Airports API

The Airports API provides vital information on over 85,000 airports, heliports, seaplane bases, and small airfields worldwide — from major international hubs to remote local strips.

Disclaimer: This data is provided for informational purposes only and is not for navigation or any flight-operations or safety-critical use.

Available endpoints:

/v1/airports - Get detailed information about airports
/v1/airportconvert - Convert between IATA and ICAO airport codes
/v1/airportslist - Get a list of airport codes and names
/v1/airportdistance - Calculate the great-circle distance between two airports
/v1/airportsuggest - Autocomplete / typeahead suggestions for airport search
/v1/closestairport - Find the nearest airports to a coordinate

(4.8)

From 4,860 users

2,500+

Applications using this API

API Status

Online - All Systems Operational

API Response Times

Average	P50	P75	P90	P95
370ms	400ms	435ms	579ms	1140ms

Similar APIs

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/v1/airports GET

https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/airports

Returns a list of up to 10 airport results. Use the offset parameter to access more results if available.

To look up a list of airport codes and names, use the /v1/airportslist endpoint.

Parameters

At least one of the following parameters (other than offset) must be set:

iata optional
International Air Transport Association (IATA) airport code (typically 3 characters). Supports partial, case-insensitive matching (e.g. LH matches LHR).
icao optional
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) 4-character airport code. Supports partial, case-insensitive matching (e.g. EGL matches EGLL).
name optional premium only
Airport name. Supports partial matching (e.g. Heathrow matches London Heathrow Airport).
country optional
Airport country. Must be 2-character ISO-2 country code (e.g. GB).
region optional premium only
Administrative region such as state or province within a country (e.g. California). Supports partial, case-insensitive matching.
city optional premium only
Airport city (e.g. London). Supports partial, case-insensitive matching (e.g. York may match New York).
timezone optional
Airport timezone (e.g. Europe/London).
min_elevation optional
Minimum airport elevation in feet.
max_elevation optional
Maximum airport elevation in feet.
size optional
Airport size. Must be one of: large, medium, small.
has_iata optional
Filter by whether the airport has an IATA code. true returns only IATA-coded airports; false returns only those without.
min_runway_length optional
Minimum length (in feet) of at least one runway at the airport.
type optional
Facility type (more granular than size). Must be one of: large_airport, medium_airport, small_airport, heliport, seaplane_base, balloonport, closed.
scheduled_service optional
Filter by whether the airport has scheduled airline service. true or false.
continent optional
Continent code. Must be one of: AF, AN, AS, EU, NA, OC, SA.
surface optional
Filter to airports having at least one runway of the given surface category. Must be one of: paved, unpaved, water, unknown.
has_lights optional
Filter by whether the airport has at least one lighted runway. true or false.
q optional
Free-text search across airport name, city, codes, and alternate-name keywords.
include_closed optional
Set to true to include permanently closed airports. Closed airports are excluded by default.
limit optional
Maximum number of results to return. Must be between 1 and 100. Default is 10.
sort optional
Sort order for results. Must be one of: passengers (default), name, elevation, runway_length, longest_runway, num_runways.
order optional
Sort direction. Must be asc or desc. Default is desc.
offset optional
Number of results to offset for pagination.

Headers

X-Api-Key required
API Key associated with your account.

Response

A JSON array of objects, each containing the following fields, or an error if the request is unsuccessful.

