US Airways is confident its proposed merger with bankrupt Delta Air Lines will win approval from Delta's creditors and be completed despite opposition from Delta management, the president of US Airways said on Tuesday.

"Because this transaction creates value that can only be created through a merger, and because the bankruptcy process is designed to elicit value, we're going to get this done," Scott Kirby said at the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington.

He said US Airways' could complete a merger about six months after starting due diligence. So far, Delta has not publicly said that it would open its books to US Airways.

On November 15, US Airways proposed a deal now worth USD$8.6 billion to acquire Delta, but met resistance from Delta management who said the company is focused on emerging from Chapter 11 as a stand-alone airline.

"Delta is making crucial progress toward becoming a strong, independent, stand-alone company based on a plan that is clearly working," said Delta Chief Executive Gerald Grinstein in a note to employees on Tuesday.

Delta will "soon" share its analysis of US Airways' offer with Delta's creditors' committee, "with whom we have a cooperative and productive relationship," said Grinstein in the memo.

US Airways, the product of a merger between the former US Airways and America West Airlines, has said the merger would generate USD$1.65 billion in annual savings.

"Talking to Delta has helped clarify some uncertain issues," Kirby said.

The USD$1.65 billion savings target is "quite conservative" and a merger may produce more savings, Kirby said. US Airways beat the savings target it set when it embarked on the US Airways/America West merger, he added.

"We've been through this before. In that case, we started with a similar lack of information," Kirby said. "We feel like we will beat (the target)... We feel very confident."

Kirby declined to discuss the nature of US Airways' talks with Delta or the creditor committee, saying only that he was optimistic about the prospects for a merger.

US Airways' goal is to have its proposal fairly evaluated and to win Delta's approval to conduct due diligence, a condition of the offer, he said.

"We're talking to all parties -- anyone who wants to talk to us," Kirby said.

Some experts believe a merger between US Airways and Delta would trigger more industry consolidation and attract other suitors for Delta.

One likely candidate is United Airlines, which has made it clear that it would like to be a part of industry consolidation. United has contacted Delta in the past about a possible merger.

"I actually think a (Delta) merger with United is worth more than a merger with US Airways," said Roger King, a senior airlines analyst at CreditSights.

"If they're not ready to do something, they'll never be ready to do something," he said.

Bill Warlick, an analyst at Fitch Ratings, agreed and noted that there may be pressure on other major airlines to make bids for rivals sooner rather than later.

"I think there's a first-mover advantage here," Warlick said. He said potential antitrust concerns may come more sharply into focus for government regulators in the wake of a US Airways-Delta merger.

"I have to think the bar will be raised considerably if this merger is approved," he said. "I think there's a lot of pressure to move swiftly."