Skyscanner MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that exposes Skyscanner flight and airport search functionality to AI assistants like Claude Desktop and Cursor.

⚠️ Disclaimer

This project is experimental and intended for educational purposes only.

• This software is provided “as is” without any warranties
• Not intended for commercial use - Do not use this software in any commercial or production environment
• The Skyscanner API client library used here is reverse-engineered and may violate Skyscanner’s Terms of Service
• Use at your own risk - The authors are not responsible for any consequences of using this software
• This project is for learning and experimentation with MCP servers and API integration

Features

• ✈️ Flight Search - Search for flights between airports with flexible date options
• 🛫 Airport Search - Find airports by name, city, or IATA code

Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8 or higher
• Git (for submodule support)

Step 1: Clone the Repository

# Clone with submodules (recommended)
git clone --recursive https://github.com/shadyvb/mcp-skyscanner.git
cd mcp-skyscanner

If you already cloned without submodules:

git submodule update --init --recursive

Step 2: Install Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

What gets installed:

• fastmcp - MCP server framework
• curl_cffi, typeguard, orjson - Skyscanner API dependencies
• skyscanner-api - Included as git submodule (automatically loaded by mcp_server.py)

The mcp_server.py automatically adds the vendor/skyscanner submodule to the Python path, so no additional installation steps are needed.

Usage

Setting Up Claude Desktop

1. Locate your Claude Desktop configuration file:

   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
   • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
   • Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add the MCP server configuration:

   Open the config file and add the following (or merge with existing mcpServers):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "skyscanner": {
      "command": "python3",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-skyscanner/mcp_server.py"],
      "env": {
        "SKYSCANNER_LOCALE": "en-US",
        "SKYSCANNER_CURRENCY": "USD",
        "SKYSCANNER_MARKET": "US"
      }
    }
  }
}

Important notes:

• Replace /absolute/path/to/mcp-skyscanner/mcp_server.py with the absolute path to your mcp_server.py file
• Use python3 instead of python on macOS/Linux
• If using a virtual environment, use the full path to Python (e.g., /path/to/venv/bin/python3)

3. Restart Claude Desktop completely (quit and reopen the application)

4. Verify installation: After restarting, you should see the Skyscanner tools available in Claude Desktop. Try asking: “Search for flights from LHR to JFK on December 22nd”