Planes overhead in M20
Manchester, Greater Manchester. All 1,145 of its postcodes measured, 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 M20. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (70% of days): up to 5 a day; of its 1,145 postcodes, 1,145 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (10% of days): up to 36 a day; of its 1,145 postcodes, 1,092 at 10 to 99, 53 under 10
- On a day it flies east (20% of days): up to 69 a day; of its 1,145 postcodes, 1,115 at 10 to 99, 1 on an edge, 29 under 10
The table counts the postcodes of each sector by how many planes pass over them a day: 100 or more, 10 to 99, or under 10.
| Sector | Flying west70% of days | Both ways10% of days | Flying east20% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| M20 1186 postcodes | 186 under 10 | 186 at 10 to 99 | 186 at 10 to 99 |
| M20 2299 postcodes | 299 under 10 | 293 at 10 to 996 under 10 | 299 at 10 to 99 |
| M20 3152 postcodes | 152 under 10 | 152 at 10 to 99 | 152 at 10 to 99 |
| M20 4183 postcodes | 183 under 10 | 182 at 10 to 991 under 10 | 183 at 10 to 99 |
| M20 599 postcodes | 99 under 10 | 53 at 10 to 9946 under 10 | 69 at 10 to 991 on an edge29 under 10 |
| M20 6226 postcodes | 226 under 10 | 226 at 10 to 99 | 226 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.
1 of its postcodes have a position ONS estimates, so their figures may be for a spot a few hundred metres away.
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.
Near M20
M14 M19 M21 SK4 M16 M23 M22 SK3
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.