REUTERS/Toby Melville
A British Airways Boeing 747 aircraft.
- Storm Ciara saw aircraft flying transatlantic routes on Saturday night perform flights in record times.
- Three flights from New York to London performed by UK carriers British Airways and Virgin Atlantic were accomplished in under five hours, beating the previous record.
- The current supersonic record for the route is held by British Airways and the Concorde at two hours and 52 minutes while the subsonic record was held by Norwegian Air at just over five hours.
- Flights in the US also saw an uptick in tailwinds that brought down flight times on flights heading from west to east.
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A faster than normal jet stream formed as a result of Storm Ciara gave numerous aircraft flying transatlantic routes a favorable tailwind, dramatically reducing their flight times, CNN reported.
Some aircraft even surpassed the speed of sound with speeds over 800 miles per hour, though their actual airspeed wasn't enough to break the sound barrier.
On the New York to London route, where flight times average over six hours, the high winds saw a small handful of aircraft traverse the near 3,500-nautical mile route in under five hours. The record-breaking flight times saw not one, but three aircraft surpass Norwegian Air in the top spot.
Among the top performers of the night were UK-based carriers and competitors British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. The UK duo routinely serves the New York-London air route, one of the most popular and profitable in the world, with aircraft ranging from aging Jumbo Jets to the newest aircraft in the sky.
Take a look at the aircraft that were able to fly the New York to London route at speeds that haven't been seen since the Concorde.
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