AviationStack Data Source

AviationStack provides global, real-time, historical, and future aviation data through a REST API. Follow the instructions below to create a new data flow that ingests data from an AviationStack source in Nexla.

AviationStack

Create a New Data Flow

1. To create a new data flow, navigate to the Integrate section, and click the New Data Flow button. Then, select the desired flow type from the list, and click the Create button.

2. Select the AviationStack connector tile from the list of available connectors. Then, select the credential that will be used to connect to AviationStack, and click Next; or, create a new AviationStack credential for use in this flow.

3. In Nexla, AviationStack data sources can be created using pre-built endpoint templates, which expedite source setup for common AviationStack endpoints. Each template is designed specifically for the corresponding AviationStack endpoint, making source configuration easy and efficient.
   • To configure this source using a template, follow the instructions in Configure Using a Template.

   AviationStack sources can also be configured manually, allowing you to ingest data from AviationStack endpoints not included in the pre-built templates or apply further customizations to exactly suit your needs.
   • To configure this source manually, follow the instructions in Configure Manually.

Configure Using a Template

Nexla provides pre-built templates that can be used to rapidly configure data sources to ingest data from common AviationStack endpoints. Each template is designed specifically for the corresponding AviationStack endpoint, making data source setup easy and efficient.

Endpoint Settings

• Select the endpoint from which this source will fetch data from the Endpoint pulldown menu. Available endpoint templates are listed in the expandable boxes below. Click on an endpoint to see more information about it and how to configure your data source for this endpoint.

  List Real-Time Flights

  This endpoint returns a paginated list of real-time flights, including live geolocation (latitude, longitude, altitude, and speed), status, airline, and route information. Use it to feed operational dashboards, live tracking maps, or analytics on global flight activity.

  • All parameters on this endpoint are optional. Leave them blank to return the default global feed of live flights, or set values to narrow the result set.
  • Enter a date in YYYY-MM-DD format in the Flight Date field to filter flights by a specific date. AviationStack supports flight dates within the last three months on the real-time flights endpoint; older dates require the List Historical Flights endpoint.
  • Enter a search term in the Search field to filter by airline, flight number, IATA/ICAO code, or other identifiers.
  • Enter a language code (for example, en, es, fr) in the Language field to localize textual fields in the response.

  Pagination is handled automatically using AviationStack's offset and limit parameters with a default page size of 100 records. The source iterates until no more records are returned.

  List Historical Flights

  This endpoint returns historical flight data for a specific date, including the completed flight status, scheduled and actual times, and routing details. Use it to backfill historical aviation data into a warehouse or run trend analysis on completed flights.

  • Enter the target date in YYYY-MM-DD format in the Flight Date field. This field is required, and the date should be in the past.

  Access to historical flight data beyond the recent window typically requires a Professional or higher AviationStack subscription. Confirm your plan's historical window in the AviationStack dashboard before scheduling long-running historical backfills.

  List Flight Schedules

  This endpoint returns a paginated list of scheduled flights with planned departure and arrival times. Use it to keep a synced copy of the global flight schedule, or to feed downstream tools that operate on planned (rather than live) flight data.

  • Enter a language code (for example, en, es, fr) in the Language field to localize textual fields in the response, or leave it blank to use the AviationStack default.

  Get Airport Timetable

  This endpoint returns the real-time arrivals or departures timetable for a specific airport. Use it to power gate or terminal dashboards, monitor on-time performance at a single airport, or feed downstream operations systems.

  • Enter the airport's three-letter IATA code in the Airport IATA Code field (for example, JFK, LAX, LHR). This field is required; the template defaults to JFK.
  • Set the Flight Type field to departure to fetch the departures timetable, or arrival to fetch the arrivals timetable. The default is departure.

  IATA codes can be obtained from the List Airports endpoint. To track both arrivals and departures for the same airport, create two sources — one for each value of Flight Type.

  Get Future Flight Schedules

  This endpoint returns upcoming flight schedule information for a specific airport on a given future date, filtered by departure or arrival. Use it to surface forward-looking schedules in planning tools, capacity dashboards, or downstream booking systems.

  • Enter the airport's three-letter IATA code in the Airport IATA Code field (for example, JFK, LAX, LHR). This field is required; the template defaults to JFK.
  • Enter the target date in YYYY-MM-DD format in the Schedule Date field. This field is required, and the date must be in the future.
  • Set the Flight Type field to departure to fetch future departures, or arrival to fetch future arrivals. The default is departure.

  Access to future flight schedules typically requires a paid AviationStack plan. Confirm in the AviationStack dashboard that your subscription includes the flightsFuture endpoint before scheduling this source.

  List Airports

  This endpoint returns a paginated list of airports with location, IATA/ICAO codes, and contact information. Use it as a reference dataset for airport lookups, or to keep a downstream warehouse synced with AviationStack's airport catalog.

  • Enter a search term in the Search field to filter airports by name, city, country, or IATA code. Leave it blank to return all airports.
  • Enter a language code (for example, en, es, fr) in the Language field to localize textual fields in the response.

