Planes overhead in SE17
Southwark, London. All 658 of its postcodes measured (27 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 SE17. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 300
a day
Of its 658 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 395
- 10 to 99
- 194
- on an edge
- 69
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 170
a day
Of its 658 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 304
- 10 to 99
- 282
- on an edge
- 72
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 3
a day
Of its 658 postcodes:
- under 10
- 658
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE17 1222 postcodes | 38 at 100+ | 212 at 10 to 99 | 222 under 10 |
| SE17 2232 postcodes | 224 at 100+ | 188 at 100+ | 232 under 10 |
| SE17 3204 postcodes | 133 at 100+ | 116 at 100+ | 204 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 SE17. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 47% of days
Under 1
a day, at all 658 of its postcodes
On a day it flies both ways, 18% of days
Up to 11
a day
Of its 658 postcodes:
- on an edge
- 1
- under 10
- 657
On a day it flies east, 35% of days
Up to 16
a day
Of its 658 postcodes:
- on an edge
- 2
- under 10
- 656
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE17 1222 postcodes | 222 under 10 | 222 under 10 | 222 under 10 |
| SE17 2232 postcodes | 232 under 10 | 232 under 10 | 232 under 10 |
| SE17 3204 postcodes | 204 under 10 | 1 on an edge | 2 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.
1 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 SE17
SE1 SE11 SE5 EC4R EC3R SW9 SE15 EC4N
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.