The colder it gets, the faster they fly.
Commercial flights bound for Europe are taking off later from the United States but arriving on time or early, thanks to a stronger jet stream strengthened by an arctic air mass that stalled along the East Coast last week.
This week, a Virgin Atlantic flight departed from John F. Kennedy International Airport and arrived at London's Heathrow Airport on time, even though it was scheduled to take off an hour and 13 minutes later. The Washington Post reported.
The plane was in the air in less than 30 minutes, reaching speeds of over 800 miles per hour over the Atlantic Ocean.
The pilots used the enhanced jet stream to navigate the Atlantic Ocean at speeds of 840 miles per hour, the newspaper reported.
The reason airplanes couldn't break the sound barrier was because the air, not the engines, was moving very fast. The report likens this to someone walking on a moving walkway at an airport. The person is moving faster because of the sidewalk, not because he or she is walking faster.
The jet stream had an adverse effect on westbound flights, the report said.
Every winter, the jet stream intensifies. Its intensity also increases at night when the lower atmosphere begins to cool. This is the time of year when many planes take off from the East Coast for overnight trips to Europe.