  IATA codes returned by this endpoint can be used to drive the Get Airport Timetable and Get Future Flight Schedules endpoints.

  List Airlines

  This endpoint returns a paginated list of airlines, including IATA and ICAO codes, country of registration, fleet size, and other operational details. Use it as a reference dataset for airline lookups across downstream systems.

  • Enter a search term in the Search field to filter airlines by name, IATA code, or ICAO code. Leave it blank to return all airlines.
  • Enter a language code (for example, en, es, fr) in the Language field to localize textual fields in the response.

  List Airplanes

  This endpoint returns a paginated list of individual aircraft, including registration number, type, operator, and other identifying details. Use it to build a synced catalog of aircraft for fleet analytics or compliance reporting.

  • Enter a search term in the Search field to filter aircraft by registration number, airline, or aircraft type. Leave it blank to return all aircraft.
  • Enter a language code (for example, en, es, fr) in the Language field to localize textual fields in the response.

  List Aircraft Types

  This endpoint returns a paginated list of aircraft types (models) with technical specifications and manufacturer details. Use it as a reference dataset for joining with List Airplanes or with live flight feeds to enrich records with model-level data.

  • Enter a search term in the Search field to filter aircraft types by model name, manufacturer, or IATA code. Leave it blank to return all aircraft types.
  • Enter a language code (for example, en, es, fr) in the Language field to localize textual fields in the response.

  List Routes

  This endpoint returns a paginated list of airline routes, including departure and arrival airport codes, operating airline, and flight number. Routes are refreshed by AviationStack on a periodic basis. Use it to keep a downstream catalog of scheduled airline routes in sync.

  • Enter a search term in the Search field to filter routes by airport code or route identifier. Leave it blank to return all routes.
  • Enter a language code (for example, en, es, fr) in the Language field to localize textual fields in the response.

  List Cities

  This endpoint returns a paginated list of cities with geographical and airport-association information. Use it as a reference dataset for joining city-level metadata to flights, airports, or routes.

  • Enter a search term in the Search field to filter cities by name, country, or airport code. Leave it blank to return all cities.
  • Enter a language code (for example, en, es, fr) in the Language field to localize textual fields in the response.

  List Countries

  This endpoint returns a paginated list of countries with geographical and regulatory information. Use it as a reference dataset for joining country-level attributes to airlines, airports, or routes.

  • Enter a search term in the Search field to filter countries by name, code, or region. Leave it blank to return all countries.
  • Enter a language code (for example, en, es, fr) in the Language field to localize textual fields in the response.

  List Taxes

  This endpoint returns a paginated list of aviation-related taxes and fees by jurisdiction. Use it to keep tax reference data in sync for revenue, fare, or regulatory reporting.

  • Enter a search term in the Search field to filter taxes by country, region, or tax type. Leave it blank to return all taxes.
  • Enter a language code (for example, en, es, fr) in the Language field to localize textual fields in the response.

Endpoint Testing

Once the selected endpoint template has been configured, Nexla can retrieve a sample of the data that will be fetched according to the current settings. This allows users to verify that the source is configured correctly before saving.

• To test the current endpoint configuration, click the Test button to the right of the endpoint selection menu. Sample data will be fetched & displayed in the Endpoint Test Result panel on the right.

• If the sample data is not as expected, review the selected endpoint and associated settings, and make any necessary adjustments. Then, click the Test button again, and check the sample data to ensure that the correct information is displayed.

Configure Manually

AviationStack data sources can be manually configured to ingest data from any valid AviationStack API endpoint. Manual configuration provides maximum flexibility for accessing endpoints not covered by pre-built templates or when you need custom query parameters.

With manual configuration, you can also create more complex AviationStack sources, such as sources that chain calls together — for example, using a list of airport IATA codes to drive the Airport Timetable endpoint for each airport.

API Method

1. To manually configure this source, select the Advanced tab at the top of the configuration screen.

2. Select the API method that will be used for calls to the AviationStack API from the Method pulldown menu. All AviationStack read endpoints use GET:

   • GET: For retrieving data from the API (the only method supported by the AviationStack v1 API)

API Endpoint URL

3. Enter the URL of the AviationStack API endpoint from which this source will fetch data in the Set API URL field. All AviationStack endpoints use the base https://api.aviationstack.com/v1/ followed by the resource path (for example, https://api.aviationstack.com/v1/flights). The access_key URL parameter is appended automatically from your credential.

HTTPS access requires a paid AviationStack plan (Basic or higher). Free Tier accounts must use the HTTP base URL (http://api.aviationstack.com/v1/). Confirm your plan in the AviationStack dashboard before configuring the protocol.

Date/Time Macros (API URL)

Optional

Optionally, the API URL can be customized using macros—all macros added to the API URL will be converted into values when Nexla executes the API call. Macros are dynamic placeholders that allow you to create flexible API endpoints that can adapt to different time periods. They are particularly useful for AviationStack endpoints that filter by flight_date or by future-schedule date.

For example, set the API URL to https://api.aviationstack.com/v1/flights?flight_date={now} with the YYYY-MM-DD date format and a Day time unit to always fetch live flights for the current day.

