OpenSky MCP for AI. Track live aircraft states or analyze historical flight paths.
Gemini Works with every AI agent you already use
…and any MCP-compatible client
How this MCP server connects to your AI agent
OpenSky provides access to global flight tracking data. Your AI agent can pull real-time aircraft state vectors, map historical flight trajectories, and analyze airport traffic patterns.
Use it to monitor cargo movements, track specific planes by ICAO24, or check arrival/departure logs for any major hub.
What AI agents can do with OpenSky Automation
Get flights by aircraft
Gets the historical flight record for one specific aircraft using its ICAO identifier.
Get flights all
Retrieves a list of all flights that occurred within a specified date and time range.
Get flights by arrival
Fetches records of all flights that landed at a particular airport during a given period.
Get current state vectors (altitude, velocity, position) for planes globally or within a defined geographic box.
Retrieve the complete sequence of coordinates and data points that define a specific aircraft's route.
Pull comprehensive logs detailing all flights within a specified time window or across multiple criteria.
Fetch records of planes arriving at or departing from any major international airport using its ICAO code.
Limit historical flight data retrieval to track one specific aircraft using its unique identifier (ICAO24).
Ask an AI about this
Waiting for input…
What AI agents can do with OpenSky MCP Server: 6 Tools for Aviation Data
Use these tools to query air traffic logs, live positions, and detailed flight paths. The data feeds directly into your AI agent's workflow.
Make your AI actually useful.
Add this MCP to Claude, Cursor, or Windsurf and your AI stops guessing. It gets real tools to look things up, take action, and handle the stuff you keep doing by hand.
Start using OpenSky on VinkiusGet Flights By Aircraft
Gets the historical flight record for one specific aircraft using its ICAO identifier.
Get Flights All
Retrieves a list of all flights that occurred within a specified date and time range.
Get Flights By Arrival
Fetches records of all flights that landed at a particular airport during a given...
Get Flights By Departure
Retrieves logs for all flights that took off from a specific airport over time.
Get States
Pulls current or near-real-time data points on an aircraft's location, velocity, and...
Get Tracks
Maps the entire path and sequence of coordinates for one specific flight over its duration.
Security and governance baked right in.
Pick your AI client below to get set up. Just create a Vinkius account, subscribe, and you're instantly up and running. We handle the entire backend infrastructure, delivering out-of-the-box support for HTTPS Streamable, SSE, and OAuth2—zero messy routing required.
Claude AI
Open Claude Settings
Go to claude.ai, click your profile icon, then navigate to Customize → Connectors.
Add Custom Connector
Click the "+" button and select Add custom connector. Paste your Vinkius endpoint URL:
https://edge.vinkius.com/[YOUR_TOKEN_HERE]/mcp
Replace [YOUR_TOKEN_HERE] with your token
from cloud.vinkius.com. For OAuth-protected servers, expand
Advanced settings to add credentials.
Start a conversation
Open a new chat. The OpenSky integration is available immediately — no restart needed.
Choose How to Get Started
Build a custom MCP for your own tools, or connect a ready-made integration from our catalog.
Build Your Own
Turn any API into an MCP. Import a spec, define Agent Skills, or deploy with MCPFusion.
- Import from OpenAPI, Swagger, or YAML specs
- Create Agent Skills with progressive disclosure
- Deploy to edge with MCPFusion framework
- Built in DLP, auth, and compliance on every call
- Real time usage dashboard and cost metering
- Publish to catalog or keep private
Make Your AI Do More
Start with OpenSky, then connect any of our 5,100+ other servers whenever your AI needs more. One click, no limits.
- Use this MCP plus 5,100+ others, all in one place
- Add new capabilities to your AI anytime you want
- Every connection is secured and compliant automatically
- Track usage and costs across all your servers
- Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and more
- New servers added to the catalog every week
Independent Platform Disclaimer: Vinkius is an independent platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, verified by, or otherwise authorized by OpenSky Network. All third-party trademarks, logos, and brand names are the property of their respective owners. Their use on this website is strictly for informational purposes to identify service compatibility and interoperability.
VINKIUS INFRASTRUCTURE
Cloud Hosted
Managed infra
V8 Isolated
Sandboxed per request
Zero-Trust Proxy
No stored credentials
DLP Enforced
Policy on every call
GDPR Compliant
EU data residency
Token Compression
~60% cost reduction
Built on the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and more
The Model Context Protocol standardizes how applications expose capabilities to LLMs. Instead of operating in isolation, your AI gains direct access to external platforms, live data, and real-world actions through secure, standardized connections.
This connection provides 6 powerful capabilities that interface natively with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and other compatible AI platforms. No middleware. No custom integration required.
