Planes overhead in SW1E
Westminster and Wandsworth, London. All 87 of its postcodes measured, January to August 2026.
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 SW1E. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 307 a day; of its 87 postcodes, 1 at 100+, 86 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 170 a day; of its 87 postcodes, 1 at 100+, 48 at 10 to 99, 38 under 10
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 4 a day; of its 87 postcodes, 87 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 west56% of days | Both ways15% of days | Flying east29% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| SW1E 534 postcodes | 1 at 100+33 at 10 to 99 | 1 at 100+15 at 10 to 9918 under 10 | 34 under 10 |
| SW1E 653 postcodes | 53 at 10 to 99 | 33 at 10 to 9920 under 10 | 53 under 10 |
4 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 SW1E
SW1H SW1A SW1V SW1W SW1P SW1Y W1J SW1X
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.