Every Christmas, millions of aviation enthusiasts and excited children around the world turn their attention to Flightradar24 to track one very special flight. This year was no exception. Secretive as always, Santa shared his flightplan with us via Telex (used once yearly at the office) at the last minute, announcing his immediate departure at 08:00 UTC, on December 23rd.
Santa tracked by millions on Flightradar24
After a brief warm up run over the North Pole, flight SANTA1 (using the callsign R3DN053) began his trip, flying east for a surprise stop in Riovanemi, Finland. During the next day and a half, Santa traversed the entire globe—including a brief stop in Antarctica (reportedly for reindeer refueling). As many anxious children (and adults) expressed concerns over potential collisions during his hectic flight—we can reveal that Santa maintained a steady cruise altitude of FL600, effectively creating a safe vertical buffer margin to regular commercial operations by about 20,000 feet.
When his sleigh finally registered “weight-on-hooves” for the last time during this year’s run at 15:45 UTC on December 25th, the automatic data transmission sent via ACARS revealed some truly impressive numbers.
Flightradar24 recorded more than 33 million follows to track Santa’s global journey, with a peak of close to 200,000 simultaneous trackers watching his annual gift run live. We conclude that major breaking news events and geopolitical incidents have nothing on Santa. This year, we also live streamed Santa’s journey on our Youtube channel. More than 320,000 people chose this alternative over the tried-and-true crackle and pop from a streamed fireplace.
Santa's sleigh—a one-of-a-kind aircraft
Santa’s sleigh continues to hold its place as the most remarkable aircraft in our database. The vintage nine-engine Rangifer tarandus, registered as HOHOHO, is officially recognized by the ICAO with type designation SLEI—making it the only sleigh certified for international airspace operations.
At an impressive 1,755 years old, it also by far remains the oldest active airframe in the world, yet it maintains an impeccable safety record. The sleigh’s nine powerplants (eight traditional Rangifer tarandus units, plus the famous ninth nose-mounted system installed in 1982) continue to operate flawlessly thanks to year-round maintenance by Santa’s dedicated team of sleigh mechanics and reindeer powerplant specialists.
The world reacts to Santa’s ride on Flightradar24
With Santa’s actual home being the subject of many heated debates, we were not surprised to receive correspondence from multiple concerned citizens, one claiming to represent the entire population of Finland:
“(…) we have noticed that Flight Radar mistakenly displays the “North Pole” as the departure site of Santa’s sleigh. Please be advised, that some Finnish would be flabbergasted by this tremendous mistake. Santa’s transponder information should be correct(ed) as Santa has been filmed leaving from Lapland, Finland since 1965. The issue seems to be at your end. Santa’s reindeers may also be confused, as they are mistakenly believed to be in another location that they truly are, and this is a very serious threat to the safety of the airspace of the areas concerned”.
Flightradar24 wants to cool the debate, simply stating that we relay the information provided to us by Santa’s ADS-B transponder. In the spirit of true transparency, our engineers found no indications of foul play—such as GPS jamming.
Other users contacting our support department were caught off-guard by Santa’s appearance on Flightradar24, even committing the cardinal sin of questioning the authenticity of the world’s most famous gift giver:
“Is Santa actually on the radar? Because I spotted it. Is this real or fake?”
“I like the Santa tracking. Is it real or is it made up?”
Questions like this frankly confuse us the most. Because of course Santa does exist. Absolutely. No doubt about it.
Right?
Gearing up for 2026
As Santa’s sleigh returned safely to the North Pole after another successful mission, the workshop team is already preparing for next year’s journey. The reindeer are resting, the sleigh is undergoing its post-flight inspection, and toy production for Christmas 2026 has already begun. We’ll be ready to track SANTA1 once again on Flightradar24 next December.
Until then, we wish you all a Happy New Year!
8 Responses
Santa lives in Finland. True story.
Absolutely
Santa come to Georgia
Zweifel an der Existenz des Weihnachtsmanns ?
Was müssen das für arme Existenzen sein…
I love to follow Santa
Santa Claus flies from Warsaw to Rovaniemi with LOT Polish Airlines B737-8MAX as scheduled ❄️☃️😉
Keep up with your good work for the sake of All the young children
Génial merci infiniment et au plaisir de le revoir en 2026