API Crafting Secrets: Into Flightstats APIs

Flightstats APIs are powerful, precise and concise. They are designed for ease of use with REST, supporting JSON, JSONP, XML formats as well as SOAP. FlightStats® Flex APIs can receive replies to their API requests in English, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, German, and French.

Interview with David White, who joined FlightStats in 2007 and serves as the Chief Customer Officer. In this role, David works with key customers, content providers, and channel partners, and insures all are properly represented in product and development plans.

Tell us more about the development process of Flightstats APIs
Development is on-going in support of our suite of APIs. We’ve been at this since 2003. We use an agile development process and a unique versioning process.

What are the key components of your core API infrastructure?
PostgresSQL, MongoDB, Java, Apache Tomcat, JAX-RS

What drove your choices in terms of technology and infrastructure?
Necessary qualities include low latency worldwide, scalability, reliability and security.

What proxy are you using for your API and why?
NGINX, HAProxy

What are the specificities of your API?
It depends on which API is being used. Include flight information, date/time range, response language desired, airport code, geo-code, amongst others.

How can developers get a better taste of what your API does
Developers are welcome to partake of our free evaluation account with access to production data by signing up at http://developer.flightstats.com
Documentation is open to the public. Registration is required to use the ActiveDocs.

Any roadmap/evolution plan that you can share with us?
We’re moving our services to the cloud, building out a lot of alerting services, and integrating complementary third party data.

We are building out a lot of alerting services, and integrating complementary third party data.

FlightStats is a leading provider of day-of-travel data services and applications to the travel industry and traveling public. The company delivers real-time global flight tracking and airport data services that power many of the world’s most popular travel applications.