Planes overhead in M25
Bury and Manchester, Greater Manchester. All 771 of its postcodes measured (15 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 M25. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 31
a day
Of its 771 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 115
- under 10
- 656
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 16
a day
Of its 771 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 21
- under 10
- 750
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Up to 1
a day
Of its 771 postcodes:
- under 10
- 771
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| M25 0175 postcodes | 175 under 10 | 175 under 10 | 175 under 10 |
| M25 1210 postcodes | 9 at 10 to 99 | 210 under 10 | 210 under 10 |
| M25 274 postcodes | 74 at 10 to 99 | 21 at 10 to 99 | 74 under 10 |
| M25 3104 postcodes | 32 at 10 to 99 | 104 under 10 | 104 under 10 |
| M25 9208 postcodes | 208 under 10 | 208 under 10 | 208 under 10 |
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 M25
M45 M9 M26 M24 M40 BL9 M30 M17
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.