FlightAware sues Kalshi over flight-cancellation betting markets

The real-time flight tracker FlightAware is suing the prediction market Kalshi for allegedly using its data to host gambling markets. Kalshi started letting users bet on the number of flights canceled in the U.S., or at a given airport, about a month ago. According to FlightAware, Kalshi used its data and name without authorization, displaying FlightAware’s branding and information even after the flight tracker demanded that Kalshi stop.

“Kalshi never informed FlightAware that it would rely on FlightAware’s data to determine the outcome of these betting markets,” the lawsuit says. FlightAware maintains it did not know about Kalshi’s flight-cancellation bets until media coverage of the new prediction markets began. TechCrunch has reached out to Kalshi for comment.

Kalshi and similar platforms, like Polymarket, let users place bets on future events ranging from election results to how many albums a musician will sell in a given week. These markets have already shown extensive potential for manipulation by bettors, even though their rules prohibit insider trading. In one high-profile instance, a Polymarket user suspiciously bet $32,000 that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro would be removed from power by the end of January — just hours later, the U.S. military captured Maduro, earning that user a $400,000 payout. A White House teleprompter operator allegedly made over $100,000 on Kalshi by using advance knowledge of the president’s speeches to place bets.

FlightAware argues that gambling markets tied to flight data could similarly be abused to interfere with flights, posing a safety risk for travelers and airport employees. FlightAware is seeking a jury trial and has not specified how much money it is seeking in damages.

Why it matters

The case tests whether prediction-market operators can use proprietary third-party data to settle bets without a licensing deal, and whether regulators or courts will treat flight-safety data as a special category given the manipulation risks already seen in political betting markets.