US Airways made a new proposal to its pilots and flight attendants last week for concessions that could help the company avoid its second bankruptcy filing in two years, the company and union officials said.

Bruce Lakefield, the company's chief executive, said in a recorded message to employees that the company sought to hold down wage cuts by increasing the number of hours that pilots and flight attendants work.

"We have also proposed other changes to work rules and benefits that are necessary to be competitive with low-cost carriers," Mr Lakefield said.

Mr Lakefield said workers who have contacted him this week expressed support for cuts that strike a balance between wage, benefit and work-rule concessions.

"It is for that reason that we made the proposals we did today," Mr Lakefield said.

The value of givebacks has not changed from the $295 million the company has been seeking from pilots and the $116 million it wants from flight attendants, sources familiar with the plan said.

The US Airways unit of the Air Line Pilots Association, meeting in Pittsburgh, would not discuss the plan, but previous proposals have sought wage cuts of at least 16 per cent as well as other givebacks.

Jack Stephan, a spokesman for pilots at the No. 7 airline, said the union was discussing the proposal but gave no insight on how it would be received.

The pilots union 12-member executive committee rejected the company's last plan earlier this week, triggering widespread agreement among industry experts that the company was not likely to meet its employee cost-cutting targets and would be forced back into bankruptcy.