Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the questions readers ask most often about the dataset, the page structure, and the limits of working from a public flight-route snapshot.
Where does the data on this site come from?
Every airport, airline, and route on AeroRoute Guide is built from a snapshot of the OpenFlights public database. The source files are airports.dat, airlines.dat, and routes.dat, all distributed under the Open Database License. The current snapshot has 6,071 airports with IATA codes, 983 active airlines, and 66,934 scheduled routes across 235 countries.
Is the route information live?
No. OpenFlights is a community-maintained snapshot, not a real-time feed. Treat the directory as a slowly changing reference: it shows which carrier codes have historically operated each city pair, not whether a specific flight runs tomorrow. Always confirm schedules and fares with the airline before you book.
What does the "operators on file" count actually measure?
It is the number of distinct airline-route entries in the OpenFlights routes table for that pair. So if four different carriers file the JFK to LAX route, the count is four. It is not a count of weekly flights, daily departures, or available seats. Read it as a relative signal of how well-served a market is.
Why is JFK shown in New York and not in New Jersey?
We assign US airports to states using each airport's latitude and longitude. For most of the country, finding the nearest state centroid works fine. For airports that sit close to a state line (JFK, LGA, DCA, IAD, MCI, MEM, PHL, EWR), we use a hand-checked override against the FAA and airport authority records so the page lines up with the legal location.
I see two different airports with the same city name. Why?
Cities with multiple commercial airports get one page per airport, keyed by IATA code. New York has JFK, LGA, and EWR (Newark). London has LHR, LGW, STN, LCY, LTN, and SEN. The route detail pages always use the IATA pair so there is no ambiguity about which airport.
Why are some airlines missing?
We only include carriers with a two-character IATA code that OpenFlights marks as currently active. That leaves out cargo-only carriers without passenger IATA codes, charter operators, and many regional airlines that fly under a mainline code-share. If an airline has stopped flying since the OpenFlights snapshot, it can still show up here, which is one of the limits of working from public data.
Can I get the raw data?
Yes. The original is at openflights.org/data under the ODbL. Everything on AeroRoute Guide is derived from those files plus a seed script that builds JSON indexes. If you want to reuse the data, go to the source so you get the canonical version.
Do you book flights, sell tickets, or take commissions?
No. AeroRoute Guide is a reference directory. There is no booking engine, no fare lookup, and no affiliate links in the body content. Outbound links in the "Related Resources" sidebar point to public reference sites and are marked rel="nofollow".
How often is the data refreshed?
OpenFlights publishes updates on its own schedule. We re-run the seed script when a new snapshot is worth pulling. The "Last updated" stamp at the top of the privacy page reflects the most recent rebuild; per-page dateModified in the structured data reflects the current build date.
I found a mistake. How do I report it?
Email the address on the contact page with the URL of the page and what you think is wrong. If the issue is in the upstream OpenFlights data, the right fix is to file it against OpenFlights so the correction flows through to everyone who uses the dataset.
Still stuck?
If your question is not covered, the about page has more on methodology and the contact page has an email address for corrections.