Streaming live from airports and airfields has become massively popular in recent years and judging by the numbers watching them, it’s not hard to see why.
Watching a live stream is a great way to see what’s going on at another airport without having to travel but they do vary in quality and, let’s say “enthusiastic commentary” can often spoil it for many.
So here are our favourite top 5 UK and top 5 worldwide streams for you to check out.
The UK
Simon Lowe Aviation broadcasts live from Manchester Airport on Tuesdays and Saturdays and offers a high-quality stream showing movements around the airport as well as take-offs and landings. Simon does all this with minimal commentary to “let the planes do the talking” as he says.
Like many of the streams featured it is free to view but you can help the channel out with subscriptions and “gifts” via social media.
FlightFocus 365 is a new stream to the market and uses an AI Robocam to allow it to stream from dawn til dusk 365 days a year. Its first stream is at London Heathrow Airport which is currently under test but viewable. It offers 4K resolution and HD Sound.
Flight Focus 365 aims to install cameras at many airports around the world.
Airliners Live is another stream from Manchester Airport which streams on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. this high-quality stream focuses on arrivals and departures from the airport as well as succinct commentary, chat, and interaction via its channels.
Airlines Live also has a dedicated aviation channel where special content is produced talking about aviation as well as a dedicated flight sim channel too.
SDTV is an aviation live stream that covers multiple airports, particularly London Gatwick, Stansted and London City Airports. The channel offers high-quality streams and interaction via its chat windows on Youtube.
They also venture out to European airports for special streams.
Airport Action covers Birmingham Airport and offers a fun friendly family-run stream giving high-quality footage of the goings on at Birmingham. It doesn’t advertise fixed days for streams but does broadcast on a regular basis so subscribe and get notified.
They do occasionally venture to other airports including London Heathrow.
Rest of the World
Sierra Bravo TV is the channel if you like freighters! Covering Louisville Airport in the USA, Home of UPS Worldport this stream features freighters from A300’s through to MD11s and 747s. Sam offers insight and commentary on the goings on at the airport as well as interaction with viewers.
Madeira Airport Spotting offers perhaps one of the most unique locations for an aviation stream in Europe with the view of the sweeping approach into Funchal which is always a challenge for pilots, especially on windy days. Their high-quality stream operates most days and there is great interaction with the loyal following of this channel.
Helsinki Spotting is the one for those looking for some cold-weather action! Covering Helsinki Vantaa airport, home of Finnair, this channel streams twice weekly showing the operations at Helsinki and in winter months, often covering the deicing procedures to show something different from the normal streams.
Reverse Ops is the opposite of Helsinki Spotting offering a look at the goings on at Hawaii’s Honolulu International. Blue skies and sunshine are almost guaranteed on this stream with a mixture of Civilian and Military traffic featuring in the shows. Streams happen on Mondays and Saturdays.
Wellington Flights Live as you might expect covers Wellington Airport in New Zealand offering a high-quality stream from what is often a very windy airport! There are no fixed streaming days advertised but streams seem to happen every few days so as with the others, subscribe and get notified when they go live.
Show some love
Whichever stream you choose remember they do this with often little or no budget and often aren’t commercial operations so if you are enjoying a stream, be sure to help them out in any way you can.
Do you have a favourite stream? let us know in the comments.