Planes overhead in M23
Manchester and Trafford, Greater Manchester. All 806 of its postcodes measured (13 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 M23. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 14
a day
Of its 806 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 143
- under 10
- 663
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 17
a day
Of its 806 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 339
- under 10
- 467
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Up to 23
a day
Of its 806 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 355
- under 10
- 451
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| M23 0243 postcodes | 19 at 10 to 99 | 168 at 10 to 99 | 181 at 10 to 99 |
| M23 1173 postcodes | 173 under 10 | 173 under 10 | 173 under 10 |
| M23 2159 postcodes | 159 under 10 | 159 under 10 | 159 under 10 |
| M23 9231 postcodes | 124 at 10 to 99 | 171 at 10 to 99 | 174 at 10 to 99 |
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 M23
M22 WA15 M33 M90 M21 M20 WA14 SK8
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.