FLYSCOUTThe fastest airliner flights: riding the jet stream at over 800 mph
An airliner can pass 800 mph over the ground without flying any faster than usual, when it rides a jet stream blowing at 200 mph or more. A British Airways 747 reached 825 mph on its way from New York to London in February 2020, and a United 787 838 mph in February 2024. Through the air, both were flying at their normal speed.
Some winters, headlines report an airliner flying faster than the speed of sound. None of them is breaking the sound barrier. They are riding the jet stream, and the number on the flight tracker is their speed over the ground.
Airspeed and ground speed
An aircraft's speed through the air is its airspeed. Its speed over the ground is that airspeed plus the wind, added as arrows: a tailwind adds to it, a headwind takes away. NASA's teaching pages put it simply: the wind is the difference between the two.
Flight trackers show ground speed, because that is what positions measured over the ground give. So an airliner cruising at its usual speed, inside a mass of air moving at 200 mph in the same direction, shows a ground speed 200 mph higher than usual.
The sound barrier depends only on speed through the air. However fast the ground slides by underneath, the aircraft is not supersonic.
The jet stream
Jet streams are narrow bands of very fast wind high in the atmosphere. NOAA puts them at around 30,000 ft, where airliners cruise, and says their winds can exceed 275 mph. The Met Office describes them as 5 to 7 miles up, often blowing at over 200 mph, and notes that flying with the jet stream cuts flight times and saves fuel.
Over the North Atlantic the jet stream usually blows from west to east, which is why flights from North America to Europe are often much quicker than the same route the other way.
The record flights
There are no official records for the ground speed of airliners, as NPR noted, but the fastest reported flights all came in January or February, when jet streams were unusually strong:
| When | Flight | Reported ground speed |
|---|---|---|
| February 2019 | Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787, Los Angeles to London | 801 mph, at 35,000 ft |
| February 2020 | British Airways Boeing 747, New York to London | 825 mph; 4 hours 56 minutes, 80 minutes early |
| January 2024 | China Airlines | 826 mph |
| February 2024 | Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787, Washington to London | 802 mph, 45 minutes early |
| February 2024 | United Boeing 787, Newark to Lisbon | 838 mph |
In February 2020 the jet stream reached about 260 mph, the BBC reported, and Flightradar24 said the BA flight beat the previous best time from New York to London, 5 hours 13 minutes. The BBC could not verify the record independently. In February 2024, a weather balloon over New York measured winds of about 265 mph, just short of the local record of 267 mph, set in December 2002.
How FlyScout spots them
FlyScout calls it jet-stream speed when an airliner, freighter or business jet flies at 700 knots or more over the ground, about 805 mph, for at least eight minutes above 28,000 ft. Speeds are taken as the median of each minute, so one bad reading counts for nothing, and anything over 850 knots, about 980 mph, is treated as a flaw in the data rather than believed: no airliner and no recorded wind add up to that.
It had found none by mid-October 2026, which fits the pattern: every record above came in January or February. When the winds come, FlyScout will list the fastest crossings as they happen.
Is it dangerous to fly in a jet stream?
No more than any other cruise. Through the air, the aircraft flies at its normal speed, and airlines plan their routes around the winds. For passengers, the main effect is an early arrival.
Questions people ask
What is the fastest a passenger plane has flown over the ground?
There is no official record, but airliners have been reported at over 800 mph during strong jet streams. NPR reported a United Boeing 787 at 838 mph between Newark and Lisbon in February 2024, and the BBC a British Airways 747 at 825 mph between New York and London in February 2020.
Does an airliner break the sound barrier when it goes 800 mph?
No. What matters for the sound barrier is speed through the air, and that stays at the aircraft's normal cruising speed. The 800 mph is speed over the ground: the aircraft's own speed plus the jet stream carrying the air it flies in.
Why are flights from New York to London faster than the other way?
Because the jet stream over the North Atlantic usually blows from west to east. Flying east, aircraft use it as a tailwind; flying west, they face it as a headwind or route around it.
How fast is the jet stream?
Often over 200 mph, according to the Met Office, and at times over 275 mph, according to NOAA. A weather balloon over New York measured about 265 mph in February 2024; the local record is 267 mph, from December 2002.
Sources
- NASA Glenn Research Center: Relative velocities, ground speed and airspeed
- NOAA: The jet stream
- Met Office: What is the jet stream and how does it affect our weather? (May 2025)
- BBC: BA flight sets New York to London speed record (February 2020)
- AvWeb: Jetstream pushes Boeing 787 past 800 mph (February 2019)
- NPR: Near-record winds over the Northeast push passenger planes to speeds over 800 mph (February 2024)
