London to New York Travel Time, 1500–2025
The fastest way to cross the Atlantic has changed almost beyond recognition over 525 years — from six weeks by sail to 3.5 hours by Concorde. The twist nobody expects: we got slower when Concorde retired in 2003.
The story
For 338 years — 1500 to 1838 — the fastest way across the Atlantic was a sailing ship, and the best you could hope for was about six weeks. Then steam engines arrived and within a generation the crossing was down to five days.
The real collapse came in 1939: Pan American Airways launched the first scheduled transatlantic commercial service using Boeing 314 flying boats. The journey took 23 hours and cost $675 one-way — about $14,000 today. No runways needed; the aircraft landed on water and refuelled in the Azores.
By 1958 Boeing 707 jets cut the crossing to 10 hours. By 1970 it was 7 hours. Then in 1976, Concorde brought it down to 3.5 hours — faster than the time difference between London and New York.
In 2003, British Airways and Air France retired Concorde. No commercial aircraft has flown supersonically across the Atlantic since. In a rare reversal of technological progress, the fastest crossing today is slower than it was 27 years ago.
The vehicles
Each era's dominant transport drifts across the screen as the chart animates — galleons give way to ocean liners, then flying boats, propeller airliners, jets, and finally the unmistakable silhouette of Concorde blazing through in seconds before the Boeing 787 takes its place at a slower pace.