Originally Posted by
treadigraph
Saw two small objects trailing in very loose formation westbound over Woking yesterday afternoon
Often visible as such from here by London City, on contrail days, of flights running north-west overhead Lambourne VOR. For some reason Qatar Airways, nonstop from Doha to the USA, seems to be regularly prominent like this, separated by maybe 2,000 ft and the second a couple of miles offset and very slightly in trail. I have wondered for how many hours they keep this up. They seem to have left Doha 5 or 10 minutes apart, but have caught up.
Other carriers, notably BA, seem to select different tracks for close departures of long-haul flights on the same general route. There must be some policy by carrier.
I've had a quick look just now, and none approaching London, but three Qatar eastbounds (from different US start points, must be more difficult to co-ordinate) running close together over Morocco, the normal North Atlantic approach where eastbounds are commonly much further south than westbounds.