Quantcast

Transatlantic flights where you arrive before you leave

Alaska Airlines flight attendants reject new contract, union says there's 'more work to do'
Elliott Investment To Push For 10 New Boardroom Directors At Southwest Airlines
Alaska Air Backs JetZero Blended-Wing Design
AI in Aviation Line Maintenance: A Strategic Response to Delays, Satisfaction, and Staffing Challenges
VistaJet Flight Brings Home Americans in Prisoner Swap
Air Canada Blames Paris Olympics On Decreased Profits
Delta passengers sue airline over refund refusals after CrowdStrike meltdown
Microsoft fires back at Delta after massive outage, says airline declined ‘repeated’ offers for help
Korean Air Confirms A Spacious Lounge Is Coming To The New Terminal One at New York JFK
VAS Aero Services to Acquire an Additional 17 Airbus A320 Airframes, Bringing to 23 the Total Number of A320s Slated for Teardown and Harvested Parts Redistribution
Delta CEO says CrowdStrike-Microsoft outage cost the airline $500 million
Boeing Reports $16.9 Billion In Revenue For 2nd Quarter With 5,400 Commercial Aircraft Backlog
United Airlines says flight attendant in Terrell Davis incident is no longer employed and NFL legend’s ‘no fly’ ban is lifted | CNN
Nepal Plane Crash Kills 18 After Takeoff - Airline Ratings
Southwest Airlines is getting rid of open seating | CNN Business
CrowdStrike Outage Caused 10% Spike in Air Charter
Aircraft Engine Maintenance and Repair to Peak in 2026, Worsening Capacity Shortage for Commercial Aviation, Says Bain & Company
Joby’s Electric Air Taxi Makes European Debut
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation announces NLRB-scheduled vote to remove union officials
Families recount the horror of MH17 ten years on - Airline Ratings
777-9 Enters Certification Flight Testing - AVweb
Kompass Kapital Sets New Course with Airshare Investment
SATS, SIA Engineering Company and Changi Airport Group to Trial Autonomous Buses at Changi Airport
Qatar Airways Landing An A350 In Hamburg Makes A Powerful Statement - Airline Ratings
EBAA Backs Dassault's Sustainability Lawsuit against European Commission | AIN
American Airlines Now Lets You Earn And Spend Miles On Concerts And Events
Boeing agrees to plead guilty to defrauding the FAA but escapes punishment sought by victims’ families | CNN Business
IATA partners with Aviation Sustainability Forum to tackle cabin waste
Qatar Airways In Talks To Buy 20% Of Virgin Australia - Airline Ratings
Boeing Will Buy Spirit AeroSystems For $4.7 Billion In Stock & Airbus Enters $559 Million Agreement For Its Parts
Transatlantic flights where you arrive before you leave
Policy
Webp ymhfjf407emv9o42iza31o4oyd1u
Justin Foster Private Aviation Journalist | Simple Flying

Three transatlantic routes arrive up to 30 minutes before departing due to the time zone change being greater than the block time. Fewer than one in 1,000 flights across the Atlantic 'time travel'. An additional 12 links arrive within 60 minutes of leaving (in local time).

Flights that arrive before they leave are intriguing. The most famous examples involved Concorde: BA001 left Heathrow at 10:30 and arrived at New York JFK at 09:25 local time, while AF002 departed Paris CDG at 10:15 and arrived at 08:15. While numerous short-haul examples exist, the situation differs for long-haul flights, including those across the Atlantic.

Using Cirium data to examine all scheduled summer passenger services between Europe, Africa, the Middle East, etc., across the Atlantic to the Americas indicates that just three routes made the cut. They are summarized below.

Get the Newsletter
Sign-up to receive weekly round up of news from Sky Industry News
By submitting, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. By providing your phone number you are opting in and consenting to receive recurring SMS/MMS messages, including automated texts, to that number from our short code. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help, STOP to end. SMS opt-in will not be sold, rented, or shared.

Between July 1 and September 21 (the last day of the season for these routes), these three collectively have 81 departures (each way). As such, fewer than one in 1,000 transatlantic flights 'time travel.'

The specific routes are as follows:

- Condor's Frankfurt-Anchorage route departs at various times (14:10-13:50, 14:30-14:10, and 15:00-14:40) and arrives 20 minutes before departure. This service operates thrice weekly with an A330neo and ends for the season on September 14.

- Discover's Frankfurt-Anchorage route departs at 14:20 and arrives at 13:50, arriving 30 minutes before departure. This service operates twice weekly with an A330-300 and ends for the season on September 21.

- Finnair's Helsinki-Seattle route departs at 16:40 and arrives at 16:00, arriving 20 minutes before departure. This service operates thrice weekly with an A350-900 and ends for the season on August 31. The oneworld route began in 2022.

Given so few services arrive before they leave, another table lists transatlantic airport pairs that arrive no more than 60 minutes after taking off (local time). This is based on examining all flights between July and September.

Notably included is Greenland's inclusion using turboprops by Icelandair* operating Keflavik-Kulusuk (Greenland) route from Keflavik departing at different times (17:30-18:15) with a Dash Q400/Q200 aircraft arriving within a timeframe of up to about a maximum of around an hour or less compared to other airline pairs mentioned below.

The specific routes are:

- Air Canada’s Dublin-Vancouver route departs at various times such as (10;15 -11;15) four weekly 787 -9 aircraft

-Ai France’s Paris CDG-Vancouver daily 777 -200ER

-KLM’s Amsterdam-Calgary Daily 777 -200ER

-KLM’s Amsterdam-Edmonton Four times weekly A330 -200

-KLM’s Amsterdam-Vancouver Daily 777 -300ER/777 -200ER

-Icelandair* Keflavik-Kulusuk(Dash Q400/Q200)

-Icelandair Keflavik-Seattle Triple daily from September onwards(757 –200ER )

-Icelandair Keflavik-Vancouver Four weekly(737 MAX8/757 –200ER)

-Lufthansa Frankfurt –Vancouver Daily(747–400)

-WestJet Edinburgh-Calgary Four Weekly(787 –9)

-WestJet Keflavik-Calgary Four Weekly(737MAX8)

###

Organizations Included in this History
More News

UPS has operated one of the longest direct air cargo routes in the United States since 2018, connecting Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF) in Kentucky with Dubai International Airport (DXB) in the United Arab Emirates.

Aug 2, 2025

The Boeing 737 MAX 10 is the largest version of the 737 family, designed to compete with the Airbus A321neo.

Aug 2, 2025

Russian airline Aeroflot reported significant flight disruptions on Monday, July 28, due to a failure in its information systems.

Aug 2, 2025

After more than four years, American Airlines will reintroduce its Boeing 777-200ER aircraft on the New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) route starting October 6.

Aug 2, 2025

The Airbus A321XLR, which entered service in late 2024, is now the longest-range narrowbody aircraft available.

Aug 2, 2025

The Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 are the only commercial jetliners with a partial or full second passenger deck, and both have left a significant mark on aviation history.

Aug 2, 2025