Planes overhead in SW1Y
Westminster and Wandsworth, London. All 183 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 SW1Y. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 307 a day; of its 183 postcodes, 1 at 100+, 46 at 10 to 99, 136 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 170 a day; of its 183 postcodes, 1 at 100+, 182 under 10
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 4 a day; of its 183 postcodes, 183 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SW1Y 471 postcodes | 10 at 10 to 9961 under 10 | 71 under 10 | 71 under 10 |
| SW1Y 545 postcodes | 1 at 100+36 at 10 to 998 under 10 | 1 at 100+44 under 10 | 45 under 10 |
| SW1Y 667 postcodes | 67 under 10 | 67 under 10 | 67 under 10 |
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 SW1Y
SW1A WC2N W1J WC2H WC2E SW1H SW1E WC2R
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.