Sir Howard Davies, the former London School of Economics director who is
heading up a commission investigating where to build Britain’s next runway,
will very shortly publish an appraisal of three possible expansion options
which will then be put out to public consultation.

Last year, Sir Howard shortlisted two options for a third runway at Heathrow
and a second runway at Gatwick.

Mr Cantarutti also ended any speculation that Delta would eventually scrap the
Virgin Atlantic brand after last year paying $360m (£223m) for 49pc of Sir
Richard Branson’s airline.

He said Delta is preparing to swap some of its existing routes to the Virgin
brand, such as Manchester to Atlanta, because travellers prefer to fly with
a native airline. Tickets on routes to the US from Manchester are
predominantly sold in the UK, Mr Cantarutti said.

“There is a tendency for passengers to gravitate towards carriers of their
nationality,” He said. “There should be no question over whether the Virgin
brand survives.”

Willie Walsh, the head of British Airways’ parent company, International
Airlines Group, previously suggested Delta would scrap the Virgin Atlantic
brand by 2017. The claim triggered a public spat with Sir Richard, which
ended with Mr Walsh betting his adversary a “knee in the groin” that he
would turn out to be right.

Delta’s 49pc stake in Virgin is currently under investigation by the European
Commission (EC) as part of a wider inquiry into whether foreign carriers
with minority stakes in European airlines are effectively controlling them
in contravention of EU ownership rules.

Mr Cantarutti said Delta provided the EC with information in the summer and
that the airline has “no reason to believe” its joint business with Virgin
will be found at fault.