Response fields

iata
3-character IATA airport code.
icao
4-character ICAO airport code. May be empty for facilities without an official ICAO code — use ident for an identifier that is always present.
name
Airport name.
city
City where the airport is located.
region
Administrative region (state or province).
country
2-letter ISO country code.
elevation_ft
Airport elevation in feet.
latitude
Latitude coordinate.
longitude
Longitude coordinate.
timezone
Airport timezone (e.g., Europe/London).
size
Airport size: large, medium, or small. Only set for airport-type facilities; null for heliports, seaplane bases, and balloonports (see type).
num_runways
Number of runways at the airport.
ident
Universal airport identifier (always present). Equals the ICAO code where one exists, otherwise a local or regional code.
type
Facility type: large_airport, medium_airport, small_airport, heliport, seaplane_base, balloonport, or closed.
region_code
ISO 3166-2 region code (e.g. US-CA).
country_name
Full country name.
continent
Continent code (AF, AN, AS, EU, NA, OC, SA).
elevation_m
Airport elevation in meters.
scheduled_service
Whether the airport has scheduled airline service (true or false).
is_closed
Whether the facility is permanently closed (true or false).
gps_code
GPS/navigation database code, if available.
local_code
Local/national airport code, if available.
home_link
Official airport website URL, if available.
wikipedia_link
Wikipedia article URL, if available.
keywords
Array of alternate names and codes used for search.
longest_runway_ft
Length of the longest runway in feet.
runways
Array of runway objects, each containing:
- length - Runway length in feet.
- width - Runway width in feet.
- has_lights - Whether the runway has lights (true or false).
- surface - Raw surface description (e.g. ASP).
- surface_category - Normalized surface: paved, unpaved, water, or unknown.
- closed - Whether the runway is closed (true or false).
- le_ident / he_ident - Runway end designators (e.g. 09L / 27R).
- le_heading_deg / he_heading_deg - True heading of each runway end in degrees.
estimated_annual_passengers
Estimated yearly passenger volume. This is a heuristic estimate derived from facility type, runways, and country — not an official figure.

Sample Request Live Demo!

iata

icao

name

city

Try this API endpoint with all available parameters in our API playground

https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/airports?iata=LHR

Headers

X-Api-KeyLog in or sign up to get your API Key

Sample Response

JSON
[{icao:"EGLL",
ident:"EGLL",
iata:"LHR",
name:"London Heathrow Airport",
city:"London",
region:"England",
region_code:"GB-ENG",
country:"GB",
country_name:"United Kingdom",
continent:"EU",
elevation_ft:83,
elevation_m:25.3,
latitude:51.47060013,
longitude:-0.461941,
timezone:"Europe/London",
type:"large_airport",
size:"large",
scheduled_service:true,
is_closed:false,
gps_code:"EGLL",
local_code:null,
home_link:"https://www.heathrow.com/",
wikipedia_link:"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathrow_Airport",
keywords:["LON",
"Londres"
],
num_runways:2,
longest_runway_ft:12799,
runways:[{length:12799,
width:164,
has_lights:true,
surface:"ASP",
surface_category:"paved",
closed:false,
le_ident:"09L",
he_ident:"27R",
le_heading_deg:89.6,
he_heading_deg:269.6
},
{length:12001,
width:164,
has_lights:true,
surface:"ASP",
surface_category:"paved",
closed:false,
le_ident:"09R",
he_ident:"27L",
le_heading_deg:89.6,
he_heading_deg:269.6
}
],
estimated_annual_passengers:79200000
}
]

Code Examples

1
2

curl -X GET "https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/airports?iata=LHR" \
  -H "X-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

If your programming language is not listed in the Code Example above, you can still make API calls by using a HTTP request library written in your programming language and following the above documentation.

/v1/airportconvert GET

https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/airportconvert

Convert between IATA and ICAO airport codes. Provide exactly one of iata, icao, or code.

Parameters

iata optional
3-character IATA airport code.
icao optional
4-character ICAO airport code. May be empty for facilities without an official ICAO code — use ident for an identifier that is always present.
code optional
Any airport identifier — IATA, ICAO, ident, GPS, or local code. The matching type is detected automatically.

Headers

X-Api-Key required
API Key associated with your account.

Response

A JSON object containing the following fields, or an error if no airport is found.

Response fields

icao
4-character ICAO airport code. May be empty for facilities without an official ICAO code — use ident for an identifier that is always present.
iata
3-character IATA airport code.
name
Airport name.
city
City where the airport is located.
region
Administrative region (state or province).
country
2-letter ISO country code.
elevation_ft
Airport elevation in feet.
latitude
Latitude coordinate.
longitude
Longitude coordinate.
timezone
Airport timezone (e.g., Europe/London).
size
Airport size: large, medium, or small. Only set for airport-type facilities; null for heliports, seaplane bases, and balloonports (see type).

