Aircraft at or near airports are controlled by personnel at the particular airport, with the exception of London Heathrow and London Gatwick which operate under a separate system. Shortly after an aircraft leaves the area of the airport and joins the airways the responsibility for control passes from the airport to one of three Air Traffic Control Centres, situated at West Drayton, Prestwick in Ayrshire, and Manchester, known respectively as ‘London’, ‘Scottish’ and ‘Manchester’.
The London centre covers all airspace over England, Wales and Scotland up to 55 degrees North, roughly level with Newcastle; the Scottish centre covers the region North of 55 degrees North. Adjacent to Manchester International Airport there is a third centre which handles traffic in the Manchester area up to FL175 (approximately 17,500ft). The Republic of Ireland has its own control centre located near Shannon operating under the callsign 'Shannon Control'. The Manchester Centre also provides the 'Pennine Radar' service as far as the North Sea boundary.
The whole of the UK region is sub-divided into sectors for radio frequency allocation purposes for flights operating in controlled airspace.