Aviation Utilities API — Distance, Navaids, FAA Delays, AI Briefing & ML Predictions

A collection of powerful aviation utility endpoints: great-circle distance between airports, navigation aid search (VOR/NDB/ILS/DME), FAA NAS delay status, AI-powered flight briefings, and ML-predicted gate-to-gate flight times.

The SkyLink Aviation Utilities API bundles five distinct capabilities into one subscription: precise route mathematics, a 70,000+ navaid database, live FAA system status, IBM Granite AI-generated flight briefings, and machine learning flight time prediction. These are the building blocks that transform a basic aviation app into a professional-grade tool.

Endpoints Covered

Endpoint	Feature	Coverage
`/v3/distance`	Great-circle distance & bearing	Global
`/v3/navaids`	Navigation aids (VOR, NDB, ILS, DME, TACAN)	Global (~70,000)
`/v3/delays`	FAA NAS delays, ground stops, closures	USA (FAA)
`/v3/briefing/flight`	AI-powered flight briefing (IBM Granite)	Global
`/v3/ml/flight-time`	ML gate-to-gate flight time prediction	Global

1. Distance & Bearing Calculator

Calculate the precise great-circle distance, initial bearing, and midpoint between any two airports or coordinates.

GET /v3/distance?from_icao=KJFK&to_icao=EGLL
GET /v3/distance?from_icao=KJFK&to_icao=EGLL&unit=nm
GET /v3/distance?from_icao=KLAX&to_icao=RJTT&unit=km
GET /v3/distance?from_lat=40.6&from_lon=-73.7&to_lat=51.4&to_lon=-0.4

Features:

Great-circle distance (shortest path over Earth's surface)
Distance units: nautical miles (nm), kilometers (km), statute miles (mi)
Initial bearing (direction from origin to destination)
Reciprocal bearing (direction back)
Route midpoint coordinates
Input: ICAO codes, IATA codes, or raw lat/lon coordinates

2. Navigation Aids Database (Navaids)

Search 70,000+ navigation aids worldwide: VOR, NDB, ILS, DME, TACAN, VOR-DME, VORTAC.

GET /v3/navaids?ident=JFK                    # search by identifier
GET /v3/navaids?type=VOR&country=US          # all VORs in the US
GET /v3/navaids?airport=KJFK&type=ILS        # ILS approaches at KJFK
GET /v3/navaids?bbox=40,-80,42,-73           # navaids in a bounding box
GET /v3/navaids?ident=BNN&type=NDB           # search NDB by ident

Features:

Filter by type: VOR, NDB, ILS, DME, TACAN, VOR-DME, VORTAC
Filter by associated airport ICAO
Filter by country (ISO 2-letter code)
Filter by bounding box
Partial identifier match
Returns: ident, name, type, frequency (MHz/kHz), lat/lon, elevation, magnetic variation

3. FAA Ground Delays & NAS Status

Real-time national airspace system (NAS) status — no caching, live data from nasstatus.faa.gov.

GET /v3/delays/faa                  # all current FAA NAS alerts
GET /v3/delays/faa?icao=KJFK        # delays specific to an airport

Features:

Ground Delay Programs (GDP) — average and maximum delay durations
Ground Stops — complete departure halts for an airport
Airport Closures — complete closures with reason
Airspace Flow Programs (AFP) — en-route flow restrictions
Delay reason (weather, volume, equipment, etc.)
Source: nasstatus.faa.gov — never cached

4. AI Flight Briefing (IBM Granite)

Get a structured, AI-generated preflight briefing for any origin-destination pair. The API aggregates METAR, TAF, NOTAMs, and PIREPs, then uses IBM Granite to synthesize them into a readable briefing.

GET /v3/briefing/flight?origin=KJFK&destination=EGLL
GET /v3/briefing/flight?origin=KJFK&destination=EGLL&format=markdown
GET /v3/briefing/flight?origin=KLAX&destination=YSSY&format=plain_text

Features:

Aggregates: METAR/TAF (origin + destination), NOTAMs (both airports), PIREPs (100nm radius)
Output formats: json (structured), markdown, plain_text, html
AI-generated sections: summary, critical restrictions, origin briefing, destination briefing
Powered by IBM Granite LLM
Includes data disclaimer

5. ML Flight Time Prediction

Predict gate-to-gate block time for any route using a trained ML model.

