How fast can fruit flies fly?

The common fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has an average flying speed of 20 centimeters per second. No published flying speeds exists for other types of fruit flies, such as the Mediterranean fruit fly, as of 2015.

When heading in a direction opposite to a gust of wind, the common fruit fly remains flying at the speed of 15 to 20 centimeters per second to stay steady. Its walking speed is usually 28 millimeters per second, but can range between 7.2 and 44.7 millimeters per second. Fruit flies usually beat their wings 200 times per second and, when threatened, can change their flight paths in under one-hundredth of a second.