"There’s a great market out of Birmingham," Bastian told The Sunday Times. Delta currently sponsors Birmingham City football club, who were recently promoted to the Championship.

Bastian made the comments in a wide-ranging interview, touching on the second Trump administration as well as competition from Delta’s US, European and Gulf state rivals.

The paper suggests Delta could use its new Airbus A321LR aircraft to serve non-London airports in the UK. Bastian said Delta was bucking the trend of a lack of investment in "premium experience" by US carriers serving the UK.

He characterised 2025, so far, as "a parade of horribles" owing to Donald Trump’s trade warfare and the crash Delta suffered at Toronto airport when a CRJ-900, operated by subsidiary Endeavor Air, flipped over on landing. All 80 people onboard survived.

Bastian said despite a dip in consumer confidence, he expected a strong summer and a profitable year, boosted by falling oil prices – a point highlighted by easyJet chief Kenton Jarvis last week.

On the effects of Trump’s second term, which has brought stricter border controls and more background checks on travellers to the US, Bastian admitted the US and its aviation industry had work to do to reassure European visitors who may have been put off.

“It is a concern and it’s something we have to counter,” he said. “There’s a political question in the US around immigration, but we need to make certain that people feel comfortable coming here.”