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Is this Santa and his reindeer taking their sleigh for a test flight with just three weeks to go until Christmas Day?

An aircraft with the call sign SANTA1 was spotted flying over Norway and Sweden on its way to the Arctic Circle this week.

But it turns out it wasn't the big man's sleigh – it was a British Airways plane ferrying passengers to see Santa Claus himself in snowy Lapland in northern Finland.

British Airways uses the call sign SANTA1 for Christmas-themed journeys

An aircraft with the call sign SANTA1 was spotted over Norway and Sweden on its way to the Arctic Circle

The Airbus A320 flew from London Gatwick Airport to Rovaniemi on Tuesday to give the lucky group a chance to meet Mr and Mrs Claus and his elves and reindeer.

The Christmas charter was full of families who were paying a visit to the Santa Claus Village amusement park.

It was using a special call sign – as opposed to a standard one starting with 'BA' – because it was on a Christmas-themed journey.

Families were travelling to Rovaniemi, in northern Finland, to meet Santa Claus

British Airways owns the call signs SANTA1 and SANTA2, which are used for flights with a Christmas theme

A British Airways spokesperson said: 'We have a scheduled timetable and sometimes there's a chance that someone or a company has chartered an aircraft - a particular flight with a Christmas theme or purpose.

'British Airways own the call signs SANTA1 and SANTA2. So we are able to name flights whenever it's appropriate.

'It's great that we can use these to make flights around this time of year that extra bit more special.'