GET /v3/ml/flight-time?from=KJFK&to=EGLL
GET /v3/ml/flight-time?from=KJFK&to=EGLL&aircraft=B77W
GET /v3/ml/flight-time?from=KLAX&to=RJTT&aircraft=B789

Features:

Gate-to-gate (block time) prediction
Optional aircraft type code (ICAO) for higher accuracy (e.g., B738, A320, B77W)
Fallback to distance/speed model if aircraft type is unknown
Accepts ICAO or IATA airport codes

Quick Start

Get Your Free API Key

Sign up at RapidAPI — SkyLink API — 1,000 free requests/month, no credit card required.

Python — Calculate KJFK → EGLL Distance

import requests

headers = {
    "x-rapidapi-key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
    "x-rapidapi-host": "skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com"
}

r = requests.get(
    "https://skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com/v3/distance",
    headers=headers,
    params={"from_icao": "KJFK", "to_icao": "EGLL", "unit": "nm"}
)
d = r.json()
print(f"Distance: {d['distance_nm']} NM")
print(f"Initial bearing: {d['initial_bearing']}°")
print(f"Midpoint: {d['midpoint']['lat']:.2f}, {d['midpoint']['lon']:.2f}")

Python — Find All ILS Approaches at KJFK

r = requests.get(
    "https://skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com/v3/navaids",
    headers=headers,
    params={"airport": "KJFK", "type": "ILS"}
)
for nav in r.json()["navaids"]:
    print(f"{nav['ident']} — {nav['name']} — {nav['frequency_mhz']} MHz")
# IKJF — ILS RWY 04L — 110.90 MHz
# IOJF — ILS RWY 13L — 111.95 MHz

Python — Check FAA NAS Delays

r = requests.get(
    "https://skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com/v3/delays/faa",
    headers=headers
)
data = r.json()
print(f"{data['total_alerts']} active FAA NAS alerts")

for gdp in data.get("ground_delays", []):
    print(f"GDP — {gdp['airport']}: avg {gdp['avg_delay']} min, "
          f"max {gdp['max_delay']} min — {gdp['reason']}")

for gs in data.get("ground_stops", []):
    print(f"Ground Stop — {gs['airport']}: {gs['reason']}")

Python — Generate an AI Flight Briefing

r = requests.get(
    "https://skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com/v3/briefing/flight",
    headers=headers,
    params={
        "origin": "KJFK",
        "destination": "EGLL",
        "format": "plain_text",
        "include_weather": True,
        "include_notams": True,
        "include_pireps": True
    }
)
print(r.json()["briefing"])
# --- AI-GENERATED FLIGHT BRIEFING ---
# Route: KJFK → EGLL | Date: 2026-03-29
#
# SUMMARY: Departure conditions VFR with light winds...
# ...

Python — Predict Gate-to-Gate Flight Time

r = requests.get(
    "https://skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com/v3/ml/flight-time",
    headers=headers,
    params={"from": "KJFK", "to": "EGLL", "aircraft": "B77W"}
)
prediction = r.json()
print(f"Predicted block time: {prediction['predicted_minutes']} min "
      f"({prediction['predicted_hours_decimal']:.1f} h)")
# Predicted block time: 426 min (7.1 h)

JavaScript (Node.js)

const axios = require('axios');

const headers = {
  'x-rapidapi-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY',
  'x-rapidapi-host': 'skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com'
};

// Distance calculation
const dist = await axios.get(
  'https://skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com/v3/distance',
  { headers, params: { from_icao: 'KLAX', to_icao: 'RJTT', unit: 'nm' } }
);
console.log(`LAX → TYO: ${dist.data.distance_nm} NM`);

// ML flight time
const time = await axios.get(
  'https://skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com/v3/ml/flight-time',
  { headers, params: { from: 'KLAX', to: 'RJTT', aircraft: 'B789' } }
);
console.log(`Predicted: ${time.data.predicted_hours_decimal.toFixed(1)} hours`);

cURL

# Distance
curl "https://skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com/v3/distance?from_icao=KJFK&to_icao=EGLL&unit=nm" \
  -H "x-rapidapi-key: YOUR_API_KEY" -H "x-rapidapi-host: skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com"

# FAA delays
curl "https://skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com/v3/delays/faa" \
  -H "x-rapidapi-key: YOUR_API_KEY" -H "x-rapidapi-host: skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com"

# AI briefing
curl "https://skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com/v3/briefing/flight?origin=KJFK&destination=EGLL&format=markdown" \
  -H "x-rapidapi-key: YOUR_API_KEY" -H "x-rapidapi-host: skylink-api.p.rapidapi.com"

