API Reference

REST access to live and historical aircraft positions, served from our own receiver network.

All endpoints live under a single base URL:

https://planetrack.ai/v1

Requests are metered in credits. Every response includes a meta block showing what the call cost and how many credits you have left this month.

Authentication

All API requests require an API key, sent in the X-API-Key header:

curl -H "X-API-Key: pt_live_your_api_key_here" \
  https://planetrack.ai/v1/live

Credits & Plans

Each call is charged a fixed number of credits. Credits reset monthly.

Credit Costs

Plans

Lookback on every plan is capped by the start of our archive: position collection began 2025-08-18.

Need a single aircraft's full history rather than API access? One-off data extracts start at £29 with no account needed.

Rate Limits

Rate limits are per API key and apply on top of your monthly credit allowance:

If you exceed either limit the API returns 429 Too Many Requests. Back off and retry; no credits are charged for rate-limited calls.

Error Handling

The API returns standard HTTP status codes:

API v1 Endpoints

curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://planetrack.ai/v1/live?bbox=49.0,-8.0,61.0,2.0&limit=100"

{
  "data": [
    {
      "icao24": "4076a3",
      "callsign": "BAW123",
      "lat": 51.4712,
      "lon": -0.4527,
      "altitude": 36000,
      "speed": 447,
      "heading": 284,
      "vertical_rate": 0,
      "squawk": "2201",
      "last_seen": "2026-08-12T10:15:04Z"
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "count": 1,
    "credits_charged": 10,
    "credits_remaining": 99850
  }
}

curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://planetrack.ai/v1/aircraft/4076a3/track?date=2026-08-11"

{
  "data": {
    "icao24": "4076a3",
    "date": "2026-08-11",
    "points": [
      {
        "time": "2026-08-11T09:02:15Z",
        "lat": 51.4700,
        "lon": -0.4543,
        "altitude": 1200,
        "speed": 175,
        "heading": 270
      }
    ]
  },
  "meta": {
    "credits_charged": 20,
    "credits_remaining": 99830
  }
}

curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://planetrack.ai/v1/flights/BAW123/history?days=30"

{
  "data": [
    {
      "date": "2026-08-11",
      "callsign": "BAW123",
      "icao24": "4076a3",
      "first_seen": "2026-08-11T09:02:15Z",
      "last_seen": "2026-08-11T16:48:51Z"
    }
  ],
  "meta": {
    "count": 1,
    "credits_charged": 20,
    "credits_remaining": 99810
  }
}

curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://planetrack.ai/v1/usage"

{
  "data": {
    "plan": "api_starter",
    "credits_limit": 100000,
    "credits_used": 12760,
    "credits_remaining": 87240,
    "resets_at": "2026-09-01T00:00:00Z"
  },
  "meta": {
    "credits_charged": 0,
    "credits_remaining": 87240
  }
}

Code Examples

Python

import requests

API_KEY = "pt_live_your_api_key"
BASE_URL = "https://planetrack.ai/v1"

headers = {"X-API-Key": API_KEY}

# Get live aircraft over the UK
response = requests.get(
    f"{BASE_URL}/live",
    params={"bbox": "49.0,-8.0,61.0,2.0", "limit": 100},
    headers=headers,
)
body = response.json()

print(f"Found {body['meta']['count']} aircraft "
      f"({body['meta']['credits_remaining']} credits left)")
for plane in body["data"][:5]:
    print(f"{plane['callsign']}: {plane['lat']}, {plane['lon']}")

JavaScript (Node.js)

const API_KEY = 'pt_live_your_api_key';
const BASE_URL = 'https://planetrack.ai/v1';

async function getLiveAircraft() {
  const response = await fetch(`${BASE_URL}/live?limit=100`, {
    headers: { 'X-API-Key': API_KEY }
  });
  const body = await response.json();

  console.log(`Found ${body.meta.count} aircraft (${body.meta.credits_remaining} credits left)`);
  body.data.slice(0, 5).forEach(plane => {
    console.log(`${plane.callsign}: ${plane.lat}, ${plane.lon}`);
  });
}

getLiveAircraft();

curl

# Get live aircraft (10 credits)
curl -H "X-API-Key: pt_live_your_api_key" \
  "https://planetrack.ai/v1/live?limit=10" | jq

# Get an aircraft's track (20 credits)
curl -H "X-API-Key: pt_live_your_api_key" \
  "https://planetrack.ai/v1/aircraft/4076a3/track" | jq

# Check your credit balance (free)
curl -H "X-API-Key: pt_live_your_api_key" \
  "https://planetrack.ai/v1/usage" | jq

SDKs

Official SDKs for Python, JavaScript, Ruby, and PHP are in development. The API is plain HTTPS and JSON, so any standard HTTP client works in the meantime; the examples above cover the common cases.

Support

Email [email protected]. Include the endpoint, timestamp, and response code of any failing call, and the first characters of your key (never the full key). We run the receiver network and the API ourselves and read every message.