US Airways' pilots union said it may agree on Thursday on a plan to cut wages and benefits to help the seventh-biggest U.S. airline avoid a second bankruptcy filing.
Since emerging from Chapter 11 in the spring of 2003, US Airways has been hurt by soaring fuel prices and competition from low-cost carriers such as Southwest Airlines Inc.
In a statement posted Wednesday on its Web site, the Air Line Pilots Association said it received a new proposal from the Arlington, Virginia-based carrier late on Tuesday, and planned to meet with US Airways all day Wednesday.
The union's 12-member negotiating committee might then meet on Thursday morning, at which there "could very well be the discussion of a Tentative Agreement or a final proposal," the statement said. If that happened, the agreement or proposal could be sent to members for ratification, it said.
Terms of the carrier's proposal were not immediately available. A call to US Airways was not immediately returned.
US Airways has sought $295 million of wage and benefit cuts from the pilots' union.
It has said it needs $800 million of overall concessions from its unions this month as part of a planned $1.5 billion of cost cuts. The carrier faces a possible default at the end of the month on its federally guaranteed loans.
US Airways has also sought $263 million of concessions from mechanics and fleet service workers, $122 million from reservation agents and passenger service and ticket counter employees and $116 million from flight attendants.
Last month, US Airways Chairman David Bronner told the New York Times that agreements are needed well before Sept. 30, or US Airways might be forced to liquidate.
