Overview
Supply two airport IATA codes to calculate the great-circle route distance in statute miles and kilometers together with estimated flight duration. Paid plans can query by four-letter ICAO codes and receive extra flight parameters, including nautical miles, initial compass bearing, timezone differences, passenger carbon estimates, and airport coordinates.
Live Test Airport Distance Skill Skill →
The tool
Once your client is connected to the VerveKit server, this appears in its tool list as AirportDistanceSkill. It is read-only and open-world — it fetches and never mutates anything on your side — so most clients call it without asking you to confirm.
{
"name": "AirportDistanceSkill",
"arguments": {
"iata1": "JFK",
"iata2": "LAX"
}
}You do not name the tool yourself; the model picks it. Asking about JFK in the terms this skill covers is enough for it to reach for AirportDistanceSkill on its own — naming it explicitly also works, and is the way to force the call.
Connecting
One server URL covers every skill in the catalog, including this one. Authorization is OAuth: the client opens a browser once, and there is no key to paste into a config file.
{
"mcpServers": {
"vervekit": {
"url": "https://api.vervekit.com/v1/mcp"
}
}
}https://api.vervekit.com/v1/mcpPer-client setup — Claude, Cursor, VS Code, ChatGPT — is on the MCP setup page.
Arguments
These are the properties on the tool's inputSchema, so a well-behaved client validates them before the call is made. Premium arguments are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them.
| Argument | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
iata1Required | string | The IATA code of the first airport (e.g. JFK) |
iata2Required | string | The IATA code of the second airport (e.g. LAX) |
What the model gets back
The result carries a structuredContent object matching the tool's declared outputSchema, so a client reads fields without parsing prose. status is "ok" and error is null on success; a null field means the value was not available for that input, not that the call failed.
{
"status": "ok",
"error": null,
"data": {
"distanceMiles": 2470.23,
"distanceKm": 3974.2,
"distanceNauticalMiles": 2145.12,
"estimatedFlightTime": "5h 24m",
"timezoneDiffHours": -3,
"bearing": 265,
"direction": "West",
"isInternational": false,
"carbonEstimateKg": 543,
"airport1": {
"name": "John F Kennedy International Airport",
"iata": "JFK",
"icao": "KJFK",
"city": "New York",
"state": "New-York",
"country": "US",
"elevation": 13,
"latitude": 40.63980103,
"longitude": -73.77890015,
"timezone": "America/New_York"
},
"airport2": {
"name": "Los Angeles International Airport",
"iata": "LAX",
"icao": "KLAX",
"city": "Los Angeles",
"state": "California",
"country": "US",
"elevation": 125,
"latitude": 33.94250107,
"longitude": -118.4079971,
"timezone": "America/Los_Angeles"
}
}
}
Response fields
Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.
| Field | Type | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
distanceMiles | number | 2470.23 | Distance in statute miles |
distanceKm | number | 3974.2 | Great-circle distance between the two airports in kilometres |
distanceNauticalMilesPremium | number | 2145.12 | Distance in nautical miles (aviation standard) |
estimatedFlightTime | string | 5h 24m | Estimated flight duration (e.g., 5h 24m) |
timezoneDiffHoursPremium | number | -3 | Timezone difference in hours between airports |
bearingPremium | number | 265 | Compass bearing from airport1 to airport2 (0-360 degrees) |
directionPremium | string | West | Compass direction (e.g., North, Southwest, East) |
isInternationalPremium | boolean | false | Whether the flight crosses international borders |
carbonEstimateKgPremium | number | 543 | Estimated CO2 emissions in kg per passenger (based on ICAO methodology) |
airport1Premium | object | {…} | Details about the first airport |
airport1.namePremium | string | John F Kennedy International Airport | Full name of the origin airport |
airport1.iataPremium | string | JFK | Three-letter IATA code of the origin airport |
airport1.icaoPremium | string | KJFK | Four-letter ICAO code of the origin airport |
airport1.cityPremium | string | New York | City the origin airport serves |
airport1.statePremium | string | New-York | State or region of the origin airport |
airport1.countryPremium | string | US | Country code of the origin airport |
airport1.elevationPremium | number | 13 | Airport elevation in feet |
airport1.latitudePremium | number | 40.63980103 | Airport latitude |
airport1.longitudePremium | number | -73.77890015 | Airport longitude |
airport1.timezonePremium | string | America/New_York | Airport timezone (e.g., America/New_York) |
airport2Premium | object | {…} | Details about the second airport |
airport2.namePremium | string | Los Angeles International Airport | Full name of the destination airport |
airport2.iataPremium | string | LAX | Three-letter IATA code of the destination airport |
airport2.icaoPremium | string | KLAX | Four-letter ICAO code of the destination airport |
airport2.cityPremium | string | Los Angeles | City the destination airport serves |
airport2.statePremium | string | California | State or region of the destination airport |
airport2.countryPremium | string | US | Country code of the destination airport |
airport2.elevationPremium | number | 125 | Airport elevation in feet |
airport2.latitudePremium | number | 33.94250107 | Airport latitude |
airport2.longitudePremium | number | -118.4079971 | Airport longitude |
airport2.timezonePremium | string | America/Los_Angeles | Airport timezone (e.g., America/Los_Angeles) |
Failure modes
Errors come back as tool errors carrying a sentence the model can act on, not a bare status code. Error handling covers the full list.
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
400 / 422 | The arguments did not validate. The message names the offending one. |
401 | The OAuth session is invalid or expired — reconnect the server. |
403 | Blocked by a key restriction or an IP allow-list. Never a bad identity. |
404 | This skill is not part of VerveKit. Check the catalog. |
429 | Out of credits, or a brief rate limit. The message tells them apart. |
A call costs 2 credits each time the tool actually runs; a model that reasons about the tool without calling it costs nothing.
Use cases
- Flight Booking Summary
- Travel booking platforms display flight distances and transit durations directly on ticket search results to give travelers accurate itinerary details.
- Loyalty Points Calculation
- To award frequent flyer status, loyalty management software measures flight mileage between departure and destination hubs for every passenger ticket.
- Corporate Emissions Tracking
- When logging business trips, corporate expense platforms look up route distances to audit travel policies and calculate flight carbon budgets.
- Air Freight Planning
- Estimate transit times and route mileage between airfield pairs before scheduling chartered cargo flights or aircraft repositioning legs.
Other ways to use Airport Distance Skill
Set up Airport Distance Skill on VerveKit, or reach the same source a different way. Your VerveKit account and credits work on all of them — one key, one balance.
Related
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