The maximum speeds of high-technology operational aircraft are seen to increase steadily from about 125 miles per hour in 1920 to nearly 450 miles per hour in the World War II years.
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According to Drela, today's airplane builders actually favor a smaller, lighter, and therefore slower aircraft that peaks its fuel efficiency at slower speeds. (Cars also become more efficient at slower speeds on highways.)
The first commercial flight in 1914 hovered at a cruising altitude of just 5 feet in the air. In the 1930s, planes began to hit the 200 mph mark, and settled into a cruising altitude of about 13,000 feet.
Cruising speeds for commercial airliners now range between about 480 and 510 knots, compared to 525 knots for the Boeing 707 during the 1960's, according to a 2014 article from the MIT School Of Engineering.
At the start of the commercial jet age, at the end of the 1950s, cruise speeds were about 450 knots. The majority of turbofan-powered aircraft in today's world fleet have average cruise speeds of about 500 knots (Jane's, 1998).