Delta Airlines CEO Richard Anderson has said that the Gulf region was the source of the September 11, 2001 attacks that hurt the airline industry in the US.

In an interview with CNN’s Richard Quest, Anderson said it was ironic of Gulf carriers to suggest that bankruptcy protections equalled government assistance.

He said: "It’s a great irony to have the UAE from the Arabian Peninsula talk about that, given the fact that our industry was really shocked by the terrorism of 9/11, which came from terrorists from the Arabian Peninsula. That caused us to go through a massive restructuring. And in the United States our restructuring process is transparent and there is no government subsidy. And in fact there were billions of dollars of equity and unsecured debt that were wiped out through that process."

Delta filed for bankruptcy in 2005 and emerged in 2007 after shedding assets and debts and renegotiating contracts.

Anderson’s strong comments reveal an increasing frustration that legacy US carriers are having with competition from the Gulf.

Anderson and some leading airline chiefs from the US allege that governments in the Gulf are providing massive subsidies to their airlines. However, this has been denied by the Gulf carriers.

Anderson said Delta, United, and American had spent two years going over financial statements that revealed “documented evidence that can’t be refuted of tens of billions of dollars in direct government subsidies.”

He said in the interview that the subsidy amounted to $40 billion, much of that direct cash subsidy.

Anderson said a 55-page report has been given to the US administration.