Flight tracking top 10 hotspots

Use our top 10 guide to find out about the areas of the world that see some of the most flight tracking activity, and learn why these places draw so much interest.

Blog > Flight tracking top 10 hotspots

1 Ukrainian Airspace

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainian airspace has been closed to commercial and private traffic. Flights close to the border in neighboring countries, such as Poland and Moldova are some of the most tracked flights on Flightradar24. Users are keen to track aid shipments and VIP transport near the border of Ukraine, as well as military reconnaissance flights along the border and over the Black Sea.

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2 North Sea Airspace

The North Sea hosts all types of aircraft activity on a daily basis, from military exercises to oil and gas platform helicopter operations. Flights to and from major airports such as London Heathrow (LHR), Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS), Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG), Brussels (BRU) and Copenhagen (CPH) feature heavily in this area. Areas of the North Sea also act as holding areas for aircraft in distress that may need to burn or jettison fuel prior to making an emergency landing in the UK, Netherlands, France or Germany.

3 Madeira

Located 669 miles to the south west of mainland Portugal is the island of Maderia which is home to Funchal Cristiano Ronaldo Airport (FNC) airport. The airport is well known for having one of the more exciting approaches, particularly when on runway 05, as the airport is located beneath large cliffs that often create turbulence from Atlantic winds and suffers from downdrafts and wind shear. This can force a lot of arriving aircraft to go-around which then impacts other inbound traffic, often causing long hold periods and diversions.

Wild landings: why Madeira is planespotter heaven >>

4 New York Airspace

With three major airports all in close proximity, New York, is one of our most tracked locations. Traffic departing and arriving from John F. Kennedy International (JFK), Newark (EWR) and La Guardia (LGA), as well as arrivals to other eastern seaboard hubs creates particularly busy airspace. One to watch out for is when the the ‘Canarsie approach’ to runway 13L is active into JFK which makes for an exciting approach tracking profile.

5 London Airspace

London is some of the busiest airspace in the world with London Heathrow (LHR) and London Gatwick (LGW) accounting for over 127 Million passengers alone in 2019. Arrivals into LHR can typically expect some landing delay with holding patterns over the likes of Lambourne, Bovingdon, Biggin and Ockham. Along with LHR and LGW the airspace includes the unique steep-approach of London City Airport (LCY) as well as Stansted (STN), Luton (LTN), Farnborough (FAB), Biggin Hill (BQH) and Northolt (NHT). Added to this is are the low-level helicopter routes in and out of the capital, all creating some of the busiest airspace in the world.

6 Greenland and the North Pole

Greenland is well known for having some of the most interesting airports and stunning approaches in the world with airports such as Nuuk (GOH), Kangerlussuaq (SFJ), Narsarsuaq (UAK) and Ilulissat (JAV) drawing particular flight tracking attention. It also benefits from having a lot of traffic which transits the airspace, often to the far north on Polar routes.

Airbus factories and facilities

As one of the largest aircraft manufacturers in the world, Airbus, have multiple facilities around the globe. From these sites we regularly see first flights, test flights, and new deliveries taking place. Three airports in particular draw flight tracking interest. The first being Toulouse (TLS) which is a final assembly facility for the A320 family, A330 and A350. The second being Hamburg Finkenwerder (XFW) which is also home to final assembly for the A320 family. The final hotspot is Hawarden (CEG) where the Airbus Beluga operates in one of its roles of transporting aircraft wings from their Airbus UK, Broughton site and the newest final assembly line in Mobile, Alabama (BFM) in the southern US.

Boeing factories and facilities

US aircraft giant, Boeing, has four sites across the US including Everett, Renton, Boeing Field and Charleston that all draw flight tracking interest. Similar to Airbus, we also see first flights, test flights and new deliveries taking place from these locations. The Everett site is located at Paine Field (PAE) which is where Boeing produces the 747, 767 and 777 aircraft. Renton (RNT) is where the 737 MAX and P-8 Poseidon is assembly with the airport lying adjacent to the factory itself. Boeing Field (BFI) is used for test flights and new deliveries with their Boeing Delivery Center facility located here. The Charleston site is where final assembly and deliveries for the 787 Dreamliner occurs and is located on the grounds of Charleston International Airport (CHS).

Boeing 777X first flight from Paine Field >>

9 Antarctica

Most flights to Antarctica carry scientists and their supplies to various airfields along the Antarctic coast. Multiple research stations operate ice runways that can accommodate large aircraft such as Boeing 767s and Ilyushin IL-76s. Australian flag carrier, Qantas (QF-QFA), runs sightseeing trips using a Boeing 787 to provide tourists with a unique view of the Antarctic landscape. Qantas also recently used favorable wind conditions to operate QF14 (EZE-DRW) over Antarctica.

Los Angeles

The airspace around Los Angeles is some of the busiest in the world. In 2019, Los Angeles (LAX) saw over 88m passengers, making it the world’s third-busiest airport. Nearby airports such as Hollywood-Burbank (BUR), John Wayne (SNA), Long Beach (LGB), Ontario (ONT) and San Bernardino (SBD) makes for incredibly congested airspace which brings a lot of attention from flight trackers. You can also often find Flightradar24 attending Dorkfest and SpotLAX each September!

SpotLAX2019 and Dorkfest Success

Useful flight tracking glossary

View our glossary of terms which you may encounter either on our site or in aviation in general that we hope enriches your flight tracking experience.