Most-tracked flights of 2026: From Airbus A350 to Iran conflict and World Cup

Two Airbus A350 test flights, military aircraft operating during the Iran conflict, and the return of national football teams from the FIFA World Cup have attracted some of the largest flight-tracking audiences of 2026.

Exclusive data supplied to Aerospace Global News by Flightradar24 identifies 17 flights that attracted more than one million followers between January and October.

The most-followed flight was an Airbus A350-1000ULR returning from Melbourne to Toulouse on 28 July, which attracted 3.65 million followers. The aircraft had completed an ultra-long-haul test flight as part of Airbus’s development programme for Qantas’ Project Sunrise.

The return journey attracted more attention than the outbound flight four days earlier, which ranked second with 2.97 million followers.

Flight tracking has become a popular way to follow major events as they unfold. Aircraft movements during the early stages of the Iran conflict accounted for most of the entries, while football, space exploration and an in-flight emergency also drew large audiences.

The 17 most-followed flights of 2026 so far

Swipe horizontally to see all columns.

Source: Flightradar24, data supplied exclusively to Aerospace Global News, October 2026. Ranked by total flight followers. “Peak live” refers to the maximum number of people following each flight simultaneously. High-altitude balloons and fictional flights are excluded.

Airbus A350-1000ULR test flights top the rankings

The two most-followed flights involved Airbus’s A350-1000ULR, the ultra-long-range aircraft being developed for Qantas’s Project Sunrise programme.

On 24 July, aircraft F-WULR flew from Toulouse to Melbourne, attracting 2,972,670 followers. Its return journey on 28 July drew 3,652,947, making it the most-followed flight in Flightradar24’s dataset. The Melbourne–Toulouse journey was the world’s longest flight by a commercial aircraft.

The tests form part of Airbus’s development programme for Qantas’s Project Sunrise services, which will connect Sydney directly with London and New York.

Despite recording the highest total audience, the return flight had a peak simultaneous audience of 130,053. That was below the 153,548 concurrent followers recorded for a NASA aircraft during the Artemis II mission in April.

Iran conflict dominates flight-tracking interest

Nine of the 17 flights in the dataset involved aircraft movements during the early stages of the Iran conflict.

The highest-ranked was an Israeli Boeing 767, registration 4X-ISR, which attracted 2,138,663 followers on 28 February as it moved away from Tel Aviv.

Two UAE Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport aircraft also drew substantial audiences. Their flights on 28 February and 2 March attracted 1.78 million and 1.63 million followers, respectively.

Military aircraft operating from Cyprus also drew audiences. Two flights by RAF Voyager tankers, both using callsign RRR9964, attracted 1.41 million and 1.26 million followers on 2 March.

People closely followed commercial aircraft during the disruption brought on by the conflict. 

An Etihad Airbus A380 departing Abu Dhabi attracted 1.51 million followers, while an Emirates A380 travelling from London to Dubai drew 1.16 million.

A Lufthansa A380 departing Abu Dhabi after heavy maintenance attracted 1.14 million followers. Another Emirates A380, flying from Mumbai to Dubai, attracted more than one million followers after holding for an extended period before landing.

The data also includes a Mahan Air Airbus A340 flight to Tehran on 14 January, during a notified closure of Iranian airspace. It attracted 1.09 million followers.

World Cup flights attract millions of followers

The 2026 FIFA World Cup generated another surge of interest in flight tracking. Supporters follow the journeys of their national teams, extending interest in major sporting events to the aircraft carrying the players.

On 13 July, a flight carrying Norway’s national football team from Fort Lauderdale to Oslo attracted 1,298,845 followers. The aircraft was an Airbus A330-200, registration N898CA, operating as NCR720.

A flight carrying Brazil’s national team from Rio de Janeiro to Newark on 2 June attracted 1,181,946 followers.

Spain’s return journey from New York to Madrid on 20 July also made the list. The Iberia Airbus A350-900, operating as IBE1410, attracted 1,110,179 followers.

NASA’s Artemis II mission and a British Airways emergency

NASA’s WB-57 research aircraft attracted one of the year’s largest live flight-tracking audiences during the Artemis II crew’s return to Earth on 11 April.

The aircraft, registration N926NA, was operating off the California coast to capture the spacecraft’s re-entry. It attracted 1,158,752 total followers and a peak of 153,548 people following simultaneously — the highest concurrent audience in the supplied dataset.

An in-flight emergency involving a British Airways Boeing 777-200 also made the ranking.

On 5 October, the aircraft, registration G-VIIA, transmitted emergency squawk code 7700 and returned to London Heathrow following a pressurisation issue. The flight, operating under callsign BAW2PD, attracted 1,109,823 followers.

Flightradar24 now reaches 60 million monthly users

Flightradar24’s director of communications, Ian Petchenik, told Aerospace Global News that the platform now attracts 60 million monthly users, and credits major news events for introducing flight tracking to new audiences.

“Flight tracking makes it possible to watch history in real-time, from a nation in mourning following Queen Elizabeth II’s final flight to a national triumph as World Cup champions return home; the flights with the largest audience often have meaning far beyond aviation,” Petchenik said.

He added that the reasons people use the service have broadened considerably.

“Aviation enthusiasts remain at the heart of our community, alongside people checking on friends and family. But flight tracking has also become a way for a much wider audience to engage with the news.”

Petchenik said the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East had all contributed to the platform’s growth.

The company records total followers for flights once tracking exceeds 100,000 users or a flight receives more than 50,000 follows within five minutes. It also records the maximum number of concurrent followers for flights exceeding 100,000 total followers.

Total followers reflect the audience accumulated over a flight, while the concurrent figure records the largest number following at the same time.

For this ranking, Flightradar24 excluded high-altitude balloons, which can remain airborne for extended periods and accumulate large audiences. It also excluded a fictional flying saucer flight from Area 51 to Denver International Airport, created for World UFO Day, which attracted 1.24 million followers.

The annual Santa tracker is expected to draw another large audience in December, following last year’s 33-million-plus followers.