British Airways 747 flies New York to London in 4hrs 56mins

British Airways will phase out older aircraft such as the Boeing 747-400 over the next few years — British Airways Boeing 747-400 taking off from Cardiff Airport

09/02/2020 News, Travel < 1 minute read
Written by: Nick Harding

A British Airways (BA/BAW) Boeing 747-400 has completed the flight from New York to London in 4 hours and 56 minutes, believed to be the first time its been flown by a transonic aircraft in under 5 hours.

According to data from flight-tracking website Flightradar24.com the flight, BA112 left New York’s JFK airport at 18:47 local time on the 8th February 2020 and arrived at London Heathrow at 04:43 local time on the 9th February 2020 given a flight time of 4hrs 56 minutes.

The Boeing 747-400 (G-CIVP) beat a rival Airbus A350 from Virgin Atlantic by one minute!

Flightradar playback of BA112 (Courtesy of Flightradar24)

The flight was possible due to massive tailwinds caused by the Jetstream seeing the jet cruise with a groundspeed reaching 717 knots (825mph).

The previous record for the fastest flight from New York to London was held by low-cost carrier Norwegian who operated a Boeing 787 on the route in just over 5 hours.