Planes overhead in SE28
Greenwich and Bexley, London. All 426 of its postcodes measured (12 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 Bexley and the planes over Greenwich, council by council.
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 SE28. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 47% of days
Up to 64
a day
Of its 426 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 56
- on an edge
- 97
- under 10
- 273
On a day it flies both ways, 18% of days
Up to 70
a day
Of its 426 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 238
- on an edge
- 63
- under 10
- 125
On a day it flies east, 35% of days
Up to 65
a day
Of its 426 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 259
- on an edge
- 51
- under 10
- 116
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE28 0195 postcodes | 4 at 10 to 99 | 27 at 10 to 99 | 40 at 10 to 99 |
| SE28 8231 postcodes | 52 at 10 to 99 | 211 at 10 to 99 | 219 at 10 to 99 |
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 SE28. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 19
a day
Of its 426 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 222
- under 10
- 204
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 8
a day
Of its 426 postcodes:
- under 10
- 426
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Under 1
a day, at all 426 of its postcodes
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE28 0195 postcodes | 192 at 10 to 99 | 195 under 10 | 195 under 10 |
| SE28 8231 postcodes | 30 at 10 to 99 | 231 under 10 | 231 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 SE28
SE2 DA18 SE18 DA17 IG11 DA16 E6 RM9
The councils
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for London City and 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.