Planes overhead in SW1X
Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Wandsworth, London. All 402 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 SW1X. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 307 a day; of its 402 postcodes, 2 at 100+, 51 at 10 to 99, 349 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 170 a day; of its 402 postcodes, 2 at 100+, 400 under 10
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 4 a day; of its 402 postcodes, 402 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SW1X 078 postcodes | 3 at 10 to 9975 under 10 | 78 under 10 | 78 under 10 |
| SW1X 787 postcodes | 1 at 100+5 at 10 to 9981 under 10 | 1 at 100+86 under 10 | 87 under 10 |
| SW1X 8124 postcodes | 22 at 10 to 99102 under 10 | 124 under 10 | 124 under 10 |
| SW1X 9113 postcodes | 1 at 100+21 at 10 to 9991 under 10 | 1 at 100+112 under 10 | 113 under 10 |
2 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 SW1X
SW1W SW3 SW1E W1J SW1V SW1H SW1A SW1Y
The councils
- Westminster: noise and liveability score
- Kensington and Chelsea: noise and liveability score
- Wandsworth: noise and liveability score
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.