Our Australia flight radar puts every tracked aircraft across the continent on one live map, from the jets shuttling between Sydney and Melbourne to the Qantas service leaving Perth for London. Tap a plane to see its flight number, airline, route, height and speed. It is free, opens in your browser on a computer or mobile, and needs no app or account.
On this page
Opening the live map
- Press Start Flight Radar in the box above. A brief rewarded ad plays, then the map loads.
- Drag the view across to Australia and zoom in on your state, city or suburb. On a mobile, pinch with two fingers.
- Select any aircraft icon to open its details panel and the path it has flown so far.
Our step-by-step flight radar guide explains searching and filtering in more detail.
Australia flight radar: major airports at a glance
Most of the country's air traffic funnels through a handful of capital-city airports:
| Airport | IATA | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney Kingsford Smith | SYD | Australia's busiest airport. A curfew runs from 11pm to 6am, so jet movements around Sydney thin out sharply overnight. |
| Melbourne | MEL | The southern end of the Sydney–Melbourne corridor, one of the busiest domestic routes in the world. |
| Brisbane | BNE | Main gateway for south-east Queensland, mixing domestic, Pacific and Asian services. |
| Perth | PER | Western gateway and the departure point for Qantas's nonstop flights to London. |
| Adelaide | ADL | The principal airport for South Australia. |
| Gold Coast | OOL | A holiday favourite, with plenty of leisure traffic from the southern capitals. |
| Canberra | CBR | Serves the national capital, with frequent links to Sydney and Melbourne. |
| Cairns | CNS | Gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and tropical far north Queensland. |
Australian registrations start with VH-. In flight numbers, QF means Qantas, VA is Virgin Australia, JQ is Jetstar and ZL is Rex.
Coverage from the coast to the outback
Australian airspace is managed by Airservices Australia and covers an enormous area. Around the capitals and along the eastern seaboard, ground receivers sit close together, so aircraft are normally followed from take-off to cruising level.
Inland the picture changes. The outback has huge distances and very few receivers, so a plane crossing the Nullarbor or the Red Centre may update less often or show an estimated track. Satellite data fills many of those gaps.
Low-level flying is the hardest to catch. Royal Flying Doctor Service aircraft can sometimes be seen, but near remote airstrips they often drop out of range until they climb again.
What plane is flying over me?
Heard a jet over the backyard or noticed a contrail at sunset? Searching for "flights over me"? Here is the quickest answer:
- Launch the map and centre it on where you are standing.
- Find the icon moving in the same direction as the aircraft in the sky.
- Tap it to reveal the airline, aircraft type and route.
Low, slow traffic near a capital city is usually landing or has just departed. Fast traffic high above with a white trail is in cruise, perhaps an interstate jet or a service bound for Asia. No match? It may be a helicopter, a military aircraft or below receiver coverage.
Track a flight before you head to arrivals
Collecting someone at Mascot or Tullamarine? A live flight tracker shows where the aircraft actually is.
- Find it by number. Use the code on the booking, such as a QF, VA or JQ flight, or zoom along the route and pick the matching aircraft.
- Time your drive. Set off once the descent begins, allowing for traffic and parking.
- Be patient after touchdown. Passengers still taxi in and collect bags, and international arrivals also clear customs and biosecurity.
- Check your own departure. If the aircraft due to operate your flight is still parked elsewhere, a late start is likely.
For gate changes, delays and cancellations, the airline and the airport screens are the official word.
How live flight tracking works
A flight radar doesn't actually depend on radar. Most aircraft carry an ADS-B transponder that broadcasts their GPS position on 1090 MHz several times a second, together with altitude, speed and a unique code. Australia made ADS-B mandatory for IFR aircraft in 2017, so nearly every airliner transmits it.
Ground receivers, many run by hobbyists, feed these messages into tracking networks. When a transponder sends no position, multilateration (MLAT) can calculate one, but it needs at least four receivers hearing the same signal. Over the Indian, Pacific and Southern oceans, satellites and estimated positions take over.
To compare the big tracking apps, see our guides to Flightradar24 and AirNav Radar (RadarBox).
Reading the flight data: a quick glossary
- Flight number: the airline code plus digits, such as QF for Qantas or JQ for Jetstar.
- Altitude: shown in feet. Multiply by 0.3048 for metres, so 38,000 feet is about 11.6 kilometres.
- Ground speed: shown in knots over the ground. One knot is 1.852 km/h, which makes 450 knots roughly 833 km/h.
- Squawk: the four-digit transponder code. 7700 signals an emergency and 7600 a radio failure.
More answers are in our flight radar FAQ.
Australian flight radar FAQ
Is the Australia flight radar free?
Yes. You watch a short ad, then the live map opens. There is no sign-up and no app, and it works in any browser on a desktop, tablet or mobile.
Why do planes disappear over the outback?
Ground receivers are few and far between in remote Australia. Out of their range, the map relies on satellite data or an estimated position, so updates can pause or jump.
Why is the map around Sydney so quiet late at night?
Sydney Airport has a curfew from 11pm to 6am. Jet movements drop away until the early morning.
Can I see Royal Flying Doctor Service aircraft?
Sometimes. Because they often fly low near remote strips, they may vanish for parts of a flight.
Can I follow the Qantas flight from Perth to London?
Yes. Over Western Australia ground receivers pick it up, and over the ocean the map switches to satellite data or estimates, so updates may come less often.
How can I tell if an aircraft is Australian?
Check the registration in the details panel. Aircraft registered in Australia carry a code beginning with VH-.