Planes over Tower Hamlets today
For Heathrow's expansion consultation, open until 22 December 2026.
Whatever your view, these are the figures for Tower Hamlets now: the planes from Heathrow counted over each of its postcode districts, and the borough's noise, air and flood figures from official data. They are today's flights on today's routes, not those of a third runway. Sky Score takes no side in the consultation.
Heathrow's consultation page: how to respond, and Heathrow's own documents.
Planes from Heathrow, district by district
Planes land and take off into the wind, so the weather decides which way Heathrow flies, and that decides how many pass over each place. Counted over each postcode, January to August 2026.
Each cell gives the most planes over any one postcode of the district on that kind of day, and counts its postcodes in the busiest band reached; the bar splits all of them by how many planes pass over them a day. Each district's own page goes sector by sector.
| District | Flying west56% of days | Both ways15% of days | Flying east29% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| E11,476 postcodes | up to 104 a day18 at 100+ | up to 66 a day1,476 at 10 to 99 | up to 1 a day1,476 under 10 |
| E1W339 postcodes | up to 108 a day62 at 100+ | up to 69 a day339 at 10 to 99 | up to 1 a day339 under 10 |
| E2932 postcodes | up to 83 a day932 at 10 to 99 | up to 53 a day932 at 10 to 99 | up to 1 a day932 under 10 |
| E31,151 postcodes | up to 149 a day1,035 at 100+ | up to 86 a day1,151 at 10 to 99 | up to 1 a day1,151 under 10 |
| E141,793 postcodes | up to 190 a day1,788 at 100+ | up to 105 a day41 at 100+ | up to 2 a day1,793 under 10 |
Each district's own page splits it by postcode sector and counts every airport over it.
Noise, air and flood in Tower Hamlets
- Aircraft noise band
- Low-ModerateEstimated from the distance to the airport and its routes, scaled by the size of its DEFRA noise map
- Road noise
- HighDEFRA road Lden, share of postcodes over WHO 53 dB
- Air quality
- ModerateDEFRA background maps against WHO 2021
- Flood risk
- LowEnvironment Agency, Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea, allowing for defences
Tower Hamlets: every figure we publish, with its score
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.
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for Heathrow. 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.
Aviation noise context: DEFRA strategic noise mapping, Open Government Licence v3.0
Flight routes: UK Aeronautical Information Publication (NATS), derived by Sky Score for the aircraft noise estimate; public but not openly licensed, and not for navigation
Road noise: DEFRA Strategic Noise Mapping Round 4 road Lden, Open Government Licence v3.0
Air quality: DEFRA background pollution maps (PCM), Open Government Licence v3.0
Flood risk: Environment Agency Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea, Open Government Licence v3.0