Delta flight races into path of Hurricane Irma before executing quick escape from Puerto Rico

A Delta flight raced against Hurricane Irma on Wednesday, landing in Puerto Rico and taking off again within an hour just as the category 5 storm was bearing down on the island.

FlightAware data showed that the Boeing 737 left New York at 8.12am and arrived in San Juan at 12.01pm, just as Irma was set to make landfall.

Less than an hour later, it took off  from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in decidedly blustery conditions.

Pictures posted on social media showed the flight heading straight into the path of the hurricane, which had already left a trail of devastation across the Caribbean.

"Where others have turned back, Delta #DL431 presses on," tweeted the Flightradar24, which tracks air traffic in real time.

Jason Rabinowitz, an aviation enthusiast,  shared photos of the flight data in real time as the fight landed, prepared for its next flight and took off again.

He said the total time on the ground for the flight was 52 minutes, including the taxi-in and taxi-out.

"Now DL302 has to climb out of SJU, and they're doing so between the outer band of #Irma and the core of the storn. Amazing stuff," he tweeted.

Erik Snell, vice-president for Delta operations and customer centre, said their "meteorology team is the best in the business".

"They took a hard look at the weather data and the track of the storm and worked with the flight crew and dispatcher to agree it was safe to operate the flight," he said, according to the Washington Post. 

Hurricane Irma makes landfall in the Caribbean, in pictures

The flight was the last one to land and take off from the airport before it stopped operations.