Tracking aircraft movements shouldn't feel like detective work., Solved with Vinkius AI Gateway
Before, figuring out if a plane was late meant jumping between the airport authority portal, checking old flight manifests for that day, and then manually cross-referencing a live tracking map. It required three different logins and hours of copy-pasting data to build one coherent timeline.
Now, your agent handles it all. You tell it: 'What happened with AC-123 on Tuesday?' The server runs `get_flights_by_aircraft`, pulls the entire history, maps the path using `get_tracks`, and delivers a clean log showing exactly where the deviation started.
OpenSky MCP Server: Get actionable air traffic data.
You stop manually querying separate databases for arrivals vs. departures, or running different reports just to compare a plane's current state against its past logs. The whole system integrates these functions into one API call.
It’s immediate and precise. Your AI client gets the necessary data—be it live `get_states` vectors or historical records from `get_flights_all`—in structured JSON, ready for your next step.
What your AI can actually do with this
You're dealing with global air traffic? This server connects your AI agent directly to a massive, real-time dataset of worldwide flight intelligence. You don't need specialized databases or complex APIs; your agent handles it all. It lets you pull actionable data on everything from cargo movements to specific plane routes. ### Real-Time Tracking & State Analysis
You can monitor where aircraft are right now, anywhere in the world.
Use get_states to pull current or near-real-time vectors—that means altitude, speed, and exact position—for any plane globally, or you can narrow the search down to a specific geographic box or time range. When you need to see the full journey of one jet, get_tracks maps out the entire sequence of coordinates that define its path.
Analyzing Historical Movement
When you're doing historical deep dives, your options are solid. If you need comprehensive logs for a specific window, use get_flights_all to pull every flight record within a defined date and time range. For airport activity, the server handles both ends of the trip: get_flights_by_arrival fetches records of all planes that landed at any major hub during a given period, while get_flights_by_departure gets logs for everything that took off from that same spot over time.
Focusing on Specific Aircraft
If you're tracking one specific airframe—say, following a particular cargo plane by its ICAO identifier—you can limit the historical data retrieval using get_flights_by_aircraft. This tool gives you the complete record for that single aircraft over time.
How Your Agent Uses It
Your AI client doesn't need to know which tool is best; it just needs to know what you want. When you ask, 'Show me all planes near JFK right now,' your agent identifies the intent and runs get_states. If you ask, 'What was the flight path of Delta 123 last week?' it calls get_tracks using the necessary identifiers.
The server executes the call and returns clean, structured data directly to your agent for immediate analysis. You're getting actionable intelligence on air traffic patterns and movement logs without writing a single line of SQL.
019e5d40-a9f2-711b-8d77-85d0edf15420 
Here's how it actually works
The bottom line is, your AI client turns complex aviation database calls into a simple conversational command.
First, subscribe to the OpenSky Server on Vinkius and authorize your AI client.
Next, tell your agent exactly what you need—whether it's 'the current state of AC-123' or 'all flights into JFK last week.'
The agent executes the appropriate tool (like get_states or get_flights_by_arrival) and gives you structured data immediately.
Who is this actually for?
This server's core user isn't an air traffic controller; it's the operations analyst or logistics manager who needs deep data insights without waiting for IT to build custom dashboards. If you spend time cross-referencing flight logs, airport manifests, and live tracking feeds across different systems, this is for you.
Uses get_flights_by_arrival to check if incoming cargo shipments are delayed or rerouted. They need real-time status updates and historical patterns.
Runs large-scale trend analysis using get_flights_all to find correlations between weather, time of year, and flight volume across multiple continents.
Uses get_tracks and get_states to model optimal air routes or investigate specific incidents by mapping precise historical paths.
What Changes When You Connect
Real-time visibility: Use get_states to instantly know where a plane is—altitude, speed, and position vectors. No more relying on manual radar feeds for status checks.
Deep log analysis: Need to compare year-over-year traffic? Run get_flights_all across massive time ranges to quantify industry trends without complex SQL queries.
Targeted searches: If you only care about one plane, use get_flights_by_aircraft. It filters out all the noise and gives you a clean history for that single airframe.
Airport traffic flow: Monitoring congestion is simple. Use get_flights_by_arrival or get_flights_by_departure to quickly assess an airport's current operational load by ICAO code.
Path reconstruction: The get_tracks tool reconstructs the exact journey of a flight, giving you granular data points for route analysis—essential for incident investigation.
See it in action
Investigating a delayed cargo shipment
The logistics manager needs to know why Cargo-X is late. They ask their agent, which runs get_flights_by_aircraft using the plane's ICAO24. The agent pulls the historical log and determines the delay started 3 hours ago near JFK, pinpointing the exact time of deviation.
