While a New York-London plane lasts an average of 6:15 a.m., passengers on three flights from JFK airport in New York to Heathrow in London have seen their journeys shortened. A Boeing 747 and two Airbus A 350 took respectively 4:56, 4:57 and 4:59 to reach the two cities. A broken record!
Over an hour early. Two flights scheduled for this Saturday, January 8 broke a speed record in the air. A Boeing 747 and an Airbus A350 unknowingly raced. Both took off from John Fitzgerald Kennedy airport in New York and they had the same destination: London Heathrow airport.
The British Airways Boeing 747 took off at 6.30 p.m. (local time), its competitor, the Airbus A350, from British company Virgin Atlantic, at 11.28 p.m. (local time) and these two airliners took 4h 56 and 4h 57 respectively to reach the British capital. It was therefore the American manufacturer who won this incredible race.
First to arrive, the Boeing took 4 h 56 to fly from New York to London.
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The Airbus reached London in 4:57.
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A third flight also set a record but came third on the podium, again, it was an Airbus A350 chartered by Virgin Atlantic airline. The latter reached New York in London in 4 h 59.
The Airbus A350 took 4:59 to cross the Atlantic.
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On average, such a crossing of the Atlantic by airliner lasts 6 hours 15 minutes. It is therefore with more than an hour in advance that the passengers joined the two cities.
Storm Ciara generated strong air currents aloft over the Atlantic Ocean. Roughly horizontal, they can exceed 360 kilometers per hour which helps planes in the direction of crossing the Atlantic
Break a record
During its crossing of the Atlantic, the Boeing reached top speeds of 1314.92 km/h (710 kt). The Airbus A350 did not exceed 1296.4 km/h (700 kt) during its flight according to data published by Flightradar24.
The third flight, whose trip lasted 4 h 59, reached top speeds of 1259.36 km/h (680 kt).
The previous record dates back to January 2018. A Boeing 787 departing from John Fitzgerald Kennedy Airport in New York, with 283 passengers on board, broke the Atlantic crossing record for this type of airliner in 5 hours and 13 minutes. He was therefore dethroned twice, this Saturday, February 8.
The transatlantic record for a commercial aircraft still remains the prerogative of a British Airways Concorde, on February 7, 1996, in just 2h52 minutes and 59 seconds, after having reached a maximum speed of 2,172 km/h.
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