Planes overhead in SE16
Southwark and Lewisham, London. All 1,072 of its postcodes measured (35 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 Southwark, 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 SE16. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 262
a day
Of its 1,072 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 1,014
- 10 to 99
- 58
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 149
a day
Of its 1,072 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 145
- 10 to 99
- 927
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 2
a day
Of its 1,072 postcodes:
- under 10
- 1,072
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE16 2209 postcodes | 209 at 100+ | 51 at 100+ | 209 under 10 |
| SE16 3196 postcodes | 183 at 100+ | 88 at 100+ | 196 under 10 |
| SE16 4217 postcodes | 172 at 100+ | 217 at 10 to 99 | 217 under 10 |
| SE16 5129 postcodes | 129 at 100+ | 129 at 10 to 99 | 129 under 10 |
| SE16 6123 postcodes | 123 at 100+ | 123 at 10 to 99 | 123 under 10 |
| SE16 7198 postcodes | 198 at 100+ | 6 at 100+ | 198 under 10 |
From London City
Planes land and take off into the wind, so the weather decides which way London City flies, and that decides how many pass over SE16. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 47% of days
Up to 1
a day
Of its 1,072 postcodes:
- under 10
- 1,072
On a day it flies both ways, 18% of days
Up to 29
a day
Of its 1,072 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 51
- on an edge
- 43
- under 10
- 978
On a day it flies east, 35% of days
Up to 64
a day
Of its 1,072 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 75
- on an edge
- 46
- under 10
- 951
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 west47% of days | Both ways18% of days | Flying east35% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE16 2209 postcodes | 209 under 10 | 209 under 10 | 209 under 10 |
| SE16 3196 postcodes | 196 under 10 | 196 under 10 | 196 under 10 |
| SE16 4217 postcodes | 217 under 10 | 217 under 10 | 217 under 10 |
| SE16 5129 postcodes | 129 under 10 | 49 at 10 to 99 | 68 at 10 to 99 |
| SE16 6123 postcodes | 123 under 10 | 2 at 10 to 99 | 7 at 10 to 99 |
| SE16 7198 postcodes | 198 under 10 | 198 under 10 | 1 on an edge |
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.
2 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 SE16
E1W SE8 E1 EC3N SE14 EC3R E14 EC3M
The councils
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for Heathrow and London City. 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.