Originally Posted by
ChamplinAl
I just looked at October 24, 2020 with the following legs:
Eastbound ICN DTW....(DL158) flight time is stated as 12:55 (hh:mm - using Deltas scheduled times) on an Airbus A350-900
Westbound DTW ICN...(DL159) flight time is stated as 13:40 (hh:mm - using Deltas scheduled times) on an Airbus A350-900
.......almost 1 hour difference flight time (well 45 minutes)....why?....what is the only other differences besides direction?
When Concorde was still flying, I think you would have found JFK to LHR flight time leg was less than the LHR to JFK flight time leg.
Please help me think more outside of the box if I'm missing something else - I will keep my thinking open and blinders off. Thanks
That’s all about the prevailing upper-level winds. As a general rule, in the northern hemisphere, upper-level winds flow west to east. Therefore an eastbound transatlantic flight from JFK to LHR will almost always be shorter based on time than the westbound LHR-JFK equivalent. This is amplified in the winter season when upper level winds are stronger than they are in the summer season. In winter months JFK-LHR flights on subsonic aircraft have been recorded under five hours whereas westbound flights may take 8 hours or more. This is entirely based on the winds enroute. The actual distance between the two destinations always remains the same.