diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 09f4759..9cf7f80 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -109,8 +109,8 @@ The constructors takes the following parameters:
     [{'host':'host1','port':9200}, {'host':'host2','port':9200}]
 
 
- - auth_type: The authentication currently support ElasticECSHandler.AuthType = NO_AUTH, BASIC_AUTH, KERBEROS_AUTH
- - auth_details: When ElasticECSHandler.AuthType.BASIC_AUTH is used this argument must contain a tuple of string with the user and password that will be used to authenticate against the Elasticsearch servers, for example ('User','Password')
+ - auth_type: The authentication currently support ElasticECSHandler.AuthType = NO_AUTH, BASIC_AUTH, KERBEROS_AUTH or API_KEY_AUTH
+ - auth_details: When ElasticECSHandler.AuthType.BASIC_AUTH or ElasticECSHandler.AuthType.API_KEY_AUTH are used this argument must contain a tuple of string with the user and password that will be used to authenticate against the Elasticsearch servers, for example ('User','Password')
  - aws_access_key: When ``ElasticECSHandler.AuthType.AWS_SIGNED_AUTH`` is used this argument must contain the AWS key id of the  the AWS IAM user
  - aws_secret_key: When ``ElasticECSHandler.AuthType.AWS_SIGNED_AUTH`` is used this argument must contain the AWS secret key of the  the AWS IAM user
  - aws_region: When ``ElasticECSHandler.AuthType.AWS_SIGNED_AUTH`` is used this argument must contain the AWS region of the  the AWS Elasticsearch servers, for example ``'us-east'``
diff --git a/elasticecslogging/handlers.py b/elasticecslogging/handlers.py
index 0e2f653..89ea428 100644
--- a/elasticecslogging/handlers.py
+++ b/elasticecslogging/handlers.py
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ class AuthType(Enum):
         BASIC_AUTH = 1
         KERBEROS_AUTH = 2
         AWS_SIGNED_AUTH = 3
+        API_KEY_AUTH = 4
 
     class IndexNameFrequency(Enum):
         """ Index type supported
@@ -164,9 +165,9 @@ def __init__(self,
         :param hosts: The list of hosts that elasticsearch clients will connect. The list can be provided
                     in the format ```[{'host':'host1','port':9200}, {'host':'host2','port':9200}]``` to
                     make sure the client supports failover of one of the instertion nodes
-        :param auth_details: When ```ElasticECSHandler.AuthType.BASIC_AUTH``` is used this argument must contain
-                    a tuple of string with the user and password that will be used to authenticate against
-                    the Elasticsearch servers, for example```('User','Password')
+        :param auth_details: When ```ElasticECSHandler.AuthType.BASIC_AUTH``` or ```ElasticECSHandler.AuthType.API_KEY_AUTH```
+                    are used this argument must contain a tuple of string with the user and password
+                    that will be used to authenticate against the Elasticsearch servers, for example```('User','Password')
         :param aws_access_key: When ```ElasticECSHandler.AuthType.AWS_SIGNED_AUTH``` is used this argument must contain
                     the AWS key id of the  the AWS IAM user
         :param aws_secret_key: When ```ElasticECSHandler.AuthType.AWS_SIGNED_AUTH``` is used this argument must contain
@@ -174,7 +175,7 @@ def __init__(self,
         :param aws_region: When ```ElasticECSHandler.AuthType.AWS_SIGNED_AUTH``` is used this argument must contain
                     the AWS region of the  the AWS Elasticsearch servers, for example```'us-east'
         :param auth_type: The authentication type to be used in the connection ```ElasticECSHandler.AuthType```
-                    Currently, NO_AUTH, BASIC_AUTH, KERBEROS_AUTH are supported
+                    Currently, NO_AUTH, BASIC_AUTH, KERBEROS_AUTH and API_KEY_AUTH are supported
                     You can pass a str instead of the enum value. It is useful if you are using a config file for
                     configuring the logging module.
         :param use_ssl: A boolean that defines if the communications should use SSL encrypted communication
@@ -301,6 +302,16 @@ def __get_es_client(self):
                 )
             return self._client
 
+        if self.auth_type == ElasticECSHandler.AuthType.API_KEY_AUTH:
+            if self._client is None:
+                return Elasticsearch(hosts=self.hosts,
+                                     api_key=self.auth_details,
+                                     use_ssl=self.use_ssl,
+                                     verify_certs=self.verify_certs,
+                                     connection_class=RequestsHttpConnection,
+                                     serializer=self.serializer)
+            return self._client
+
         raise ValueError("Authentication method not supported")
 
     def test_es_source(self):