How Fast Do Planes Fly?

How fast does a plane fly at cruising altitude?

A jet airliner at cruising altitude flies at roughly 550 mph (885 km/h) through the air. Pilots fly to a Mach number rather than a fixed mph, and at 35,000 feet Mach 0.85 is 564 mph. That is the answer to “how fast does a plane fly” for most passenger flights, and it is the number you will usually see if you run the GPS speedometer above at a window seat in still air.

Why Mach instead of miles per hour? An airliner’s speed limit at altitude comes from the way air behaves as it approaches the speed of sound, and the speed of sound itself drops as the air gets colder. In the standard atmosphere that NASA uses, the air at 35,000 feet is about −54 °C, and sound travels at 664 mph there instead of 761 mph at sea level. So Mach 0.85 would be 647 mph at sea level, but only 564 mph at cruise height. That is one reason articles on this topic disagree: some quote speeds at sea level, some at altitude, and some quote ground speed with the wind included.

The certified data sheets set the ceiling. Europe’s aviation regulator, EASA, lists the maximum operating Mach (MMO) for every type it validates: 0.82 for the Airbus A320 family and 0.90 for the Boeing 787. Airlines cruise a little below those limits to leave a margin for turbulence and to save fuel. Boeing’s own airport planning document gives the 747-8 Intercontinental a cruise speed of Mach 0.855 and the 747-8 Freighter Mach 0.845.

Definitions used on this page. Indicated airspeed (IAS): speed shown on the cockpit airspeed indicator. True airspeed (TAS): speed relative to the undisturbed air. Ground speed (GS): speed across the ground, which is what GPS measures. Mach number: true airspeed divided by the local speed of sound (all per 14 CFR 1.1). Knot (kn): one nautical mile (1,852 m) per hour, 1.15 mph. MMO/VMO: the maximum operating Mach and airspeed a type is certified for.

How fast do different planes fly? Speeds by aircraft

Speeds range from about 143 mph for a Cessna 172 to around 620 mph for the fastest business jets, with airliners in between, certified to 544–597 mph at 35,000 feet. The table converts each manufacturer or regulator figure into mph, km/h and knots so you can compare like with like.

*The Cessna’s figure is a true airspeed at its own much lower cruise altitude (it is certified to 14,000 ft), so it doesn’t need a Mach conversion. All other mph values are computed in the NASA standard atmosphere at 35,000 ft, where sound travels at 664 mph. Conversion constants are exact: 1 knot = 1.852 km/h and 1 mph = 1.609344 km/h.

Two things stand out. First, “maximum” and “cruise” are different numbers. An A320 is not allowed past Mach 0.82, so in practice it cruises slightly slower than that. A 787 is allowed to Mach 0.90 but normally cruises well below its limit because fuel burn rises steeply near it. Second, the spread among jets is small. The fastest Gulfstream at its legal limit is only about 14% faster than an A320 at its limit, which is why a business jet saves time mostly by flying direct and skipping the hub, not by raw speed.

Range matters as much as speed for long trips. Boeing lists the 787-9 at up to 8,300 nautical miles (9,551 miles). A plane that can fly nonstop beats a faster plane that has to stop for fuel.

Airliners cruise below Mach 1, which is only about 660 mph at 36,000 ft; see the speed of sound in mph by altitude.

What is the difference between airspeed, ground speed and Mach?

Airspeed is how fast the plane moves through the air; ground speed is how fast it moves over the Earth. Your phone’s GPS measures ground speed, so it includes the wind. Pilots work with four different speeds, and each answers a different question.

Why indicated airspeed falls as a plane climbs. The airspeed indicator senses how hard air molecules push into a forward-facing tube. In thin air at 35,000 feet, fewer molecules hit it, so the dial reads far lower than the true speed. The FAA defines true airspeed as equivalent airspeed scaled by the square root of the density ratio, which is the formal version of the same idea. The wing feels the indicated number, which is why rules about structural limits and approach speeds are written in indicated knots.

Why Mach matters at altitude. As a wing approaches the speed of sound, parts of the airflow over it go supersonic and form shock waves. That is the reason each airliner has a certified MMO. In the standard atmosphere, the speed of sound depends only on temperature, so it shrinks as you climb through the troposphere and stays constant above about 36,000 feet:

speed of sound a = √(γ × R × T), with γ = 1.4, R = 287.05 J/(kg·K), T in kelvin

The formula is from NASA Glenn’s speed of sound page, and the temperatures come from NASA’s atmosphere model (T = 15.04 − 0.00649 h °C up to 11,000 m, −56.46 °C above). Real days are warmer or colder than standard, so the true mph for a given Mach moves by a few percent. Our sea-level figure (761 mph) matches NASA’s.

