Planes overhead in WN2
Wigan and Bolton, Greater Manchester. All 1,261 of its postcodes measured (13 PO boxes and other large-user postcodes left out), January to August 2026.
From Manchester
Planes land and take off into the wind, so the weather decides which way Manchester flies, and that decides how many pass over WN2. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 43
a day
Of its 1,261 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 801
- under 10
- 460
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 26
a day
Of its 1,261 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 1,005
- under 10
- 256
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Up to 20
a day
Of its 1,261 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 985
- under 10
- 276
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 west70% of days | Both ways10% of days | Flying east20% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| WN2 1243 postcodes | 215 at 10 to 99 | 133 at 10 to 99 | 1 at 10 to 99 |
| WN2 2219 postcodes | 219 at 10 to 99 | 219 at 10 to 99 | 185 at 10 to 99 |
| WN2 3253 postcodes | 212 at 10 to 99 | 246 at 10 to 99 | 253 at 10 to 99 |
| WN2 4298 postcodes | 155 at 10 to 99 | 197 at 10 to 99 | 298 at 10 to 99 |
| WN2 5248 postcodes | 248 under 10 | 210 at 10 to 99 | 248 at 10 to 99 |
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 WN2
WN1 WN3 BL5 WN7 M46 WN4 WA3 BL6
The councils
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for Manchester. 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.