Sample Request Live Demo!

code

Try this API endpoint with all available parameters in our API playground

https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/airportconvert?code=LHR

Headers

X-Api-KeyLog in or sign up to get your API Key

Sample Response

JSON
{icao:"EGLL",
iata:"LHR",
ident:"EGLL",
name:"London Heathrow Airport",
city:"London",
region:"England",
region_code:"GB-ENG",
country:"GB",
country_name:"United Kingdom",
continent:"EU",
elevation_ft:83,
elevation_m:25.3,
latitude:51.47060013,
longitude:-0.461941,
timezone:"Europe/London",
type:"large_airport",
size:"large",
scheduled_service:true,
is_closed:false,
gps_code:"EGLL",
local_code:null
}

Code Examples

1
2

curl -X GET "https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/airportconvert?iata=LHR" \
  -H "X-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

/v1/airportslist GETPremium only

https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/airportslist

Returns a list of up to 100 airport codes and names in alphabetical order. Use the offset parameter to access more results via pagination.

To look up detailed information about an airport, use the icao parameter in the /v1/airports endpoint.

Parameters

offset optional
Number of results to offset for pagination. Default is 0.

Headers

X-Api-Key required
API Key associated with your account.

Response

A JSON array of objects, each containing the following fields, or an error if the request is unsuccessful.

Response fields

icao
4-character ICAO airport code. May be empty for facilities without an official ICAO code — use ident for an identifier that is always present.
name
Airport name.

Sample Request Live Demo!

offset

Try this API endpoint with all available parameters in our API playground

https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/airportslist

Headers

X-Api-KeyLog in or sign up to get your API Key

Sample Response

JSON
[{ident:"00A",
icao:"",
iata:"",
name:"Total RF Heliport",
type:"heliport"
},
{ident:"00AA",
icao:"",
iata:"",
name:"Aero B Ranch Airport",
type:"small_airport"
},
{ident:"00AK",
icao:"",
iata:"",
name:"Lowell Field",
type:"small_airport"
}
]

/v1/airportdistance GETAnnual subscription only

https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/airportdistance

Calculate the great-circle distance, initial bearing, and an estimated flight time between two airports.

Parameters

from required
Origin airport — IATA (3 chars) or ICAO (4 chars) code.
to required
Destination airport — IATA (3 chars) or ICAO (4 chars) code.
units optional
Distance units. Must be one of: km (default), mi, nm.

Headers

X-Api-Key required
API Key associated with your account.

Response

A JSON object containing the following fields, or an error.

Response fields

from
Origin airport code as provided in the request (uppercased).
to
Destination airport code as provided in the request (uppercased).
distance
Great-circle distance in the requested units.
bearing_initial
Initial bearing from origin to destination, in degrees true (0–360).
unit
Units used for the distance field. One of km, mi, nm.
estimated_flight_time_minutes
Approximate total flight time in minutes, assuming an 800 km/h cruise plus 30 minutes of ground/climb/descent overhead.

Sample Request Live Demo!

from

units

Try this API endpoint with all available parameters in our API playground

https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/airportdistance?from=JFK&to=LHR

Headers

X-Api-KeyLog in or sign up to get your API Key

Sample Response

JSON
{from:"JFK",
to:"LHR",
distance:5539.7,
bearing_initial:51.4,
unit:"km",
estimated_flight_time_minutes:445
}

Code Examples

1
2

curl -X GET "https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/airportdistance?from=JFK&to=LHR" \
  -H "X-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

/v1/airportsuggest GETPremium only

https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/airportsuggest

Autocomplete / typeahead suggestions for airport search. Matches against IATA, ICAO, name, and city. Results are ranked by code-prefix match, airport size, and IATA availability.

Parameters

q required
Query string (minimum 2 characters).
country optional
Restrict results to a country. Must be a 2-character ISO country code (e.g. US).
size optional
Restrict results to a size. Must be one of: large, medium, small.
limit optional
Maximum number of results to return. Must be between 1 and 3. Default is 3.

Headers

X-Api-Key required
API Key associated with your account.

Response

A JSON array of compact airport records: icao, iata, name, city, country, size.

