Every ADS-B-tracked flight visualized in this print — captured on a single day.

Traffic data for London Heathrow Airport (LHR/EGLL) was captured on 1 January 2026, the 80th anniversary of Heathrow's official opening as London's main airport. The dataset covers 915 flights across 429 unique aircraft, split between 492 arrivals and 423 departures, with 9 ground operations recorded. Activity ran from 00:00 to 23:59 GMT, averaging 38.1 flights per hour across the day. The busiest hour was 18:00, which logged 73 movements (41 arrivals, 32 departures). Hours 1 and 2 recorded zero traffic. Departures were absent until 06:00, while arrivals began trickling in from midnight. The top routes by combined movements were Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS) and Madrid Barajas (MAD), each with 25 total flights. Geneva (GVA) and Frankfurt (FRA) followed at 22 each, with Dublin (DUB) at 20. Approach directions skewed heavily from the east, with ESE leading at 100 arrivals, followed by E (71) and SE (50). Departure directions spread more evenly, with ESE (78) and WNW (76) nearly tied at the top. UK-registered aircraft made up the largest share of the fleet at 218 of 429 unique aircraft, followed by US (37) and unclassified XX (26). Altitude data spans 858,211 ADS-B position points. The two largest altitude bands were 38,000 to 39,000 ft (58,341 points) and 36,000 to 37,000 ft (58,477 points), with a secondary concentration at ground level below 1,000 ft (67,209 points). The peak recorded altitude was 42,575 ft, logged by G-ZBJK on an arrival. The shortest flight in the dataset was a 69.3 nm arrival from London Stansted (STN) lasting 32 minutes. The longest was a 2,196.8 nm arrival of 347.4 minutes flown by G-VTOM. Combined flight distance across all legs totalled 654,230 nm, with an average leg distance of 715 nm and an average duration of 123.8 minutes.