DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co yesterday asked Congress for up to $9 billion in a government credit line to support its restructuring, saying it expects to break even or be profitable in 2011.

The news sent shares in Ford, considered to be the strongest of the three Detroit automakers, soaring as much as 13 percent in morning trading. The shares have more than doubled since late November.

Ford, which burned through $7.7 billion of cash in the third quarter, said it does not anticipate a liquidity crisis in 2009, barring a bankruptcy filing by one of its US-based rivals, General Motors Corp or Chrysler LLC.

Ford said in the plan submitted to the US Congress that GM and Chrysler were "at risk of running out of cash in a matter of weeks or months" and warned that the collapse of one of its two domestic rivals could threaten Ford because of the overlapping supplier and dealer networks.

Ford, GM and Chrysler have a Tuesday deadline for submitting detailed plans to congressional leaders outlining restructuring efforts and their prospects for survival in order to secure $25 billion in emergency funding.

Ford chief executive Alan Mulally, who along with other automaker executives drew criticism from US lawmakers over their compensation and luxury travel arrangements, called the bridge loan "a critical backstop" for Ford that it may not have to access. Ford said its CEO would take a $1 annual salary if Ford does access government funds. The automaker also said it would sell its five corporate aircraft.

"We want to continue this transformation, but if the economy gets worse, and the industry gets worse, we want to be able to access the bridge loans also to keep our transformation going and be part of the economic recovery," Mulally told Reuters.

Ford expects both its overall and North American automotive business pretax results to be break-even or profitable in 2011.

Ford said in the plan that it understood that taxpayers' funds needed to be protected from default but objected to proposals to make the $9 billion government credit line senior to other claims.