Flight tracker — follow any flight live

Use the free flight tracker above to follow any flight above the UK and Ireland in real time. Click an aircraft on the map, or search any flight number in the world, and the tracker shows a photo, its route with progress and time to go, altitude, speed, aircraft type and registration, and a profile of altitude and speed that builds up while you watch.

Three ways to find a flight

By flight number: click the search icon and type the number from the booking or airline app, for example EZY882. By airport: open the airport page, such as Manchester or Heathrow, and watch traffic around that airport, or check its live arrivals and departures boards. By looking: press the Above me button, allow your location, and the radar lists the nearest aircraft; or zoom in on your own location and click whatever is flying overhead.

What the tracker shows

For every flight you can see the origin and destination, the scheduled and estimated times, the current position on the route, ground speed and altitude, and the aircraft type and registration. Data comes from ADS-B transponder broadcasts, picked up by a network of ADS-B receivers plus our own receiver and refreshed roughly every 12 seconds; between updates the aircraft move smoothly along their course.

When a flight tracker is useful

Picking someone up? Track the inbound flight and leave home at the right moment. The arrivals boards show the expected landing time, and the map shows exactly where the aircraft is. Waiting for a delayed flight? The tracker shows whether the aircraft for your flight has even arrived at the departure airport yet. Plane spotting? Press the Above me button for a list of the nearest aircraft, or search a type such as 747 to highlight only those. The profile tab shows the flight path in altitude and speed while you watch, and the day and night shading tells you where the light is.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an app? No. This tracker runs in the browser on any device. See also our page on using this site as an app.

Can I see where a flight was yesterday? The map shows live traffic only, but click an aircraft and open the Previous tab: it lists the flights that aircraft flew over the past 10 days, from our own log, free of charge. The log covers what our own receiver network has seen, mainly over Europe; full historical route maps are not available.