Sample Request Live Demo!

limit

Try this API endpoint with all available parameters in our API playground

https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/airportsuggest?q=lon&limit=3

Headers

X-Api-KeyLog in or sign up to get your API Key

Sample Response

JSON
[{icao:"EGKK",
iata:"LGW",
ident:"EGKK",
name:"London Gatwick Airport",
city:"London",
country:"GB",
type:"large_airport",
size:"large"
},
{icao:"EGLL",
iata:"LHR",
ident:"EGLL",
name:"London Heathrow Airport",
city:"London",
country:"GB",
type:"large_airport",
size:"large"
},
{icao:"EGGW",
iata:"LTN",
ident:"EGGW",
name:"London Luton Airport",
city:"London",
country:"GB",
type:"large_airport",
size:"large"
}
]

Code Examples

1
2

curl -X GET "https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/airportsuggest?q=lon&limit=3" \
  -H "X-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

/v1/closestairport GETPremium only

https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/closestairport

Find the airports nearest to a given latitude/longitude. Results are sorted by airport size (largest first), then by distance ascending within each size tier. Each result includes distance and bearing from the input coordinate.

Parameters

lat required
Latitude of the search center, in decimal degrees (-90 to 90).
lon required
Longitude of the search center, in decimal degrees (-180 to 180).
radius optional
Search radius in kilometres. Default is 50, maximum is 500.
size optional
Restrict to size: large, medium, or small.
has_iata optional
Filter by whether the airport has an IATA code (true or false).
min_runway_length optional
Minimum runway length in feet.
limit optional
Maximum number of results. Must be between 1 and 50. Default is 10.
units optional
Distance units. Must be km (default) or mi.

Headers

X-Api-Key required
API Key associated with your account.

Response

A JSON array of objects sorted by airport size (largest first), then by distance ascending within each size tier. Each object contains the following fields, or an error.

Response fields

icao
4-character ICAO airport code. May be empty for facilities without an official ICAO code — use ident for an identifier that is always present.
iata
3-character IATA airport code.
name
Airport name.
city
City where the airport is located.
region
Administrative region (state or province).
country
2-letter ISO country code.
elevation_ft
Airport elevation in feet.
latitude
Latitude coordinate.
longitude
Longitude coordinate.
timezone
Airport timezone (e.g., America/Los_Angeles).
size
Airport size: large, medium, or small. Only set for airport-type facilities; null for heliports, seaplane bases, and balloonports (see type).
distance
Great-circle distance from the requested coordinate, in the requested units.
bearing
Initial bearing from the requested coordinate to the airport, in degrees true (0–360).
distance_unit
Units used for the distance field. One of km, mi.

Sample Request Live Demo!

lat

lon

radius

Try this API endpoint with all available parameters in our API playground

https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/closestairport?lat=37.78&lon=-122.42&radius=80

Headers

X-Api-KeyLog in or sign up to get your API Key

Sample Response

JSON
[{icao:"KSFO",
ident:"KSFO",
iata:"SFO",
name:"San Francisco International Airport",
city:"San Francisco",
region:"California",
region_code:"US-CA",
country:"US",
country_name:"United States",
continent:"NA",
elevation_ft:13,
elevation_m:4,
latitude:37.61899948,
longitude:-122.375,
timezone:"America/Los_Angeles",
type:"large_airport",
size:"large",
scheduled_service:true,
is_closed:false,
num_runways:4,
longest_runway_ft:11870,
distance:18.34,
bearing:167.5,
distance_unit:"km"
},
{icao:"KOAK",
ident:"KOAK",
iata:"OAK",
name:"Metropolitan Oakland International Airport",
city:"Oakland",
region:"California",
region_code:"US-CA",
country:"US",
country_name:"United States",
continent:"NA",
elevation_ft:9,
elevation_m:2.7,
latitude:37.72129822,
longitude:-122.22100067,
timezone:"America/Los_Angeles",
type:"large_airport",
size:"large",
scheduled_service:true,
is_closed:false,
num_runways:4,
longest_runway_ft:10520,
distance:18.67,
bearing:110.4,
distance_unit:"km"
}
]

