"The pilot will have sat their aircraft in the core of the jet stream and at this time of year it's quite strong.

"Turbulence in those jet streams can be quite severe, but you can also find it can be a very smooth journey."

The jet stream reached speeds of 260 mph (418 km/h) on Sunday morning, according to BBC Weather.

Despite travelling faster than the speed of sound the plane would not have broken the sonic barrier as it was helped along by fast-moving air.

Relative to the air, the plane was travelling slower than 801mph.

Modern passenger planes usually travel at about 85% the speed of sound, according to Mr Rosenschein.

British Airways said: "We always prioritise safety over speed records.

"Our highly-trained pilots made the most of the conditions to get customers back to London well ahead of time."

The fastest transatlantic crossing belongs to BA Concorde, which flew from New York to London in two hours 52 minutes and 59 seconds in 1996 - hitting a top speed of 1,350 mph.

Source: BBC