By HARRY R. WEBER, AP Business Writer 1 hour, 26 minutes ago

ATLANTA - US Airways Group Inc. made an $8 billion cash and stock bid for Delta Air Lines Inc. on Wednesday, a deal that would create one of the world's largest carriers. The move came despite Delta's repeated statements it isn't interested in a merger

The offer to buy Delta once the Atlanta-based airline emerges from bankruptcy protection by the middle of 2007 would give Delta's unsecured creditors $4 billion in cash and 78.5 million shares of US Airways stock. Delta has yet to file its own plan of reorganization.

As it stands now, Delta's common shares are likely to end up worthless when it exits bankruptcy. In most bankruptcy cases, the debtholders usually end up with new shares of the company.

Shares of US Airways rose $2.90, or almost 6 percent, to $53.83 in morning trading on the
New York Stock Exchange.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061115/ap_on_bi_ge/delta_us_airways