Planes overhead in KT3
Kingston upon Thames and Merton, London. All 725 of its postcodes measured (28 PO boxes and other large-user postcodes left out), January to August 2026.
For Heathrow's expansion consultation, open until 22 December 2026: the planes over Kingston upon Thames and the planes over Merton, council by council.
From Heathrow
Planes land and take off into the wind, so the weather decides which way Heathrow flies, and that decides how many pass over KT3. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 18
a day
Of its 725 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 142
- under 10
- 583
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 58
a day
Of its 725 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 79
- on an edge
- 9
- under 10
- 637
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 135
a day
Of its 725 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 7
- on an edge
- 25
- under 10
- 693
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 west56% of days | Both ways15% of days | Flying east29% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| KT3 3228 postcodes | 228 under 10 | 2 on an edge | 1 at 10 to 99 |
| KT3 4152 postcodes | 152 under 10 | 9 at 10 to 99 | 6 at 10 to 99 |
| KT3 5181 postcodes | 82 at 10 to 99 | 39 at 10 to 99 | 181 under 10 |
| KT3 6164 postcodes | 60 at 10 to 99 | 31 at 10 to 99 | 164 under 10 |
On an edge: the postcode is on the edge of a flight path, where a few metres decide whether a plane counts as overhead, and the fewest and the most within 100 m of it fall in different bands.
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 KT3
KT5 SW20 KT4 KT1 KT2 KT6 SM4 SM3
The councils
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.