What airport and airline coverage does the Aviation API provide?

The API includes approximately 7,900 IATA-coded commercial/passenger airports and approximately 5,300 airlines worldwide. Airports are limited to those with an assigned IATA code, so general-aviation airfields and heliports without an IATA code are not included. Airline IATA codes are populated only where known — many airline records carry only an ICAO/primary code — so you should handle null code fields in your integration.

Can I look up airports and airlines by either IATA or ICAO code?

Yes. For airports, a 3-character code resolves IATA first then ICAO, and a 4-character code resolves ICAO first then IATA. For airlines, a 2-character code resolves IATA first and a 3-character code resolves ICAO first with a fallback to the source primary-key map. All code matching is case-insensitive, so 'jfk' and 'JFK', or 'aal' and 'AAL', return the same result.

How does the nearest-airport endpoint work?

Send a lat and lon (in decimal degrees, latitude -90 to 90 and longitude -180 to 180) to /aviation/v1/airports/nearest. The API computes the great-circle (haversine) distance from that point to every airport in the dataset and returns the closest airports sorted ascending by distance. Each result includes a precise distance_km value, and the response echoes your origin coordinate. Use the optional limit parameter (default 20, max 100) to control how many airports are returned.

How do I authenticate my requests?

Pass your API key as the ?apikey= query parameter on every request, for example /aviation/v1/airports/JFK?apikey=YOUR_KEY. An X-Api-Key header works just as well. Your plan governs your monthly credit allowance and rate limit.

Is there a free tier, and what are the rate limits?

Yes. The Basic tier is free with 1,000 requests per month and a 5 req/s rate limit, ideal for prototyping and evaluation. The Pro tier ($12/month) includes 100,000 requests per month at 20 req/s, and the Ultra tier ($49/month) includes 1,000,000 requests per month at 50 req/s. All tiers include the full airport and airline datasets and every endpoint.

What happens when no result is found or my input is invalid?

The API returns clean, predictable errors. A 400 is returned for a missing or malformed code, when a search endpoint is called without at least one filter (q, country, or city/active), or when lat/lon are missing, non-numeric or out of range. A 404 is returned when no airport or airline matches the supplied code. Each error response contains a descriptive 'error' message you can surface or log.

Can I use the Aviation API for autocomplete and typeahead pickers?

Absolutely. The partial, case-insensitive search endpoints are designed for this. For airports, query the q parameter against name/city/IATA/ICAO and optionally filter by country or city; for airlines, query q against name/IATA/ICAO/callsign. Request a small limit (for example 10–20) and debounce user input so responses stay fast. Because the data is edge-served and read-only, typical responses return in well under 50ms.

Airports & airlines reference data, served from the edge in milliseconds

Aviation API

The Aviation API gives you instant, reliable access to a curated database of ~7,900 IATA-coded commercial airports and ~5,300 airlines worldwide. Resolve any airport by its IATA (3-letter) or ICAO (4-letter) code, or any airline by its IATA (2-letter) or ICAO (3-letter) code — all case-insensitive, with sensible fallbacks so you get a hit even when you only have one of the two code systems.

Beyond simple lookups, the API does the geospatial work for you: the nearest-airports endpoint runs a great-circle (haversine) calculation across the entire dataset and returns the closest airports to any latitude/longitude, each annotated with a precise distance_km. Powerful partial-text search lets you build typeahead pickers, booking flows, flight trackers and logistics dashboards without shipping a multi-megabyte dataset in your own bundle.

Get a free API key Read the docs

Free tier included, no credit card required. One key works across every API.

