US Airways says Delta trying to put it out of business

WASHINGTON - Delta Air Lines is trying to put US Airways out of business by pursuing predatory, anticompetitive business practices, US Airways President David Siegel in an unusually blunt speech Tuesday. <br> <br> Siegel jokingly called Delta Chairman Leo Mullin ``Dr. Evil&#39;&#39; and referred to a proposed alliance of Atlanta-based Delta and two other carriers as the ``Axis of Evil,&#39;&#39; in a speech to the International Aviation Club of Washington. <br> <br> Tuesday&#39;s comments are in part a response to statements made by Mullin that he would pursue ``an armada&#39;&#39; of products and subsidiaries to combat an alliance between US Airways and United Airlines. <br> <br> US Airways, the nation&#39;s seventh-largest carrier, filed for bankruptcy August 11 and has made numerous changes in recent months to get its cost structure in line. Seven of its nine union locals have agreed to wage cuts totaling about $619 million-a-year; the remaining locals concluded voting this evening on proposals for an additional $221 million in cuts. <br> <br> The wage cuts are the largest concession package in the history of the airline industry, Siegel said, and will bring what had been the indusry&#39;s highest labor costs in line with its competitors. <br> <br> Siegel criticized a proposed code-share agreement between Delta, Northwest and Continental airlines that he said ``is unprecedented in its scope and scale.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Siegel says the Delta alliance would be 50 percent larger than the US Airways alliance and would constitute 40 percent of all domestic air traffic.