Since the days of the Concorde, it has been a bit quiet in the speed department for commercial aircraft. However, as Monday’s flight shows, with the right tail wind (and load), it is possible to set some pretty impressive speed records for a subsonic airliner!
New Speed Record for JFK – London Set By Norwegian
Link: FlightAware Record
On Monday, January 15, Norwegian flight 7014 flew from JFK to London Gatwick airport and arrived a whopping 53 minutes early. The total trip took 5 hours and 13 minutes, or less than flights that go across the US.
This flight was aided by a very stiff tailwind of just over 200 mph and, according to the pilot, it could have been even faster had there not been some turbulence along the way.
This time of 5 hours and 13 minutes is a new record for this route by a non-supersonic aircraft and beats the previous record by 3 minutes (held by British Airways). This flight by Norwegian topped out at 776 mph on this trip!
Of course, the tailwind was a major factor but I wouldn’t be surprised if this trip was helped out as well by the fact that it was with an airline that charges for every single bag. My guess would be that people travel a bit lighter on these flights than on the regular full-service airlines.
At any rate, if you were going to fly Norwegian to Europe, this is the flight you want to be on! You get a great price and you would have been across the pond in a blistering time of 5 hours – not bad at all and certainly a time that would have likely been a waste if it was flown in business class (on a different airline).
Source: Time
Featured image by Steve Bates via Norwegian