Modeling optimal flight corridors
A data scientist needs to find the best path between two cities avoiding known weather zones. They use get_tracks on multiple sample flights and run get_states over a geographic bounding box, letting the agent compare hundreds of potential coordinates.
Checking airport capacity limits
The operations analyst needs to know if an airport can handle peak traffic. They use get_flights_by_arrival and get_flights_by_departure for the last week, aggregating the counts by hour to spot bottlenecks.
Global trend spotting
A market researcher wants to see if flight activity increased in Asia after a policy change. They run get_flights_all, filtering by specific Asian airports and expanding the time window, yielding data that proves or disproves their hypothesis.
The honest tradeoffs
Asking for live status using historical tools
The user asks: 'What is the current state of AC-123?' but only runs get_flights_all. The tool fails because it's designed to pull logs, not real-time vectors.
You need live data. Use the dedicated function: get_states. This tool is built specifically for retrieving current or near-real-time position and velocity data.
Mixing up departure and arrival logs
The user tries to check all planes in an airport using a mix of tools, leading to inconsistent counts. They might forget if the flight was logged as 'departed' or 'arrived.'
If you want all traffic at one hub, run both get_flights_by_arrival and get_flights_by_departure. Then, your agent can combine the resulting data sets for a complete picture.
Over-relying on general searches
The user tries to filter by both aircraft AND airport in one query. While possible, it's inefficient and might fail if the tools are run sequentially.
For maximum specificity, first use get_flights_by_aircraft to pull all logs for that plane, then filter those results using your agent against the target airport code.
When It Fits, When It Doesn't
Use this server if you need quantitative data about air movement. You're looking at historical records or current positions—not qualitative summaries.
Must use OpenSky when: 1) You track cargo movements (use get_flights_by_aircraft). 2) You assess airport congestion (run get_flights_by_arrival and get_flights_by_departure). 3) You need live positions (always use get_states).
Don't use this if: You just want a general sense of global traffic. For that, you might prefer a simple mapping service or a generalized dashboard tool. If your goal is simply 'is the sky clear?', OpenSky isn't for it—it only handles measurable data points.
Questions you might have
How do I find out where a plane is right now using get_states? +
You use get_states. Just include the necessary parameters like the aircraft's ICAO24 or a bounding box, and the server returns its real-time position, altitude, and velocity vectors.
Can get_flights_by_arrival handle multiple airports? +
No. get_flights_by_arrival requires you to specify one airport's ICAO code per call. If you need multiple airports, run the tool once for each location and combine the results in your agent.
What is the difference between get_flights_all and get_states? +
This is key: get_states gives you a snapshot of right now (or near-real-time). get_flights_all pulls logs for an entire time block, showing activity over days or weeks.
How do I track the route of one plane using get_tracks? +
You pass the unique aircraft ID (ICAO24) to get_tracks. The tool returns a sequence of coordinates, which you can then plot or analyze for specific phases like climb or descent.
How do I limit my search area when running get_states? +
You use a geographic bounding box to narrow the results. Instead of querying globally, you pass min/max latitude and longitude parameters into the tool call. This drastically cuts down on data volume and focuses your analysis on a specific region.
What do I need to know about rate limits when using get_states? +
If you hit default API limits, your agent will receive an error code. For consistent high-volume queries, enter your OpenSky credentials during setup. This raises your quota and ensures reliable access for large data processing tasks.
What parameters should I use with get_flights_by_aircraft to retrieve a full year of records? +
You must specify precise start and end dates, including the time zone offset. The tool pulls detailed log entries for that aircraft across the entire period, giving you a complete historical movement profile, not just a summary.
What data does get_flights_by_departure return besides the flight ID? +
It returns the scheduled departure time, destination ICAO code, and carrier information. This is crucial for logistics planning because it gives context to why a plane was supposed to leave that airport at that specific time.
How can I see all planes currently flying over a specific area? +
Use the get_states tool and provide the geographic bounding box using lamin, lomin, lamax, and lomax parameters. The agent will return all active aircraft within those coordinates.
Can I track the exact path a flight took yesterday? +
Yes. First, identify the aircraft's ICAO24 address, then use the get_tracks tool with the specific timestamp to retrieve the full trajectory points of that flight.
Is it possible to list all flights that arrived at London Heathrow (EGLL) today? +
Absolutely. Use the get_flights_by_arrival tool, entering 'EGLL' as the airport and providing the Unix timestamps for the start and end of the day.
We've already built the connector for OpenSky. Just plug in your AI agents and start using Vinkius.
No hosting. No infrastructure. No complex setup.
All 6 tools are live and waiting.
You're up and running in seconds.
Gemini Vinkius gives your AI agents access to the full catalog of app connectors, all fully managed, secure, and enterprise-ready. One subscription, every tool you need.
Built, hosted, and secured by Vinkius. You just connect and go.