Major FlightAware Upgrade Released

Good evening from FlightAware.

FlightAware engineers deployed a major new release of flight tracking software and the FlightAware infrastructure this evening. This new release represents over two years of development and will allow incredible improvements in functionality, performance, and reliability. Coincidentally, this release falls on FlightAware’s third birthday – on this day in 2005, FlightAware formed as a three man company and began developing software to revolutionize flight tracking. Today, FlightAware serves over two million flight tracking requests per day with computer data centers across the country and corporate offices in Houston and New York City.

There are a few features that users should notice:

  • FlightAware.com will now show the next flight as the “current” flight if it is likely to be more relevant than the last flight. Previously, FlightAware would never display a flight that hadn’t departed yet. For example, if an aircraft’s last flight was 12 hours ago and there’s a filed flight for 30 minutes, it’s likely that the future flight is more interesting.

  • FlightAware now offers airline schedules well in advance of the 30 minute - 2 hour window previously displayed. Users can view airline schedules many hours before a flight is scheduled to depart.

  • FlightAware is now projecting estimated departure times for many flights. This feature is in beta, but users can expect to see the EDT amended based on traffic, weather, and other conditions. When viewing a future flight, FlightAware may announce a delay such as “(Delayed about 29 minutes)” for a yet-to depart flight.

  • The “Activity Log” will now display several more flights so that users don’t have to click “More Past Flights” as much.

Much more is on the horizon in the very near future as we continue to change the world of flight tracking and aircraft operations.

Thank you for using FlightAware.