In a plan to exit bankruptcy, managers at Delta Air Lines valued the carrier at 9.4 billion to 12 billion U.S.dollars and said its board had rejected U.S. Airways' 8.5 billion dollar bid, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The announcement begins the second phase of what could be a drawn-out battle for control of the country's third-largest airline, the report said.

Delta also projected strong and uninterrupted growth in revenue and profits through to 2010, despite the airline industry's history of regular and sharp downturns.

The report said that the plan relies on a continuing shift of planes from domestic service to international routes, where there is less low-cost competition.

In a statement after the Delta bankruptcy plan was filed, U.S. Airways said it would "remain a disciplined and determined bidder, " according to the report.

U.S. Airways, the sixth-largest U.S. carrier, announced on Nov. 15 that it had made a merger proposal to Delta "under which both companies would combine upon Delta's emergence from bankruptcy."

It offered Delta's creditors 4.0 billion dollars in cash and 78.5 million shares of stock with an aggregate value of approximately 4.0 billion dollars.

U.S. Airways was created after U.S. Air emerged from bankruptcy and was acquired by America West last year.

Source: Xinhua