list_alerts`, `fa_get_alert`, `fa_create_alert`, `fa_update_alert`, `fa_delete_alert`, `fa_get_alerts_endpoint`, `fa_set_alerts_endpoint`
Health	`fa_healthcheck` — is this connector working? Reports whether AEROAPI_API_KEY resolved, whether AeroAPI accepted it, and what to fix. Uses a static-cached lookup, so repeat checks are not re-billed.

Alert mutations are confirm-gated: without confirm: true they return a dry-run preview and make no network call.

Configuration

Var	Required	Purpose
`AEROAPI_API_KEY`	yes	Your AeroAPI key (sent as the `x-apikey` header).
`AEROAPI_OUTPUT_DIR`	no	Default directory for flight-map PNGs (default: cwd).
`AEROAPI_CACHE_TTL`	no	Seconds to cache identical live-data GET responses (default: 15; `0` disables). Cuts AeroAPI per-query billing.
`AEROAPI_STATIC_CACHE_TTL`	no	Longer TTL for reference data — airport/operator info, routes, ownership, canonical lookups (default: 3600; `0` disables).

Development

Terminal

npm install
npm run build
npm test

Every request rides your own AeroAPI key and counts against your subscription quota. See docs/FLIGHTAWARE-API.md for the pinned endpoint surface.

License

MIT