Planes overhead in M46
Wigan and Bolton, Greater Manchester. All 570 of its postcodes measured (7 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 M46. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 21
a day
Of its 570 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 131
- under 10
- 439
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 13
a day
Of its 570 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 41
- under 10
- 529
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Up to 10
a day
Of its 570 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 1
- under 10
- 569
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| M46 0276 postcodes | 15 at 10 to 99 | 6 at 10 to 99 | 1 at 10 to 99 |
| M46 9294 postcodes | 116 at 10 to 99 | 35 at 10 to 99 | 294 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 M46
BL5 M29 WN7 M38 BL3 WN2 M28 BL4
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.