Planes overhead in NW1
Camden and Westminster, London. All 1,440 of its postcodes measured (219 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 Camden and the planes over Westminster, 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 NW1. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 19
a day
Of its 1,440 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 187
- under 10
- 1,253
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 13
a day
Of its 1,440 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 50
- under 10
- 1,390
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 7
a day
Of its 1,440 postcodes:
- under 10
- 1,440
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NW1 0163 postcodes | 8 at 10 to 99 | 163 under 10 | 163 under 10 |
| NW1 1149 postcodes | 149 under 10 | 149 under 10 | 149 under 10 |
| NW1 285 postcodes | 85 under 10 | 85 under 10 | 85 under 10 |
| NW1 3112 postcodes | 112 under 10 | 112 under 10 | 112 under 10 |
| NW1 4103 postcodes | 103 under 10 | 103 under 10 | 103 under 10 |
| NW1 5124 postcodes | 124 under 10 | 124 under 10 | 124 under 10 |
| NW1 6152 postcodes | 152 under 10 | 152 under 10 | 152 under 10 |
| NW1 7132 postcodes | 132 under 10 | 132 under 10 | 132 under 10 |
| NW1 8216 postcodes | 20 at 10 to 99 | 216 under 10 | 216 under 10 |
| NW1 9204 postcodes | 159 at 10 to 99 | 50 at 10 to 99 | 204 under 10 |
Also counted here: London City, at most 1 a day over any of its postcodes.
3 of its postcodes have a position ONS estimates, so their figures may be for a spot a few hundred metres away.
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 NW1
N1C WC1H NW5 NW8 WC1B WC1N WC1X WC1R
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.