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If you build apps that touch the sky—flight trackers, pre-flight planners, aviation weather tools, or anything in between—SkyLink API v3 is the upgrade you have been waiting for. The new version doesn't just polish existing endpoints; it introduces entire new capability areas: machine-learning predictions, AI-generated briefings, aerodrome charts, advanced airport search, NOTAMs, and a massive aircraft registration database. Here is a complete breakdown of what's new, what's changed, and why v3 should be the foundation of every new aviation integration.
What Is SkyLink API?
SkyLink API is a RESTful aviation data platform built for developers. It aggregates real-time and reference data from sources worldwide—ADS-B feeds, METAR/TAF stations, airport databases, and more—and exposes them through a single, consistent API. The platform covers 50,000+ airports across 200+ countries, guarantees 99.99% uptime from Swiss-hosted infrastructure, and starts completely free at 1,000 requests per month.
v2 established the core: weather, airport info, flight status, schedules, and live ADS-B tracking. v3 is a strict superset of that foundation—every v2 endpoint still works under the /v3 prefix—but extends the platform into territory that previously required multiple third-party providers or expensive data licenses.
What's New in v3
Advanced Airport Search
Airport lookup in v2 was limited to ICAO or IATA code lookups. v3 expands this dramatically with three new search modes backed by a database of 74,000+ airports:
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/v3/airports/search/location— find airports within a radius of any lat/lon coordinate. -
/v3/airports/search/ip— geolocate any IP address and return nearby airports automatically. -
/v3/airports/search/text— free-text search with relevance ranking, so users can type a city or airport name and get accurate results.
These endpoints are a game-changer for consumer apps that need to show contextual airport data without asking users to know ICAO codes.
Aerodrome Charts
v3 introduces a dedicated charts API covering SID, STAR, approach, ground, and general charts for airports across 91 countries. Call /v3/charts/{icao} to get all chart PDFs for an airport, or narrow down with /v3/charts/{icao}/{category} using one of the category codes: GEN, GND, SID, STAR, or APP. A /v3/charts/sources endpoint lists every supported country. This feature alone replaces expensive chart subscriptions for many use-cases.
Expanded Weather Data
The weather module grows significantly in v3. Beyond METAR and TAF (which remain unchanged), you now get:
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Winds Aloft (
/v3/weather/winds-aloft/{icao}) — FB winds at nine standard altitudes for US airports, essential for flight planning and performance calculations. -
PIREPs (
/v3/weather/pireps/{icao}) — real pilot reports of turbulence, icing, and in-flight weather conditions, worldwide. -
AIRMET/SIGMET (
/v3/weather/airsigmet/{icao}) — hazardous weather advisories covering areas from mountain waves to severe turbulence and volcanic ash.
Together, these endpoints provide the full meteorological picture needed for a serious pre-flight weather briefing.
Aircraft Database & Enhanced ADS-B
v3 ships with a searchable aircraft registration database of 615,000+ aircraft. You can look up any aircraft by tail number with /v3/aircraft/registration/{reg} or by ICAO24 hex address with /v3/aircraft/icao24/{hex}. Responses include manufacturer, model, operator, and optional photos.
The ADS-B endpoints also gain a new toggle to include aircraft photos alongside live position data, making it much easier to build visually rich flight tracking interfaces.
NOTAMs and FAA Delay Data
Operational awareness gets a dedicated endpoint group. /v3/notams/{icao} returns live Notices to Air Missions via the FAA SWIM FNS feed, worldwide. For US operations, /v3/delays/faa and /v3/delays/faa/{icao} surface active ground delays, ground stops, closures, and AFP programs directly from the FAA NAS.
ML-Powered Flight Time Estimation
One of the most distinctive v3 additions is the machine-learning flight time endpoint at /v3/ml/flight-time. Trained on real-world flight data, the model uses a GradientBoosting algorithm with route deviation awareness to predict gate-to-gate flight times more accurately than simple great-circle calculations. It's useful for itinerary builders, OTA platforms, and any app that needs realistic duration estimates.
AI-Generated Flight Briefings
/v3/briefing/flight produces structured, AI-generated pre-flight briefings that synthesize weather data, NOTAMs, and PIREPs into a readable summary. Instead of parsing several raw data feeds yourself, you get a coherent operational picture in a single API call—useful for pilot apps, dispatch tools, and automated notification systems.
Improved Flight Operations Endpoints
The existing flight status and schedules endpoints also received meaningful improvements in v3. Flight status now handles both IATA and ICAO flight number formats and performs automatic conversion between them. Schedules add historical data, a timestamp parameter for querying specific times, and several status display fixes.
A new /v3/distance endpoint calculates great-circle distance, bearing, and midpoint between any two airports—handy for route planning features.
v2 vs v3 at a Glance
All v2 endpoints continue to work unchanged. v3 adds winds aloft, PIREPs, AIRMET/SIGMET, location/IP/text airport search, aerodrome charts, distance calculations, aircraft registration lookup, NOTAMs, FAA delays, ML flight time estimation, and AI briefings. If you are starting a new integration, use v3 from day one.
Getting Started
SkyLink API is available on RapidAPI. The free Basic tier includes 1,000 requests per month with no credit card required—enough to prototype any of the new v3 features. Paid plans start at $15.99/month for 5,000 requests, scaling up to 200,000 requests per month on the Mega tier, with custom enterprise plans available for higher volumes.
# Get a full METAR for JFK
curl -H "X-RapidAPI-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
YOUR_API_BASE_URL/v3/weather/metar/KJFK
# Find airports near a coordinate
curl -H "X-RapidAPI-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
"YOUR_API_BASE_URL/v3/airports/search/location?lat=40.64&lon=-73.78&radius=50"
# ML-estimated flight time
curl -H "X-RapidAPI-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
"YOUR_API_BASE_URL/v3/ml/flight-time?origin=KJFK&destination=EGLL"
Full documentation, endpoint references, and the interactive API playground are available at skylinkapi.com/docs. v3 is marked STABLE and is the recommended version for all new integrations.
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