Article from BTNews 22 JANUARY 2018
Record Atlantic by Norwegian
On Monday 15 January, Norwegian flight DY7014 from New York JFK to Gatwick completed the full duration of the flight in 5hr 13min – the fastest transatlantic flight recorded on a subsonic commercial aircraft. The flight carrying 284 passengers departed New York at 11:44 and arrived at London at 21:57 – 53 minutes early.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner service benefitted from strong tailwinds over the Atlantic Ocean that reached a maximum of 176 knots (202mph). The tailwinds pushed the aircraft to a top speed of 776mph during the flight.
To put it all in perspective back in 1974 a US Air Force Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird strategic reconnaissance aircraft flew from New York to London in 1hr 54min 56.4sec on its way to perform at the Farnborough Air Show. Averaging 1,806mph the SR-71 passed through an imaginary gate 80,000ft above New York. Heading east it flew 3,461.528mi until passing through another imaginary gate over London. The Concorde record time is 2hr 52min 59sec in 1996 and easterly flights under three hours were fairly common during that era.
According to Norwegian the gate-to-gate standard time is 6hr 30min for the easterly flight whilst in the other direction it is 8hr 20min.
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Tony Keane, Dublin, Ireland
Hyperbole by Norwegian! It has been claimed that a Norwegian B787 set a record for the fastest transatlantic flight crossing by a subsonic jet, JFK to Gatwick in 5 hours 13 minutes. Last Sunday Aer Lingus flew Boston-Shannon in four hours 30 last Sunday. January 14, while an Aer Lingus B720 flew JFK to Shannon in 4 hr 58 minutes as far back as November 18 1960
Richard Phillips, Hampshire
Presumably, this record relates to NYC-LON only? I remember during my time as a BA steward on 747's, that I flew from Montreal to Heathrow in 4hr 55mins and that Boston to Heathrow was achieved in a shade over 5hrs. This was quite popular with the crew in one respect...it allowed very little time to serve breakfast!