Is Heald Green under the Manchester Airport flight path?

Yes — Heald Green sits right off the north-eastern runway ends and is one of the most consistently overflown suburbs around the airport. In prevailing westerly winds (about 80% of the year) aircraft descend low overhead on the 23 approach; when the wind turns easterly the same area gets departure climb-outs instead. Drop a pin on the map above to see the exact overflight count for your street.

Is Wythenshawe under the Manchester Airport flight path?

Yes. Wythenshawe straddles the extended north-eastern centreline, so it is overflown by low arrivals in westerly operations and by departures when the airport switches to easterly mode. Exposure varies street by street depending on how close you are to the centreline — use the pin-drop tool above to check a specific address.

Why are planes so loud over Wilmslow?

Wilmslow was historically one of the most affected towns because westerly departures used to curve south over it. When the second runway opened in 2001 the Preferred Noise Routes were changed so westerly take-offs now turn right (north) shortly after departure before tracking south, lifting much of the footprint off Wilmslow and Alderley Edge. It remains close to the southern corridor, so aircraft are still audible, but the worst of the departure turn was moved away.

Which areas are affected when Manchester Airport is on easterly operations?

About 20% of the year the wind is easterly and everything reverses. Instead of arriving from the north-east, aircraft approach from the south-west over Knutsford and Northwich, while departures climb out to the north-east over Wythenshawe, Heald Green and towards Stockport. If you live south-west of the field, easterly days are when you notice the most noise.

Why do planes fly so low over Stockport?

In standard westerly operations Stockport sits on the broad north-eastern arrival path, so inbound aircraft pass overhead at a few thousand feet while descending towards the 23 approach. Arrivals do not follow noise-preferential routes the way departures do — air traffic control lines them up on a long straight-in approach — so the descent track over the north-eastern suburbs is fairly fixed.

Which runway and direction is Manchester Airport using today?

Manchester has two parallel runways aligned 05/23 (north-east to south-west). In westerly winds aircraft use the 23 direction — arriving from the north-east and departing to the south-west; in easterly winds they use the 05 direction and the whole pattern flips. You can see live direction and individual aircraft on the airport's WebTrak portal, and the route-density layer on the map above shows the cumulative pattern.

How do I report aircraft noise at Manchester Airport?

Contact the Manchester Airport Flight Evaluation Team (Community Relations) on 08000 967 967, or use the noise and WebTrak pages on the airport's community website. WebTrak also lets you look up the specific flight that passed over your address before you complain.

Manchester Flight Path Noise Map – Manchester Airport (MAN)

Name: Aircraft noise observations near Manchester Airport
Creator: Flight Path Noise
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Aircraft noise around Manchester in October 2026

Loudest neighborhoods near Manchester: Heald Green, Styal, Wythenshawe, Gatley, Wilmslow. Quietest: Bramhall, Hale, Northwich, Macclesfield. Busiest around noon local time averaging 708 flights/day. Source: Flight Path Noise monitoring data, 30 days to 2026-10-19.

Flights by hour · last 30 days

12a6a12p6p

Average daily traffic

708

flights / day · 21,231 total

Busiest hour

noon

peak 95 dB

Loudest hour

noon

peak 95 dB

Loudest residential area

Heald Green

72 dB avg · ~594 flights/day · Loud conversation

Sits directly off the north-eastern runway ends under both westerly arrival approaches and easterly departure climb-outs; one of the most consistently overflown suburbs

Does Manchester Airport have a curfew?

Partial — no outright curfew, but tightly restricted night operations (11 PM–7 AM).

There is no outright curfew — Manchester operates 24 hours — but night operations between 23:00 and 07:00 are tightly restricted under the airport’s Night Noise Policy. Runway 2’s planning permission limits its use to 06:00–22:00, so overnight the airport normally reverts to single-runway operations on Runway 1. The noisiest aircraft (QC8 and QC16) are banned from arriving or departing 23:00–06:59, a movements-limited noise quota applies, and night departures that exceed set noise limits face financial penalties.

Manchester Airport (MAN/EGCC) is the UK’s third-busiest airport and a genuine two-runway facility, sitting at Ringway about 11 km (7 miles) south-west of Manchester city centre. Its two close-spaced parallel runways are aligned roughly north-east to south-west (05/23), which means almost the whole region sits either up-line or down-line of the field rather than beside it. Because the UK’s prevailing wind is westerly, around 80% of the time aircraft arrive low over Stockport and the north-eastern suburbs and climb out to the south-west towards Knutsford — so on any given day one half of the conurbation gets the arrivals and the other gets the departures, and an easterly swap (about 20% of the year) flips that overnight. The airport runs 24 hours but reverts to single-runway operations on Runway 1 at night under a Night Noise Policy it describes as stricter in several respects than Heathrow’s or Gatwick’s.