If you want to convert any of these yourself, the knots to mph converter and mph to knots converter use the same exact constants.

Why are flights faster eastbound? The jet stream effect

Flights heading east ride the jet stream, a band of west-to-east wind near 30,000 feet that NOAA says can blow faster than 275 mph. A tailwind adds directly to ground speed, so the same plane can cover the ground 100–200 mph faster going east than going west.

The plane’s speed through the air doesn’t change. It holds the same Mach number in both directions. What changes is the air mass it flies in, which is moving over the ground. Take a jet holding Mach 0.85 at 35,000 feet (564 mph true airspeed) on a 2,500-mile trip, about the distance of a coast-to-coast US flight, and add a straight headwind or tailwind:

The times cover the cruise at a constant wind only. Taxi, climb and descent add real time, and no route has a pure headwind or tailwind from end to end. The math is the same as any speed, distance and time calculation: time = distance ÷ ground speed.

This is why a reading of 700+ mph on your phone doesn’t mean the plane broke any rule. Its airspeed is still around Mach 0.85; the wind is doing the rest. Notice that a 764 mph ground speed is above the 664 mph speed of sound at altitude, yet the plane is not supersonic, because Mach is measured against the air around it, not the ground.

Dispatchers use the wind too. Westbound flights often take routes that dodge the strongest part of the jet stream, and eastbound ones go looking for it. NOAA notes the jet stream sits four to eight miles up and can be hundreds of miles wide, so where a flight crosses it changes how much time it saves. Because the jet stream blows mostly west to east, it matters most on east-west routes such as US coast-to-coast and transatlantic flights, and far less on north-south ones.

How fast does a plane go at takeoff and landing?

A jet airliner typically lands at about 139–190 mph (121–165 knots, FAA approach categories C and D) and takes off at a speed calculated for each flight, usually higher than its landing speed because it is heavier at departure. The FAA sorts planes by landing reference speed, from under 91 knots (Category A) to 166 knots and above (Category E).

Takeoff speeds are not fixed numbers. Before every flight the crew calculates three “V-speeds” from the plane’s weight, flap setting, runway length, temperature and wind. The FAA’s abbreviations list defines them:

• V1, decision speed: the fastest point at which the crew can still abort and stop on the runway.
• VR, rotation speed: the speed at which the pilot lifts the nose.
• V2, takeoff safety speed: the speed the plane holds while it climbs away, high enough to stay controllable if an engine fails.

A heavy long-haul jet bound for Asia needs a much higher VR than the same jet flying a light domestic leg. Hot days and high-altitude airports such as Denver push speeds up too, because thinner air gives less lift at a given ground speed.

For landing, the key number is VREF, the reference landing speed. The FAA uses it to sort aircraft into approach categories that set the size of the protected airspace around each instrument approach:

Category thresholds are from 14 CFR 97.3, based on VREF (or 1.3 times the landing-configuration stall speed) at maximum certificated landing weight. The mph and km/h columns are calculated. Lift grows with the square of airspeed, so a plane that weighs more needs more speed to fly; that is why a jet leaving full of fuel rotates faster than the same jet lands at the end of a long trip.

There are also hard speed limits on the way down. Under 14 CFR 91.117, no aircraft may exceed 250 knots indicated (288 mph) below 10,000 feet unless the FAA authorizes it, and near the main airport of Class C or D airspace the limit is 200 knots (230 mph) at or below 2,500 feet above the ground. If you watch the GPS reading on descent, you can often see the plane slow and level off around 10,000 feet as it obeys the first rule.

How do I check my plane’s speed with my phone?

Turn on airplane mode, keep location on, open this page at a window seat and tap Start. GPS works without a cellular signal, so your phone shows the plane’s ground speed, altitude and heading once it gets a fix.

