Words by Marcus Boothby
Flying used to be a glamorous thing in decades past, with comfortable seating, good food, attractive air stewards and a sense of elegance. Now, flying is all about efficiency and making as much money as possible.
Yet, planes are faster and bigger than ever before with average speeds well into the high three-digit mark, just below the supersonic barrier. Sure, a modern commercial passenger jet won’t be as fast as a state of the art fighter jet but still fast enough to cover most intercontinental routes in a matter of hours, with no need to refuel in most cases.
One of the most travelled routes is the London-New York route which is key for business and tourism, is normally flown in 6-7 hours but there have been times where planes have done this route in a much quicker time.
Thanks to the recent Storm Ciara, a British Airways flight has managed to fly the popular route in a record-breaking 4 hours and 56 minutes while reaching a top speed of 825mph thanks to a jet stream which was reaching speeds of up to 260mph. The plane in question was a Boeing 747-436, which is part of the 747-400 family of planes.
The record was previously held by a plane operated by Norwegian who did the run in 5 hours and 13 minutes while using a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. Sure, neither of the two records are as fast as the one set by Concorde, which did a 2 hour and 53 minute run. Don’t forget that the 747 and 787 are not designed to be supersonic jetliners.
But still, a record is a record and we congratulate British Airways and Boeing on having the best planes out there.