Which neighborhoods are quietest — and which aren’t

Manchester runs two parallel runways: Runway 1 (05L/23R, 3,048 m), the original runway opened in 1937, and Runway 2 (05R/23L, 3,200 m), opened in February 2001 — the first full-length commercial runway built in Britain for over 20 years — spaced only about 390 m to the west of Runway 1. Because both runways share the same 05/23 alignment, exposure is dictated almost entirely by whether you sit on the north-eastern approach/departure corridor or the south-western one, and how close you are to the extended centreline.

Area	Aircraft noise	Why
Heald Green	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Off the NE runway ends; under westerly arrivals and easterly departures
Styal	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Off the SW runway ends; under westerly departures and easterly short final
Wythenshawe	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Straddles the extended NE centreline; low arrivals and departures
Gatley	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Close to the 23 approach corridor NE of the field
Wilmslow	✈︎✈︎✈︎	Close to the southern corridor; eased but not removed by the 2001 route change
Cheadle Hulme	✈︎✈︎	Under the broader NE spread but offset from the exact centreline
Handforth	✈︎✈︎	Near the southern corridor, slightly off the 05/23 centreline
Knutsford	✈︎✈︎	Westerly departure turning point; arrivals overhead in easterlies, but higher
Stockport	✈︎✈︎	On the broad NE arrival path; aircraft a few thousand feet on descent
Alderley Edge	✈︎✈︎	Within the southern corridor; relieved by the 2001 route change
Bramhall	✈︎	East of the centreline; higher-altitude departures, not low approaches
Hale	✈︎	NW of the runway alignment; largely lateral to the corridors
Northwich	✈︎	Outer SW track but distant; aircraft well climbed or still high
Macclesfield	✈︎	Largely off-corridor to the SE; mostly higher-altitude traffic

If aircraft noise is a primary concern, the practical move around Manchester is to get off the 05/23 axis — areas to the north-west (Hale) or well to the east and south-east (Bramhall, Macclesfield) sit lateral to the main corridors and catch mostly higher-altitude traffic. The most consistently affected places are those off the runway ends and under the extended centreline: Heald Green, Styal, Wythenshawe and Gatley. If you’re looking at a specific street, drop a pin on the map above to see its exposure.

Flight patterns and runway use

Manchester’s pattern is driven by wind direction. Roughly 80% of the year the airport runs in westerly mode on the 23 direction: aircraft arrive from the north-east, descending over Stockport, Cheadle and Heald Green, and depart to the south-west towards and around Knutsford. The remaining ~20% is easterly mode on the 05 direction, which reverses everything — arrivals come in from the south-west over Knutsford and Northwich, and departures climb out to the north-east.

During peak periods both runways are used at once. In westerlies aircraft land on Runway 1 and depart from Runway 2; in easterlies that swaps. The airport has a formal preference, enshrined in air traffic control procedure and a planning agreement, to depart aircraft to the west because it affects fewer people.

Departures are the part of the operation that is actively steered. Aircraft over 5,700 kg must follow legally-binding Preferred Noise Routes (PNRs) until they reach a set height, threading between built-up areas. The defining change came with the second runway in 2001: westerly departures now turn right (north) shortly after take-off before tracking south, a route designed to lift the noise footprint off Wilmslow and Alderley Edge. Arrivals, by contrast, do not follow noise routes — air traffic control sequences them onto the ILS from standard arrival routes 50–60 nm out, typically established on a long straight-in approach at 3,000–4,000 ft. The airport is fully inland, so there is no over-water routing to absorb noise the way coastal airports have.

The route-density layer on the map above makes this directional pattern obvious: two bright corridors run north-east (arrivals over Stockport) and south-west (departures towards Knutsford) from the field, with the spread widening as aircraft fan out to their PNRs.

When is it quietest?

The quietest predictable window is overnight, when the night restrictions do the heavy lifting:

23:00 – 06:00: Runway 2 is closed under its planning permission, so the airport reverts to single-runway operations on Runway 1, sharply reducing the number of movements.
23:00 – 06:59: the noisiest aircraft (QC8 and QC16) are banned from arriving or departing, a movements-limited noise quota applies, and departures exceeding set noise limits face financial penalties. Pilots are also asked (not required) to avoid reverse thrust in this period.
Early morning (06:00 onwards): Runway 2 reopens and the dual-runway departure bank builds as the day’s first wave of holiday and short-haul flights pushes back.
Daytime: sustained movements with both runways in use during peaks.
Late evening (towards 22:00): Runway 2 closes at 22:00, so traffic consolidates back onto Runway 1.

