Planes overhead in SE22
Southwark, London. All 489 of its postcodes measured (18 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 SE22. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 289
a day
Of its 489 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 308
- 10 to 99
- 170
- on an edge
- 11
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 158
a day
Of its 489 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 238
- 10 to 99
- 250
- on an edge
- 1
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 12
a day
Of its 489 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 13
- under 10
- 476
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE22 0160 postcodes | 74 at 100+ | 20 at 100+ | 1 at 10 to 99 |
| SE22 8202 postcodes | 131 at 100+ | 129 at 100+ | 12 at 10 to 99 |
| SE22 9127 postcodes | 103 at 100+ | 89 at 100+ | 127 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 SE22. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 47% of days
Up to 1
a day
Of its 489 postcodes:
- under 10
- 489
On a day it flies both ways, 18% of days
Up to 28
a day
Of its 489 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 54
- on an edge
- 24
- under 10
- 411
On a day it flies east, 35% of days
Up to 62
a day
Of its 489 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 55
- on an edge
- 31
- under 10
- 403
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE22 0160 postcodes | 160 under 10 | 20 at 10 to 99 | 21 at 10 to 99 |
| SE22 8202 postcodes | 202 under 10 | 34 at 10 to 99 | 34 at 10 to 99 |
| SE22 9127 postcodes | 127 under 10 | 127 under 10 | 127 under 10 |
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 SE22
SE24 SE21 SE15 SE23 SE5 SE4 SE14 SE26
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.