25-May-2017 – Pre-dates Cirium brand launch, Feb 2019. All references to FlightStats have been changed to Cirium.
FlightStats, now called Cirium, is excited to announce a new way to access our historical flight status data in the form of a self-service data export tool.
We realized that for some of our customers, purchasing an API is above and beyond what they need to do. Now, in addition to our Historical Flight Status API, we are offering the option for customers to download a file of historical flight status data using our self-service Historical Flight Status Data Export. This tool will put historical data right at our customer’s fingertips.
We are one of only a few data providers that can offer detailed, accurate historical flight status data and now we are the only one with a self-service data export capability. It has never been this easy to access historical flight information, and you don’t have to be a software developer to do it. Whether you’re a data analyst or a graduate student, anyone can access our historical data in a few simple steps.
Work with the most comprehensive historical data set
Our historical dataset is continuously updated as flights age out of the real-time data set, generally seven days after completion of the flight. The data stored represents the final updated status that we have for a given flight record. Today, our self-service Historical Flight Status Data Export tool includes flights back to 2006.
Historical data is important because it drives business intelligence and analytics. Innovative use of historical data can reveal valuable insights crucial for developing an effective strategy, driving better decision making and producing compelling research.
Historical Flight Status Data Exports will answer questions such as:
- Was my flight on time?
- How long was the delay?
- Was it canceled?
- What were my departure or arrival gate and terminal?
- What type of plane was used on this flight?
Access what you need in an instant
The best part about a self-service Historical Flight Status Data Export is that you can pull the data you need at any time and use it to fit your needs.
Our self-service Historical Flight Status Data Exports can support the following types of queries back to 2006:
- Historical Flight Status by Arrivals
- Historical Flight Status by Departures
- Historical Flight Status by Route
- Historical Flight Status by Departures or Arrivals
In all of these categories, you can specify by one of more airport codes, countries or regions. You can also filter the results even further by airlines, to exclude cargo or to exclude codeshare information.
After you make your query, the data will be available to download as a data file in CSV format so you can get to work immediately. No need to go through a long sales process.
Get a picture of what you’re buying
There is no gold standard against which to measure data quality, and there is no way to have perfectly accurate information. To ensure what we deliver is as accurate as possible, we handle a high sampling rate, and we multisource data. Completing our historical backfill required us to implement a sophisticated data cleansing process for our flight status information, which included cross-checking data sources, weighing the trustworthiness of our sources, and applying our industry knowledge to fill in the gaps.
Of course, the further back you in time you go, the more challenging it becomes to provide a complete picture of what happened. For this reason, we recommend purchasing a small sample of our data to see what you’re getting before investing in a larger data set. Our tool also includes metrics to help you understand our coverage of the data and how much the data will cost, so you know exactly what you’re buying before you download. If you’re purchasing more than 100,000 rows of data, then a custom export request would be required instead of a self-service download.
How to download historical data
To get started, you must sign in or create a FlightStats by Cirium account on FlightStats.com to access our self-service tool and follow this simple process to generate a new data export:
- Select Export Type. Choose your type of historical flight data export: by departures, by arrivals, by departures or arrivals, or by route.
- Select Criteria. Select the airports, countries, or regions you are interested in accessing. Filter results even further by airlines or excluding cargo and codeshare information.
- Get a Quote. Our price quote includes number of rows returned and coverage statistics about the departure and arrival criteria requested.
- Purchase Data. Enter your credit card information to purchase the requested data file.
- Download Data. The data export will take a few minutes. You will be notified via email once the export is complete and ready to download.
