On 4 October 1958, British Overseas Airways Corporation—the predecessor to British Airways—inaugurated transatlantic jet service, operating each way between New York and London with the De Havilland DH-106 Comet 4. 60 years ago there were just two passenger jet aircraft above the Atlantic Ocean, while today nearly 3,000 aircraft cross the Atlantic daily.

One flight departed each from London and New York, passing the other over the North Atlantic east of St. John’s.

Flight plan for the first @British_Airways (BOAC) NYC-London jet flight, shared by flight attendant Peggy Thorne, who worked on that flight! #avgeek pic.twitter.com/mkb6p6WI3c

— Paul Thompson (@FlyingPhotog) October 3, 2018

Flying the Comet

Here’s a look at the flight deck of G-APDB, which flew the first New York-London service in a time of 6 hours 12 minutes.

How times have changed

From just two flights on 4 October 1958 to over 3,000 daily transatlantic flights today, airspace over the Atlantic has evolved. Here’s the beginning of last night’s procession across the Atlantic including the North Atlantic Tracks and air traffic control boundaries. The gradient coloration on the map represents the jet stream, which still strongly influences the position of traffic over the Atlantic, just as it did 60 years ago.

The beginning of the evening rush across the Atlantic. Follow along at https://t.co/ZFkZFtwNBT. pic.twitter.com/Wgpfs26eg4

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) October 4, 2018