The enormous wind speeds of storm Ciara had given commercial aviation a subsonic record at the night from Saturday to Sunday. A plane from British Airways took just 4 hours and 56 minutes to fly from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to London Heathrow.

The previous record was in the name of airline Norwegian, which completed the transatlantic flight in 5 hours and 13 minutes in January 2018. On average, a flight takes around 6 to 6.5 hours.

The Boeing 747-400 from British Airways had an average speed of 1,287 kilometers per hour. According to Flightradar, a top speed of at least 1,327 kilometers per hour has been measured.

Two aircraft from Virgin Atlantic Airways also dived well below the old record of Norwegian, but were respectively one and three minutes slower than the British rival.

A British Airways spokesperson told British media that the record is nice, “but the safety of our passengers is always paramount”. The airline canceled over 140 flights on Sunday. Schiphol Airport suspended 240 flights.