Free calls / month: 1,000
Airports: 7,900+
Airlines: 5,300+
Response Time: <50ms

Get your free API key

1,000 free calls on the free plan

Key features

Airport lookup by IATA (3-letter) or ICAO (4-letter) code, case-insensitive
Airline lookup by IATA (2-letter) or ICAO (3-letter) code, case-insensitive
Partial search across airport name, city, IATA and ICAO
Partial search across airline name, callsign, IATA and ICAO
Nearest-airport search by lat/lon with great-circle distance_km
Country and city filters with a configurable limit (default 20, max 100)
Bundled, read-only datasets with strict input validation and clean 400/404 errors

Built for

Airport and airline typeahead pickers in booking flows
Flight trackers and aviation dashboards
Logistics and freight routing applications
Travel and itinerary planning apps
Resolving IATA/ICAO codes to human-readable names
Finding the closest airport to a user or shipment location
Enriching flight or ticket records with airport metadata
Mapping and geospatial visualizations of air routes

MCP · for your agent

Hand the Aviation API to your agent

Connect Claude, Cursor or any MCP client once, then ask in plain words. Your agent finds this API, reads its docs and makes the call: 1 credit per call, the same as REST, from your team's balance.

Connect your agent

Plan travel to an offsite venue

“Our offsite is near Sintra, Portugal (38.80, -9.38). Which airports are closest, and what do nearby hotels cost Oct 14-17?”

list_apis · get_api_docsfree

api_request GET /aviation/v1/airports/nearest?lat=38.80&lon=-9.38&limit=3 1 cr

+ Travel Data API25 cr

The three closest airports with codes and distance in km, plus hotel prices for your dates.

Decode airport codes in an itinerary

“Our booking export only has codes like SAW, ESB and ADB. Turn them into airport names, cities and time zones.”

list_apis · get_api_docsfree

api_request GET /aviation/v1/airports/SAW 1 cr

Full airport name, city, country and time zone for each code, added back to the export.

Standardize airline names

“Our expense data lists one airline as 'PC', 'Pegasus' and 'Pegasus Airlines'. Map them all to one name and code.”

list_apis · get_api_docsfree

api_request GET /aviation/v1/airlines/search?q=pegasus&active=true 1 cr

The matching active airline with its IATA and ICAO codes, so every row maps to one carrier.

$ claude mcp add --transport http apicodex https://mcp.apicodex.io

Illustrative asks; the calls and prices are real. Claude, Cursor, VS Code and Windsurf setup: mcp.apicodex.io

Try it

Build the request for your data

Edit the parameters below and see the exact request and curl command you'd send. No key required to preview.

GET /aviation/v1/airports/JFK

Open in Playground

Parameters

apikey

Request · HTTP

GET /aviation/v1/airports/JFK?apikey=YOUR_KEY HTTP/1.1
Host: api.apicodex.io

Response · JSON 200 OK

{
"airport": {
  "icao": "KJFK",
  "iata": "JFK",
  "name": "John F Kennedy International Airport",
  "city": "New York",
  "state": "New York",
  "country": "US",
  "lat": 40.639751,
  "lon": -73.778925,
  "elevation": 13,
  "tz": "America/New_York"
}
}

Run it with your key

Documentation

Aviation API Documentation

The Aviation API provides edge-served reference data for airports and airlines. Look up airports by IATA or ICAO code, search by name/city/country, find the nearest airports to any coordinate via great-circle (haversine) distance, and resolve airlines by IATA or ICAO code. All datasets are bundled and read-only, with strict input validation.

Base URL

url

https://api.apicodex.io/aviation

Authentication

Authenticate every request by passing your API key as the ?apikey= query parameter:

headers

GET /aviation/v1/airports/JFK?apikey=YOUR_KEY

Request and response

Illustrative values. Confirm current endpoint behavior, quotas, and data freshness in the API documentation before production use.

request · http

GET /aviation/v1/airports/JFK?apikey=YOUR_KEY HTTP/1.1
Host: api.apicodex.io

response · json

{
"airport": {
  "icao": "KJFK",
  "iata": "JFK",
  "name": "John F Kennedy International Airport",
  "city": "New York",
  "state": "New York",
  "country": "US",
  "lat": 40.639751,
  "lon": -73.778925,
  "elevation": 13,
  "tz": "America/New_York"
}
}

Code examples

cURL

curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://api.apicodex.io/aviation/v1/airports/nearest?lat=40.71&lon=-74.0&limit=2&apikey=YOUR_KEY'

