Delta Air Lines Chief Executive Gerald Grinstein said on Thursday he plans to retire after the airline emerges from bankruptcy protection, but he declined to say who would succeed him.

Atlanta-based Delta filed for Chapter 11 protection in September last year and expects to emerge from bankruptcy in the first half of 2007.

"It will be a little while after that," Grinstein told reporters during an event in New York to promote Delta's international expansion plans.

Grinstein, 73, declined to say whether Delta had a succession plan in place. "The board will make its decision when the time comes," he said.

In the past, Grinstein has said a successor is likely to come from within the company, and he has named COO James Whitehurst and CFO Edward Bastian as possible candidates.

Grinstein also said that Delta intends to emerge from bankruptcy as an independent carrier, dismissing speculation over the past few months that consolidation might be in the works.

Industry leaders such as UAL Chief Executive Glenn Tilton and US Airways Group Chief Executive Doug Parker have been outspoken supporters of consolidation.

Grinstein said Tilton had talked to him about a possible merger more than 18 months ago, while Parker had asked him earlier this year, but he had told them that he was not interested.

"I told (Parker) that we did not want to have any discussion like that," Grinstein said. "Our plan is to come out independent and stand-alone."

But Grinstein added that he did expect a different form of consolidation to happen in the industry, where one airline could buy parts of another's business.

"I don't think it is going to look very different two years from now in terms of the number of carriers, the number of hubs and the scale of them," Grinstein said.

Grinstein, a director at Delta since 1987, was named its chief executive in January 2004.