South Queensferry, Wilmslow and Edinburgh top the list of quietest towns for aircraft noise near a major UK airport

New data from property intelligence platform My Flight Path reveals the best and worst places to live for aircraft noise near Britain’s eight busiest airports

South Queensferry, Edinburgh City Centre and Wilmslow have emerged as the quietest towns for aircraft noise near a major UK airport, according to new data published today by My Flight Path, the property intelligence platform that measures aviation noise at postcode level across the UK.

The findings, drawn from an analysis of 76 towns across Britain’s eight major airports, show that buyers willing to look near Edinburgh Airport or further afield from Manchester can find meaningfully lower noise exposure than the national airportzone average. At the other extreme, six towns within the Heathrow corridor Hounslow, Windsor, Richmond, Feltham, Harlington and West Drayton - all score zero out of 100, the lowest possible rating.

My Flight Path’s Flight Blight Rating provides a standardised score from 0 to 100 that can be incorporated into property searches, surveys, and valuations, bringing aviation data into the same conversation as school districts, crime statistics, and flood zones.

The company offers house buyers, sellers and residents the opportunity to check their postcode for Flight Blight through a free website tool available here.

Commenting on the results, My Flight Path Co-Founder, Jono Oates, said: “The data shows there are good choices and bad ones near Britain's airports but buyers are making those decisions blind. Windsor and Richmond score zero for aircraft noise. Heathrow expansion will make that worse.

“Yet there's no requirement for any of this to appear in a property search or a survey. Flood risk is mandatory. Aircraft noise, which affects millions of pounds of value and can harm residents’ health, isn't. That needs to change.”

Scores above 52 (‘Moderate’) indicate noticeable but non-dominant overhead activity. No town near a major UK airport scored above 64, underscoring that all eight airport zones carry some degree of aviation noise exposure.

A score of 0 indicates the maximum measured aircraft noise exposure. Scores below 17 are classified as ‘Critical’ — typically indicating a location directly under an active approach or departure corridor.

Why this matters for the property market

Aircraft noise is an increasingly scrutinised factor in residential property valuations. Research cited in My Flight Path’s full Flight Blight Reports indicates that properties in high-exposure zones can attract a measurable discount relative to comparable homes in quieter areas.

Yet publicly available data in the UK remains limited. Defra’s strategic noise maps produced under the Environmental Noise Directive - cover only seven airports, are updated every five years (most recently in 2022), and are available only as broad geographic contours, not searchable by address or postcode.

My Flight Path works at postcode level, covering every UK aerodrome and transiting flight corridor, and updates data regularly, giving buyers, sellers, surveyors, and mortgage lenders a significantly more granular picture than government sources provide.