1. To add a macro, type { at the appropriate position in the API URL (within the Set API URL field), and select the desired macro from the dropdown list.

   • {now} – The current datetime

   • {now-1} – The datetime one time unit before the current datetime

   • {now+1} – The datetime one time unit after the current datetime

   • custom – Datetime macros can reference any number of time units before or after the current datetime—for example, enter (now-4) to indicate the datetime four time units before the current datetime

2. Select the format that will be applied to datetime macros from the Date Format for Date/Time Macro pulldown menu. AviationStack expects YYYY-MM-DD for flight_date and future schedule date parameters, so the format must match the endpoint being called.

3. Select the datetime unit that will be used to perform mathematical operations in the included macro(s) from the Time Unit for Operations pulldown menu—for example, for the macro {now-1}, when Day is selected, {now-1} will be converted to the datetime one day before the current datetime.

Lookup-Based Macros (API URL)

Optional

Column values from existing lookups can also be included as macros in the API URL. Lookup-based macros allow you to reference data from previously configured data sources or lookups, enabling dynamic API endpoints that adapt based on existing data. For AviationStack, this is useful when you have a Nexla dataset of airport IATA codes, airline IDs, or flight numbers and want to drive per-record API calls.

A common pattern is to combine the List Airports endpoint with a lookup-based macro on the Airport Timetable URL — fetching the timetable for every IATA code in your reference dataset.

1. To include a lookup column value macro, select the relevant lookup from the Add Lookups to Supported Macros pulldown menu.

2. Type { at the appropriate position in the API URL, and select the lookup column-based macro from the dropdown list. Lookup-based macros are automatically populated into the macro list when a lookup is selected in the Add Lookups to Supported Macros pulldown menu.

Path to Data

Optional

If only a subset of the data returned by an AviationStack endpoint is needed, you can designate the part(s) of the response that should be included in the Nexset(s) by specifying the path to the relevant data within the response.

AviationStack responses are returned in JSON format. Every endpoint wraps the result set inside a top-level data array, with pagination metadata as a sibling, so the path to the underlying records is $.data[*].

Path to Data is essential when API responses have nested structures. Without specifying the correct path, Nexla might not be able to properly parse and organize your data into usable records.

• To specify which data should be treated as relevant in responses from this source, enter the path to the relevant data in the Set Path to Data in Response field.

  • For responses in JSON format enter the JSON path that points to the object or array that should be treated as relevant data. AviationStack uses $.data[*] to access every record in the response array.
  Path to Data Example:

  For an AviationStack endpoint that returns a top-level array of records inside a data property (for example, GET /flights), enter $.data[*] as the path to data. This is the default used by every pre-built AviationStack endpoint template.

Autogenerate Path Suggestions

Nexla can also autogenerate data path suggestions based on the response from the API endpoint. These suggested paths can be used as-is or modified to exactly suit your needs.

• To use this feature, click the Test button next to the Set API URL field to fetch a sample response from the API endpoint. Suggested data paths generated based on the content & format of the response will be displayed in the Suggestions box below the Set Path to Data in Response field.

• Click on a suggestion to automatically populate the Set Path to Data in Response field with the corresponding path. The populated path can be modified directly within the field if further customization is needed.

  

Metadata

If metadata is included in the response but is located outside of the defined path to relevant data, you can configure Nexla to include this data as common metadata in each record. This is useful when you want to preserve important contextual information that applies to all records but isn't part of the main data array.

For AviationStack responses, the top-level pagination object (containing limit, offset, count, and total) is a sibling of data. Capturing it as metadata can be helpful when downstream consumers need to know the total record count or page position.

To attach AviationStack pagination details to each record, enter $.pagination in the Path to Metadata in Response field.

• To specify the location of metadata that should be included with each record, enter the path to the relevant metadata in the Path to Metadata in Response field.

  • For responses in JSON format, enter the JSON path to the object or array that contains the metadata.

Request Headers

Optional

• If Nexla should include any additional request headers in API calls to this source, enter the headers & corresponding values as comma-separated pairs in the Request Headers field (for example, header1:value1,header2:value2).

  You do not need to include any headers already present in the credentials. AviationStack authenticates using the access_key URL parameter rather than a header, so additional headers are only needed for custom integrations.

Endpoint Testing

After configuring all settings for the selected endpoint, Nexla can retrieve a sample of the data that will be fetched according to the current configuration. This allows users to verify that the source is configured correctly before saving.

• To test the current endpoint configuration, click the Test button to the right of the endpoint selection menu. Sample data will be fetched & displayed in the Endpoint Test Result panel on the right.

• If the sample data is not as expected, review the selected endpoint and associated settings, and make any necessary adjustments. Then, click the Test button again, and check the sample data to ensure that the correct information is displayed.

Save & Activate the Source

1. Once all of the relevant steps in the above sections have been completed, click the Create button in the upper right corner of the screen to save and create the new AviationStack data source. Nexla will now begin ingesting data from the configured endpoint and will organize any data that it finds into one or more Nexsets.