1. Load the page before boarding. Open this page on the ground while you still have data or Wi-Fi so the speedometer is ready; it keeps working offline.
2. Turn on airplane mode, and leave Location Services on. Airplane mode switches off the cellular radio, as federal rules require, but on most phones it leaves the GPS receiver working.
3. Hold the phone flat against the window. The fuselage blocks most satellite signals, so an aisle seat or a phone in your lap may never get a fix. A window seat on the side facing more open sky works best.
4. Tap Start and wait. The first fix at altitude can take one to two minutes, longer than on the ground, because the receiver has to find satellites through a small window.
5. Watch the accuracy line. Once it says “good”, the speed is reliable. Switch the unit to knots if you want to compare with a flight tracker, or to km/h.
6. Read the extras. The altitude line shows height above sea level (see the altitude tool for how phones measure it), and the max field keeps your top ground speed for the flight.

What the readings mean in the air. The big number is ground speed, so it already includes the wind. Expect the number to climb quickly on the takeoff roll, then a long climb with speed held near 288 mph until 10,000 feet, then a steady rise to cruise. If the reading tops 650 mph, you are almost certainly riding the jet stream. The gauge on this page runs to 650 mph, enough for any airliner in normal winds.

When the reading drops out. Banking turns, a cabin full of passengers leaning against the window, or a window shade pulled down can all break the fix. Readings pause rather than guess, and they come back within seconds once the phone sees enough sky again. GPS.gov notes that typical smartphones locate themselves to about 16 feet under open sky; through an aircraft window, accuracy is worse but still good enough for a stable speed reading at cruise.

Is it legal to use GPS on a plane? FAA and FCC rules

Yes, on US airlines you can generally use your phone in airplane mode during flight, including its GPS, if your airline allows it. The FCC bans cellular phone use in the air, and the FAA leaves the decision on other devices to each airline.

Two federal rules work together:

• FAA rule, 14 CFR 121.306. No one may operate a portable electronic device on a US airline flight unless it is on a short list of exceptions or the airline (the “part 119 certificate holder”) has determined it won’t interfere with the plane’s navigation or communication systems. In other words, the airline decides, and its flight attendants’ instructions are what you follow.
• FCC rule, 47 CFR 22.925. Cellular phones “must not be operated while such aircraft are airborne.” That is why airlines ask you to switch to airplane mode before takeoff: it turns off the cellular radio.

Since GPS is a receive-only signal, using the GPS receiver doesn’t transmit anything. Airlines publish their own device policies, and rules can differ by carrier, aircraft and phase of flight, and the crew can tell you to stow devices at any time, such as during takeoff and landing. Foreign carriers follow their own regulators. When in doubt, ask a flight attendant.

Do planes fly 300, 400, 700 or 1,000 mph?

Yes to all four, but not the same planes: turboprops cruise near 300 mph, jet airliners at 540–600 mph through the air (and over 700 mph across the ground with a jet-stream tailwind), and only supersonic aircraft pass 1,000 mph. The table puts each benchmark next to a real aircraft.

Knots are converted with 1 kt = 1.150779 mph and mph with 1 mph = 1.609344 km/h; the 714 mph row is Mach 0.85 at 35,000 ft plus a 150 mph tailwind, as in the jet-stream section above. Two lessons stand out. First, a “700 mph” reading on your phone’s GPS is normal on an eastbound flight: it is ground speed with the wind added, not the plane going faster through the air. Second, 1,000 mph has been reached only by aircraft built to go supersonic. British Airways gives Concorde’s cruise as 1,350 mph at up to 60,000 ft, with London–New York in a little under 3.5 hours, and the National Museum of the US Air Force lists the SR-71’s July 1976 records of 2,193.167 mph and 85,069 ft. No passenger plane has flown supersonic since Concorde retired.

How fast do the fastest planes fly?

The fastest flight by a crewed, powered aircraft is the X-15 rocket plane’s Mach 6.7, or 4,520 mph (7,274 km/h), flown by Air Force pilot Pete Knight on October 3, 1967, according to NASA. No airliner flying today comes close: they are certified to Mach 0.82–0.90.

Why don’t airliners go faster? Above about Mach 0.9, drag rises sharply as shock waves form on the wings, and fuel burn rises with it. Supersonic flight also creates a sonic boom. For an airline, a few percent more speed rarely earns back the extra fuel, which is why every airliner in the table above is certified for a narrow band between Mach 0.82 and 0.90.

If you’re comparing travel options, the same pattern holds on the ground. The fastest trains in the world top out around a third of an airliner’s cruise speed, and US trains are slower still (see how fast do trains go). For your own speed on the road, use the online speedometer on the homepage.