Code Examples

1
2

curl -X GET "https://api.api-ninjas.com/v1/closestairport?lat=37.78&lon=-122.42&radius=80" \
  -H "X-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use the Airports API for commercial purposes?
Yes, but you must have a premium subscription. Commercial use of the Airports API is not permitted on the free tier. See our pricing page to choose a plan that fits your needs.
How do I get an API key and start using the Airports API?
Sign up for a free account to instantly get your API key, then pass it in the X-Api-Key header on every request. The documentation above includes ready-to-run examples in cURL, Python, JavaScript, Node.js, and more.
What happens if I exceed my quota for the month?
Your API requests will simply be denied once you hit your monthly quota — you will never be charged more than the plan you signed up for. To increase your quota, you can upgrade your plan any time on our pricing page.
What happens if a request to the Airports API fails?
The API responds with a standard HTTP status code and a JSON error message describing the problem. See our error codes reference for the full list of codes and how to resolve each one, or contact support if you need help.
How do I look up an airport by its IATA or ICAO code?
Call the /v1/airports endpoint with the iata parameter (e.g. iata=LHR) or the icao parameter (e.g. icao=EGLL); both support partial, case-insensitive matching, so LH matches LHR. Each result includes fields like name, city, country, elevation_ft, latitude, longitude, timezone, and a runways array; if you only have one code type and need the other, the dedicated /v1/airportconvert endpoint converts between them, or you can pair this with the Timezone API.
How can I find the airports nearest to a given location?
Use the /v1/closestairport endpoint with required lat and lon parameters plus an optional radius in kilometres (default 50, max 500), and it returns matches sorted by size then distance, each including a distance and bearing from your coordinate. To turn a city name into coordinates first, combine it with the City API.
Can the API calculate the distance and flight time between two airports?
Yes — the /v1/airportdistance endpoint takes from and to airport codes (IATA or ICAO) and returns the great-circle distance, the initial bearing_initial in degrees true, and an estimated_flight_time_minutes value (based on an 800 km/h cruise plus 30 minutes overhead); use the units parameter to switch between km, mi, and nm. For airline route context you can also explore the Airlines API.
What coverage does the Airports API provide, and how do I build a typeahead search?
It covers over 85,000 airports, heliports, seaplane bases, and small airfields worldwide, from major international hubs to remote local strips. Airports carry a size of large, medium, or small, and every facility carries a precise type (e.g. heliport, seaplane_base). For autocomplete, use the /v1/airportsuggest endpoint with a q query of at least 2 characters (matched against IATA, ICAO, ident, name, city, and keywords) and an optional limit of 1 to 20; see the full catalog of related data sources on the APIs page.

Airports API

/v1/airports GET

Parameters

iata optional

icao optional

name optional premium only

country optional

region optional premium only

city optional premium only

timezone optional

min_elevation optional

max_elevation optional

size optional

has_iata optional

min_runway_length optional

type optional

scheduled_service optional

continent optional

surface optional

has_lights optional

q optional

include_closed optional

limit optional

sort optional

order optional

offset optional

Headers

X-Api-Key required

Response

iata

icao

name

city

region

country

elevation_ft

latitude

longitude

timezone

size

num_runways

ident

type

region_code

country_name

continent

elevation_m

scheduled_service

is_closed

gps_code

local_code

home_link

wikipedia_link

keywords

longest_runway_ft

runways

estimated_annual_passengers

Sample Request Live Demo!

Sample Response

Code Examples

/v1/airportconvert GET

Parameters

iata optional

icao optional

code optional

Headers

X-Api-Key required

Response

icao

iata

name

city

region

country

elevation_ft

latitude

longitude

timezone

size

Sample Request Live Demo!

`iata` optional

`icao` optional

`name` optional premium only

`country` optional

`region` optional premium only

`city` optional premium only

`timezone` optional

`min_elevation` optional

`max_elevation` optional

`size` optional

`has_iata` optional

`min_runway_length` optional

`type` optional

`scheduled_service` optional

`continent` optional

`surface` optional

`has_lights` optional

`q` optional

`include_closed` optional

`limit` optional

`sort` optional

`order` optional

`offset` optional

`X-Api-Key` required

`iata`

`icao`

`name`

`city`

`region`

`country`

`elevation_ft`

`latitude`

`longitude`

`timezone`

`size`

`num_runways`

`ident`

`type`

`region_code`

`country_name`

`continent`

`elevation_m`

`scheduled_service`

`is_closed`

`gps_code`

`local_code`

`home_link`

`wikipedia_link`

`keywords`

`longest_runway_ft`

`runways`

`estimated_annual_passengers`

`iata` optional

`icao` optional

`code` optional

`X-Api-Key` required

`icao`

`iata`

`name`

`city`

`region`

`country`

`elevation_ft`

`latitude`

`longitude`

`timezone`

`size`

`offset` optional

`X-Api-Key` required

`icao`

`name`

`from` required

`to` required

`units` optional

`X-Api-Key` required

`from`

`to`

`distance`

`bearing_initial`

`unit`