London to New York Air Route

The London to New York Air Route is an air route between London, UK, and New York, USA. These two cities are connected by a heavily utilised 2,999 nm (5,554 km) air route which has been historically important to transatlantic aviation and is today served by several major airlines (British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines).[1][2] The airports of Heathrow and JFK are the main international airports for the London metropolitan area and New York metropolitan area respectively, the world's two most important global cities.[3] The route sustains the highest number of passenger seat kilometers per annum of any route globally (10.92 billion ASK's were scheduled in 2015).[4] In 2018 British Airways achieved a revenue of $1.16 billion on this route alone, making their operation the highest value airline route globally.[5] The route saw a total traffic figure in 2018 of 3,034,155 (+3.0% on 2017), the busiest of any transatlantic air route.[6][7]

Prior to the aircraft's retirement British Airways operated a double daily supersonic Concorde service on the route which covered the 2,999 nmi (3,451 mi; 5,554 km) distance in a scheduled time of 3 hours 15 minutes westbound and just under 3 hours eastbound.[8]

Passenger statistics

Below is a table of passenger numbers flying between Heathrow and JFK by year as published by the UK CAA.[9]

Passenger Statistics Between JFK and LHR

Year	Total Passengers	Annual Change	Passenger Kilometers (Billions)
2019	No data	No data	No data
2018	3,034,155	3.0%	16.852
2017	2,945,744	0.4%	16.361
2016	2,934,554	3.8%	16.299
2015	3,050,499	2.6%	16.942
2014	2,972,729	1.4%	16.511
2013	3,015,218	6.2%	16.747
2012	2,839,007	6.0%	15.768
2011	2,678,991	6.4%	14.879
2010	2,517,896	1.6%	13.984
2009	2,478,722	11.6%	13.767
2008	2,802,870	1.3%	15.567
2007	2,839,221	3.2%	15.769
2006	2,751,835	-	15.284

Records

The fastest time for an airliner on the route is 2 hours 52 minutes and 59 seconds, this was achieved on an eastbound JFK-LHR Concorde service on 7 February 1996.[10]

The current fastest subsonic passenger service on the route was achieved by British Airways on February 9, 2020 with a time of 4 hours 56 minutes. The Boeing 747-400 (registration: G-CIVP) operating flight BA112 departed JFK at 18:30 Eastern Standard time on February 8 and landed at Heathrow at 06:25 GMT on February 9. The maximum recorded groundspeed was 825 mph.[11]

References

1. "Great Circle Mapper". Retrieved 16 February 2020.
2. "Flight timetable". Retrieved 16 February 2020.
3. "2019 Global Cities Report". Retrieved 16 February 2020.
4. "Top 15 routes in relation to capacity, ASKs and frequency revealed". Retrieved 16 February 2020.
5. "The $1 Billion Prize: The World's 10 Most Lucrative Airline Routes". Retrieved 16 February 2020.
6. "Airport data 2018". Retrieved 16 February 2020.
7. "Europe's busiest international passenger routes revealed". Retrieved 16 February 2020.
8. "Complete List Of Concorde Scheduled Flights". Retrieved 16 February 2020.
9. "Airport data". Retrieved 16 February 2020.
10. "BA loses transatlantic time record to Norwegian thanks to ferocious jet stream". Retrieved 16 February 2020.
11. "British Airways records fastest ever New York-London flight at more than 800mph, as Storm Ciara winds see airlines battle for speed record over Atlantic". Retrieved 16 February 2020.