NEW YORK (CNN) -- The head of Delta Air Lines says he is disappointed that a suspected terrorist was able to bring explosives on board a Christmas Day flight despite the company's efforts to follow federal safety regulations.
"The work that we've done over the last decade really ought to give us a better result than the peril that our crews and passengers faced on Christmas," Delta (DAL, Fortune 500) CEO Richard Anderson said Thursday in a recorded message to employees.
Anderson was referring to a botched attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet en route from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit on Dec. 25. The attempt to ignite explosives hidden in terror suspect Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab's underwear failed to bring down the plane, which had 278 passengers and 11 crew members aboard.
Delta owns Northwest.
Anderson added that the company has followed all guidelines set by the government since the 1996 mid-air explosion of TWA Flight 800 -- which killed all 230 people aboard -- and the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
He pledged that the airline would continue to work with the federal Transportation Security Administration to quickly implement new security measures promptly. 
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