The other thing that changes your noise overnight — literally — is the wind. An easterly that sets in will flip the whole operation, suddenly putting Knutsford and Northwich residents under arrivals that were previously routing over the north-east, and sending departures out over Heald Green and Wythenshawe instead. About one day in five runs this way.

How to check noise at your specific address

The map above answers the question “is this spot loud?” for any address around Manchester. Three steps:

Search your address or postcode in the bar at the bottom of the map.
Drop a pin — click the location marker that appears.
Read the noise report in the sidebar: average daily noise, peak observed dB, flights per day passing within 2 km, and an hourly breakdown.

The Noise Heatmap layer (orange/red = louder) and the Route Density layer (purple/magenta = busier corridors) make the 05/23 pattern clear — two arms running north-east and south-west from the field. Because the footprint here is so directional and wind-dependent, two homes the same distance from the airport can have very different exposure depending on which side of the centreline they sit. For the live, aircraft-by-aircraft picture you can also use the airport’s own WebTrak portal, and noise can be reported to the Manchester Airport Flight Evaluation Team on 08000 967 967.

Frequently asked questions

Is Heald Green under the Manchester Airport flight path?: Yes — Heald Green sits right off the north-eastern runway ends and is one of the most consistently overflown suburbs around the airport. In prevailing westerly winds (about 80% of the year) aircraft descend low overhead on the 23 approach; when the wind turns easterly the same area gets departure climb-outs instead. Drop a pin on the map above to see the exact overflight count for your street.
Is Wythenshawe under the Manchester Airport flight path?: Yes. Wythenshawe straddles the extended north-eastern centreline, so it is overflown by low arrivals in westerly operations and by departures when the airport switches to easterly mode. Exposure varies street by street depending on how close you are to the centreline — use the pin-drop tool above to check a specific address.
Why are planes so loud over Wilmslow?: Wilmslow was historically one of the most affected towns because westerly departures used to curve south over it. When the second runway opened in 2001 the Preferred Noise Routes were changed so westerly take-offs now turn right (north) shortly after departure before tracking south, lifting much of the footprint off Wilmslow and Alderley Edge. It remains close to the southern corridor, so aircraft are still audible, but the worst of the departure turn was moved away.
Which areas are affected when Manchester Airport is on easterly operations?: About 20% of the year the wind is easterly and everything reverses. Instead of arriving from the north-east, aircraft approach from the south-west over Knutsford and Northwich, while departures climb out to the north-east over Wythenshawe, Heald Green and towards Stockport. If you live south-west of the field, easterly days are when you notice the most noise.
Why do planes fly so low over Stockport?: In standard westerly operations Stockport sits on the broad north-eastern arrival path, so inbound aircraft pass overhead at a few thousand feet while descending towards the 23 approach. Arrivals do not follow noise-preferential routes the way departures do — air traffic control lines them up on a long straight-in approach — so the descent track over the north-eastern suburbs is fairly fixed.
Which runway and direction is Manchester Airport using today?: Manchester has two parallel runways aligned 05/23 (north-east to south-west). In westerly winds aircraft use the 23 direction — arriving from the north-east and departing to the south-west; in easterly winds they use the 05 direction and the whole pattern flips. You can see live direction and individual aircraft on the airport's WebTrak portal, and the route-density layer on the map above shows the cumulative pattern.
How do I report aircraft noise at Manchester Airport?: Contact the Manchester Airport Flight Evaluation Team (Community Relations) on 08000 967 967, or use the noise and WebTrak pages on the airport's community website. WebTrak also lets you look up the specific flight that passed over your address before you complain.

Sources and further reading

Manchester Airport — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
Airspace & Operations — Living Near the Airport — Manchester Airport (MAG)
Runway Data Sheet — Community Information — Manchester Airport (MAG)
Noise Disturbance and WebTrak — Manchester Airport (MAG)
Night Noise Policy 2020–2024 — Manchester Airport (MAG)
Report to Community Committee — Manchester Airport Flight Noise — Knutsford Town Council

Data updated 2026-10-19 — live ADS-B monitoring, rolling 30-day statistics (methodology). Article text revised 2026-05-30.

30 dB	Whisper
45 dB	Quiet residential
55 dB	Normal conversation
65 dB	Busy road
75 dB	Vacuum cleaner
85 dB	Heavy traffic
95 dB	Motorcycle nearby

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Manchester Flight Path Noise Map – Manchester Airport (MAN)

Aircraft noise around Manchester in October 2026

Does Manchester Airport have a curfew?

Which neighborhoods are quietest — and which aren’t

Flight patterns and runway use

When is it quietest?

How to check noise at your specific address

Frequently asked questions

Sources and further reading

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