Planes overhead in SE21
Southwark and Lambeth, London. All 277 of its postcodes measured (19 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 Lambeth and 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 SE21. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 83
a day
Of its 277 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 277
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 50
a day
Of its 277 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 277
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 53
a day
Of its 277 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 196
- under 10
- 81
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE21 789 postcodes | 89 at 10 to 99 | 89 at 10 to 99 | 30 at 10 to 99 |
| SE21 8188 postcodes | 188 at 10 to 99 | 188 at 10 to 99 | 166 at 10 to 99 |
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 SE21. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 47% of days
Up to 1
a day
Of its 277 postcodes:
- under 10
- 277
On a day it flies both ways, 18% of days
Up to 28
a day
Of its 277 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 49
- on an edge
- 48
- under 10
- 180
On a day it flies east, 35% of days
Up to 62
a day
Of its 277 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 63
- on an edge
- 59
- under 10
- 155
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE21 789 postcodes | 89 under 10 | 30 at 10 to 99 | 41 at 10 to 99 |
| SE21 8188 postcodes | 188 under 10 | 19 at 10 to 99 | 22 at 10 to 99 |
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.
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 SE21
SE27 SE24 SE22 SE19 SW2 SE26 SE23 SW16
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.