JavaScript/Node.js

const params = new URLSearchParams({
  lat: '40.71',
  lon: '-74.0',
  limit: '2',
  apikey: 'YOUR_KEY'
});

const url = `https://api.apicodex.io/aviation/v1/airports/nearest?${params}`;

try {
  const response = await fetch(url);
  const data = await response.json();
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

Python

import requests

url = "https://api.apicodex.io/aviation/v1/airports/nearest"

querystring = {
    "lat": "40.71",
    "lon": "-74.0",
    "limit": "2",
    "apikey": "YOUR_KEY"
}

response = requests.get(url, params=querystring)

print(response.json())

Endpoints

GET /v1/airports/{code}

Look up a single airport by 3-letter IATA or 4-letter ICAO code (case-insensitive).

/v1/airports/JFK?apikey=YOUR_KEY

GET /v1/airports/search

Partial, case-insensitive search over airport name, city, IATA and ICAO, with optional country/city filters.

/v1/airports/search?q=kennedy&country=US&apikey=YOUR_KEY

GET /v1/airports/nearest

Returns airports nearest to a lat/lon point, sorted by great-circle (haversine) distance with distance_km.

/v1/airports/nearest?lat=40.71&lon=-74.0&limit=2&apikey=YOUR_KEY

GET /v1/airlines/{code}

Look up a single airline by 2-letter IATA or 3-letter ICAO code (case-insensitive).

/v1/airlines/AAL?apikey=YOUR_KEY

GET /v1/airlines/search

Partial, case-insensitive search over airline name, IATA, ICAO and callsign, with optional country/active filters.

/v1/airlines/search?q=american&active=true&apikey=YOUR_KEY

Query Parameters

Required parameters

apikey Your API key, passed as a query parameter on every request.
code Path parameter for the lookup endpoints: a 3/4-character airport code or 2/3-character airline code.
lat Latitude in decimal degrees (-90 to 90). Required for the nearest endpoint.
lon Longitude in decimal degrees (-180 to 180). Required for the nearest endpoint.

Optional parameters

q Partial match against name/city/IATA/ICAO (airports) or name/IATA/ICAO/callsign (airlines).
country Exact country filter (ISO code for airports, country name for airlines), case-insensitive.
city Partial city match for airport search (case-insensitive).
active Filter airlines by active status. Accepts true/1 or false/0.
limit Maximum results to return for list endpoints. Default 20, max 100.

Pricing

Aviation API Pricing

This API costs 1 credit per request. Credits are shared across every API on your plan.

Estimate your monthly cost

Drag the slider to match your expected request volume. We'll recommend the cheapest plan that covers it.

Requests per month 10,000

Recommended plan

Starter

$29.99 /month

Credits used

Credits included

Cost per 1K requests

Choose Starter

Free

1,000 credits · ~1,000 requests/mo · 2 rps

All APIs included
No credit card required
Full documentation and examples
MCP server for your AI agents
Up to 5 active API keys

Start for free

Starter

Popular

$29.99 /month

50,000 credits · ~50,000 requests/mo · 10 rps

All APIs included
Email support
Usage dashboard and analytics
MCP server for your AI agents
Up to 5 active API keys

Start with Starter

Pro

$99.99 /month

250,000 credits · ~250,000 requests/mo · 25 rps

All APIs included
Priority support
MCP server for your AI agents
Up to 5 active API keys

Start with Pro

FAQ

Aviation API

Key features

Built for

Hand the Aviation API to your agent

Plan travel to an offsite venue

Decode airport codes in an itinerary

Standardize airline names

Build the request for your data

Aviation API Documentation

Base URL

Authentication

Request and response

Code examples

Endpoints

GET /v1/airports/{code}

GET /v1/airports/search

GET /v1/airports/nearest

GET /v1/airlines/{code}

GET /v1/airlines/search

Query Parameters

Required parameters

Optional parameters

Aviation API Pricing

Free

Starter

Pro

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Frequently asked questions

Related APIs