Planes overhead in SE4
Lewisham and Southwark, London. All 442 of its postcodes measured (22 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 Lewisham, 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 SE4. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 283
a day
Of its 442 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 442
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 144
a day
Of its 442 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 243
- 10 to 99
- 199
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 3
a day
Of its 442 postcodes:
- under 10
- 442
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE4 1239 postcodes | 239 at 100+ | 75 at 100+ | 239 under 10 |
| SE4 2203 postcodes | 203 at 100+ | 168 at 100+ | 203 under 10 |
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 SE4
SE14 SE13 SE23 SE8 SE15 SE22 SE6 SE10
The councils
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for 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.