Response Schemas

Distance

{
  "from": "KJFK", "to": "EGLL",
  "distance_nm": 3459,
  "distance_km": 6406,
  "initial_bearing": 51,
  "reciprocal_bearing": 289,
  "midpoint": { "lat": 52.3, "lon": -30.1 }
}

Navaid

{
  "navaids": [{
    "ident": "JFK", "name": "KENNEDY", "type": "VOR-DME",
    "frequency_mhz": 115.9, "latitude_deg": 40.621, "longitude_deg": -73.788,
    "elevation_ft": 13, "magnetic_variation_deg": -13.0,
    "associated_airport": "KJFK", "iso_country": "US"
  }]
}

FAA Delays

{
  "total_alerts": 4,
  "ground_delays": [
    { "airport": "KJFK", "avg_delay": "45 minutes", "max_delay": "2 hours",
      "reason": "WEATHER / LOW CEILING AND VISIBILITY", "trend": "Increasing" }
  ],
  "ground_stops": [],
  "closures": [],
  "airspace_flow_programs": []
}

Use Cases

Route planning and dispatch — distance, bearing, and block time for any route
EFB navaid lookup — find ILS frequencies and VOR idents for any airport
FAA delay monitoring dashboards — real-time NAS status for operations centers
AI-powered pilot assistants — generate natural-language briefings via the briefing endpoint
MCP tool integrations — expose aviation data to AI agents and LLM workflows
Block time estimation — use ML predictions for scheduling and crew planning
Flight planning optimization — combine distance, winds aloft, and block time for fuel planning

Related Repositories

metar-api — METAR/TAF that feeds the AI briefing
notam-api — NOTAMs that feed the AI briefing
aviation-weather-api — PIREPs that feed the AI briefing
airport-database-api — airport coordinates for distance calculations
flight-tracking-api — live aircraft positions
flight-status-api — real-time flight status
flight-schedules-api — departure/arrival schedules
aircraft-registration-lookup-api — aircraft DB
aerodrome-charts-api — SID/STAR/APP charts

GitHub Topics

navaids vor ils ndb faa-delays great-circle aviation-api ai-briefing ml-predictions python aviation flight-planning ibm-granite

Part of SkyLink API — The All-In-One Aviation Data API

All features are included in a single SkyLink API subscription. No juggling 5 different providers. One key, one schema, one bill.

Website: https://skylinkapi.com
Full Docs: https://skylinkapi.com/docs
RapidAPI: https://rapidapi.com/skylink-api-skylink-api-default/api/skylink-api
Free Tier: 1,000 requests/month — no credit card required
Navaids: ~70,000 worldwide (OurAirports) | FAA Delays: Live, never cached

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 1 Commit
examples		examples
.gitignore		.gitignore
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
package.json		package.json
requirements.txt		requirements.txt

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Aviation Utilities API — Distance, Navaids, FAA Delays, AI Briefing & ML Predictions

Endpoints Covered

1. Distance & Bearing Calculator

2. Navigation Aids Database (Navaids)

3. FAA Ground Delays & NAS Status

4. AI Flight Briefing (IBM Granite)

5. ML Flight Time Prediction

Quick Start

Get Your Free API Key

Python — Calculate KJFK → EGLL Distance

Python — Find All ILS Approaches at KJFK

Python — Check FAA NAS Delays

Python — Generate an AI Flight Briefing

Python — Predict Gate-to-Gate Flight Time

JavaScript (Node.js)

cURL

Response Schemas

Distance

Navaid

FAA Delays

Use Cases

Related Repositories

GitHub Topics

Part of SkyLink API — The All-In-One Aviation Data API

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Aviation Utilities API — Distance, Navaids, FAA Delays, AI Briefing & ML Predictions

Endpoints Covered

1. Distance & Bearing Calculator

2. Navigation Aids Database (Navaids)

3. FAA Ground Delays & NAS Status

4. AI Flight Briefing (IBM Granite)

5. ML Flight Time Prediction

Quick Start

Get Your Free API Key

Python — Calculate KJFK → EGLL Distance

Python — Find All ILS Approaches at KJFK

Python — Check FAA NAS Delays

Python — Generate an AI Flight Briefing

Python — Predict Gate-to-Gate Flight Time

JavaScript (Node.js)

cURL

Response Schemas

Distance

Navaid

FAA Delays

Use Cases

Related Repositories

GitHub Topics

Part of SkyLink API — The All-In-One Aviation Data API

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