Fastest Flight Ever? British Airways' Subsonic Flight Bests Record For New York To London

A British Airways flight from New York to London has set the all-time speed record. The flight was made by a Boeing 747 craft that reached a top speed of 825 mph (1,327 km/h) on route to Heathrow Airport, completing its journey in four hours and 56 minutes, two hours ahead of schedule on Sunday morning.

Flightradar24 confirmed the feat, stating that British Airways has claimed the record back from Norwegian Airlines. The service estimates the average time for a flight between New York and London to be six hours and 13 minutes.

The British Airways flight took place around the same time as two Virgin Airlines flights, including one Airbus A350, making the same trip from New York to London. The Airbus lagged a bit behind the 747, while the other Virgin craft touched down an hour and three minutes later.

“We always prioritise safety over speed records,” a spokesperson for British Airways said in a statement. “But our highly trained pilots made the most of the conditions to get customers back to London well ahead of time.”

The flights made last night were given a boost by the coming of Storm Ciara towards the United Kingdom on a 200-mph jet stream. While crafts flying east were able to shatter records thanks to the weather conditions, flights heading in the opposite direction took up to two-and-a-half hours longer to reach their destination.