Airports at the end of the year are a special place. Everyone is tired, slightly overpacked, and emotionally invested in being somewhere else. It’s no wonder filmmakers keep returning to aviation as the perfect setting for drama and heartfelt reunions.
The Flightradar24 Cinephile Division brings you a smorgasbord of airport adjacent movies to binge watch as 2025 comes to an end. We also imagine how access to Flightradar24 would have impacted the plot (or even being) of these flicks.
Dim the lights please!
The Terminal (2004)
Right out of the gate (ha!), we have The Terminal. Tom Hanks makes a brave attempt (I’m feeling generous) at portraying Viktor Navorski, who famously spent months living inside JFK, watching aircraft come and go while his own situation remained firmly delayed. A New Year’s Eve passes, underscoring just how long he’s been stranded. One can only imagine Viktor discovering Flightradar24, gazing with envy at all those flights leaving, just not with him aboard.
Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990)
Then there’s Die Hard 2: Die Harder (the tag line is PURE cinema), where Washington Dulles descends into holiday chaos, of the more sinister variety one should add. Bruce Willis once again steps into the shoes of John McClane, who has a stroke of luck with traffic and manages to pick up his wife at Dulles, and then return to their house, drama-free and with time to spare. Really? Duh, of course not! There are tech-savvy terrorists impersonating ATC, crashing aircraft and all kinds of bad things happening. Poor John.
If this had been made in 2025, McClane would have followed his wife’s inbound flight using Flightradar24, and perhaps stayed at home once the painful delays were obvious. Less suspense, fewer explosions — admittedly not great for action cinema.
Airport (1970)
The 1970 classic Airport leans heavily on the tension created by winter weather shutting down Chicago O’Ha… sorry, uhm, that would be Lincoln International Airport (huh?). As if a crippling snowstorm wouldn’t be enough, creative forces chose to include a demolition expert on the bend, a pregnant stewardess and one very stressed airport manager. Oh, and both (!) Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin are in it—”hubba, hubba”!
Flights stack up, tempers flare, and everyone desperately wants answers that no one can provide. These days, a quick look at airport traffic flow and weather would explain everything, dramatically reducing both panic and runtime.
Love Actually (2003)
Last but not least, an honorable mention to everyone’s (don’t deny it) favorite rom-com movie Love Actually. It’s not an aviation movie per se, but Heathrow’s arrivals hall steals the show as the year (and movie) comes to a close. We chose to watch this scene in particular, imagining how everyone appears so relaxed as they have utilized a certain app and not shown up at Heathrow arrivals four hours early “just to be sure”. No drama, hassle-free. Must be the Flightradar24 effect, right?
Bring out the popcorn
We can conclude that directors probably should continue their practice of avoiding letting leading characters use Flightradar24. It obviously doesn’t make for great cinema. As most of us however don’t live our lives on the big screen, let’s all take a moment to reflect on how Flightradar24 helps create less stressful visits to the airport. Regardless of the time of the year, I should add.
From all of us at Flightradar24—have a Happy New Year.
Roll credits, please.
10 Responses
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‘Sully’ would be my choice.
The last scene of “For Love of the Game” would be my choice for last scene. Baseball, romance and kissing in the airport as other just walk by……classic.
Sully please
The scene from Love Actually is wonderful – if you want a feel good experience just go to the arrivals area of a major airport and wait for flights to come in and people to exit – it is heart warming to watch the many ways people greet each other and (mostly) very uplifting!!
The Shepherd
Staring John Travolta
It’s a good short Xmas movie
Ooooh. You didn’t warn readership that the writers of Die Hard 2 woke up from a long sleep that started in 1896, had never heard the words “airport”, “airplane”, “radio” or “ILS” and know precisely zero about how any of them work. If you enjoy the comedic value of gross incompetence in writing, you can’t beat this movie for its pathetic lack of….well, pretty much everything. But it has planes, Bruce Willis and explosions, so what the heck!
Is their any without language and 14 or younger
A Matter Of Life And Death
An oldie but a classic
Wait for the twist at the end
Surely Airplane (called Flying High in Australia for some reason – does anybody know why?) I and II.
Satire of Airport and many other films still hilarious to this day. Should be on all airline classic films lists.
Assume the crash position!