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Santa takes off from the North Pole, sleigh becomes the world’s most-followed flight

More than 100,000 children call NORAD each year to ask about Santa’s whereabouts.

3 min readNew DelhiDec 24, 2025 11:15 PM IST

Christmas Santa Clause Sleigh NORAD flight tracker

NORAD’s Santa Tracker remains one of the internet’s longest-running holiday traditions

Santa Claus is officially on the move for the busiest night of this year, setting out on a whirlwind global journey that will see him make billions of gift deliveries in under 24 hours.

After weeks of behind-the-scenes work at the North Pole, Father Christmas has begun his westward flight, starting with the South Pacific before sweeping across Asia, Africa, and Europe, and finally heading over the Atlantic to reach the Americas.

As has become a beloved Christmas Eve ritual, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is once again tracking Santa’s sleigh in real time as it streaks across the skies. The tradition dates back to 1955, when a typo in a department store advertisement accidentally listed a military phone number for children to call Santa. Rather than turn them away, officers answered the calls, and a holiday tradition was born.

Santa has left the North Pole in a sleigh and is currently the No. 1 tracked flight worldwide on Flightradar pic.twitter.com/QsJ1r5GalU

— Dexerto (@Dexerto) December 23, 2025

Today, that tradition is bigger than ever. According to The Independent, more than 100,000 children call NORAD each year to ask about Santa’s whereabouts, while millions more follow his progress online in nine different languages as he “swoops along the earth’s meridians”.

Adding to the festive fun, the Flightradar24 website has once again included Santa’s sleigh as a special tracked aircraft under the callsign “SANTA1”. The listing shows Santa departing from the North Pole and hopping across continents as presents are delivered worldwide. As reported by Dexerto, users can locate the sleigh by searching for “Santa,” “SANTA1,” “R3DN053,” or the registration “HOHOHO”.

The flight page leans fully into the holiday spirit, listing the aircraft type as a sleigh, a cruising altitude of 60,000 ft, and Santa’s age humorously clocked at “over 1,700 years”. Unsurprisingly, the sleigh often becomes the most-watched flight on Flightradar24 on Christmas Eve.

For families looking for a more magical experience, NORAD’s Santa Tracker offers a dedicated holiday platform designed especially for kids. It features live location updates, animated maps, countdown timers, festive games, and details on when Santa is expected to arrive in different parts of the world.

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Decades on, NORAD’s Santa Tracker remains one of the internet’s longest-running holiday traditions, blending real satellite tracking with storytelling and seasonal cheer.