Planes overhead in BL1
Bolton, Greater Manchester. All 1,774 of its postcodes measured (78 PO boxes and other large-user postcodes left out), January to August 2026.
From Manchester
Planes land and take off into the wind, so the weather decides which way Manchester flies, and that decides how many pass over BL1. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 27
a day
Of its 1,774 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 1,245
- under 10
- 529
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 17
a day
Of its 1,774 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 1,362
- under 10
- 412
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Up to 13
a day
Of its 1,774 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 1,224
- under 10
- 550
Each sector's bar splits its postcodes by how many planes pass over them a day; the figure above it counts those in the busiest band the sector reaches. The list above gives the whole district's counts.
| Sector | Flying west70% of days | Both ways10% of days | Flying east20% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| BL1 198 postcodes | 98 at 10 to 99 | 98 at 10 to 99 | 98 under 10 |
| BL1 2195 postcodes | 195 at 10 to 99 | 195 at 10 to 99 | 3 at 10 to 99 |
| BL1 3268 postcodes | 254 at 10 to 99 | 264 at 10 to 99 | 209 at 10 to 99 |
| BL1 4201 postcodes | 201 at 10 to 99 | 201 at 10 to 99 | 137 at 10 to 99 |
| BL1 5303 postcodes | 259 at 10 to 99 | 290 at 10 to 99 | 303 at 10 to 99 |
| BL1 6206 postcodes | 88 at 10 to 99 | 117 at 10 to 99 | 206 at 10 to 99 |
| BL1 7209 postcodes | 2 at 10 to 99 | 3 at 10 to 99 | 179 at 10 to 99 |
| BL1 8274 postcodes | 128 at 10 to 99 | 174 at 10 to 99 | 187 at 10 to 99 |
| BL1 920 postcodes | 20 at 10 to 99 | 20 at 10 to 99 | 20 under 10 |
2 of its postcodes have a position ONS estimates, so their figures may be for a spot a few hundred metres away.
What counts as overhead
Overhead means more than halfway up the sky (48.5 degrees or more) and below 7,000 ft, the CAA's definition of an overflight (CAP 1498). A day counts as one way when 80% of its flights used that way. PO boxes and other postcodes for organisations that receive a lot of post are left out: they sit at a delivery office or a business, not at homes.
Near BL1
BL3 BL2 BL7 BL4 BL6 M38 BL5 M46
The councils
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for Manchester. Flight tracks: adsb.lol (ODbL 1.0); Weather at each airport: Iowa Environmental Mesonet; Ground heights: Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right; Postcode positions: ONS National Statistics Postcode Lookup (OGL). Licence: Open Database License (ODbL) 1.0.