NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — Delta Air Lines Inc. will tell its bankruptcy creditors today why they should reject a hostile $8.72 billion merger bid from US Airways Group Inc., three people familiar with the meeting said.Delta executives also will share details of the airline’s plan to exit Chapter 11 without a partner, said the people, who asked not to be named because the talks are private.

The meeting in New York will mark the latest effort by Delta, the third-largest US airline, to win support from its nine-member creditors committee. Atlanta-based Delta and US Airways both want the panel’s backing because the committee will help set terms of any plan for Delta to leave bankruptcy.

The creditor group met with Delta and US Airways executives on November 30 and December 1 to discuss the competing plans for Delta. The committee has no meetings scheduled with Tempe, Arizona- based US Airways, although panel members are interested in more talks, two of the people said.

US Airways, the seventh-largest US carrier, went public on November 15 with an offer of $4 billion in cash and 78.5 million US Airways shares to merge with Delta after the bankrupt carrier rebuffed an earlier overture.

Delta will file its plan to emerge from bankruptcy as soon as next week, the people said. The carrier has argued it can produce greater benefits for creditors and employees if it remains independent. It filed for bankruptcy protection in September 2005.

US Airways, which merged with America West Holdings Corp. 15 months ago to end its own bankruptcy, said it can squeeze $1.65 billion in annual savings over two years from combining the two carriers.

A merged US Airways and Delta would surpass AMR Corp.’s American Airlines as the world’s largest carrier. It would have 18 percent of the US airline industry’s capacity.

Shares of Delta rose 11 cents to $1.65 at 2:56 p.m. in New York in over-the-counter trading. US Airways shares fell $1.73 to $59.83.

Delta’s 8.3 percent note maturing in 2029 fell 1 cent to 67 cents on the dollar, according to Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the NASD. The yield was 12.1 percent.