Storm Helps British Airways Flight Set New Speed Record

As Storm Ciara pounds Great Britain, it just might have been the impetus for a new speed record between New York and London.

A British Airways flight on Sunday covered the journey across the Atlantic Ocean in four hours and 56 minutes, an hour and 20 minutes ahead of schedule and 17 minutes faster than the previous record held by Norwegian Air, according to flight-tracking service Flightradar24.

Aviation consultant and former BA pilot Alastair Rosenschein told the BBC it was a phenomenal speed.

“The pilot will have sat their aircraft in the core of the jet stream and at this time of year it’s quite strong,” he said. “Turbulence in those jet streams can be quite severe, but you can also find it can be a very smooth journey.”

The jet stream reached speeds of 260 mph on Sunday morning, according to BBC Weather, and the Boeing 747-400 reached speeds of 825 miles per hour.

In a statement, British Airways said, “We always prioritise safety over speed records. Our highly-trained pilots made the most of the conditions to get customers back to London well ahead of time.”

Other flights and airports in the U.K. were not so lucky. Ciara, with its high winds, has forced numerous cancellations and delays.

According to airlinegeeks.com, a Norwegian 787 from New York made two attempts to land at Gatwick Airport before being diverted all the way to Copenhagen, Denmark.

Scandinavian Airlines SK4069 flying in from Oslo made two attempts to land in Manchester, England before deciding to fly back to Oslo.

Emirates Airline EK17 flying in from Dubai attempted twice to land before the crew of the A380 diverted to Frankfurt, Germany. LATAM Airlines LA8084 flying from Sao Paulo, Brazil, diverted to Barcelona, Spain, after the strong winds forced the flight crew to abandon two approaches at Heathrow.