Delta senior vice-president for Europe, Middle East and Africa Nat Pieper said the airline has been forming a closer relationship with Virgin brands following the signing of its code-share agreement with Virgin Atlantic in 2014.
With a new Edinburgh-New York JFK daily flight set to launch in May this year and following the start of a Manchester flight to the same US destination last summer, he said the airline was performing strongly.
Pieper added he is hoping the relationship with Virgin will allow it to grow its brand in the UK.
He said: “We’re trying a number of things with Virgin… (we’re hoping to) leverage the Virgin Holidays brand.
“Virgin is very strong in Gatwick. Delta used to fly out of Gatwick so we can look at it again.”
He added the new Edinburgh route is expected to be initially strong with the corporate market and Americans wanting to visit Scotland but expects it to perform strongly in the Scottish market too.
Pieper added the airline’s strong financial position – it has enjoyed five years of profitability – has allowed it not just put its own house in order but also focus on the customer experience by upgrading aircraft and focusing on flight delivery. In 2015 the airline saw 161 days when no flights were cancelled.
“The consumer experience is so much better than where it was five to 10 years ago,” he said.
The airline has also introduced high-speed Wi-Fi across all of its flights between the US and the UK, although customers will not be able to use it for a chat at 30,000 feet.
Pieper also refused to say whether he was for or against building a third runway at Heathrow until he knows what it means for airlines using the airport.
“We need to know how they are going to allocate the slots. If British Airways get 100% of the slots then I’m against it. It is hard to make that call until we know how it all plays out,” he added.
