FlightAware
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Provided by: FlightAware|Published on: April 27, 2021
Data, Graphs, and Maps
Scientist Reviewed
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This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- This interactive map shows all airborne aircraft around the world.
- Students can browse this data by airport, operator, or aircraft type.

Subjects: Geography
Authors: FlightAware
Region: North America, USA - Northeast, United States, Global, New Jersey
Languages: English
Teaching Materials
Positives
- This interactive map shows the scale of global aviation.
Prerequisites
- Students can zoom in and click on individual airports to see arrivals and departures.
Differentiation & Implementation
- Math students could analyze this data. Example questions you can use with your students include:
- What percentage of global flights are in a Boeing 737?
- What percentage of global flights are JetBlue and United?
- Students can explore another interactive map called Airport Tracker, which shows carbon emissions from the 1,300 largest airports around the world.
- Students can explore the true cost of aviation by reading this information page from the Stay Grounded Network.
- Students can explore the negative effects of aviation noise pollution in this scientific article.
Air travel accounts for roughly 2% of all human-caused carbon emissions. But because planes are relatively small (when compared to the Earth), flying very high up, and land and take-off in centralized locations, it is often difficult to understand the scope of human air travel on a daily basis. This website lets students visualize the over 100,000 flights that occur daily. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
Learn about our review process →

