ARLINGTON, Va. - US Airways Group Inc.'s plan to decrease costs in bankruptcy proceedings may bring expenses almost into line with those of low-cost America West Airlines, Standard & Poor's said yesterday, citing court filings.

US Airways, which has had some of the highest operating costs in the industry, said in a filing with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Alexandria, Va., over the weekend that its cost to fly one seat a mile will drop 17 percent when the seventh-biggest U.S. carrier emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Such costs would be higher than Southwest Airlines Co., S&P; analyst Phil Baggaley said.

"The plan, if they're able to implement it, would significantly improve their costs, but their chances of survival will still depend in part on the general airline revenue environment and their ability to respond to increasing low-cost airline competition," Baggaley said.

A war in Iraq or another terrorist attack could still push down industry revenue, derail the airline's plans and lead to a US Airways liquidation, Baggaley said. Arlington-based US Airways, which filed for protection from creditors in August, expects to reduce annual costs by $1.8 billion, including $1 billion from employee pay, benefit and work concessions.

It costs US Airways 10.95 cents to fly one seat mile, compared with 7.73 cents for America West and 7.38 cents for Southwest, the sixth-biggest carrier.

The company expects the change to result in profit by 2004, the S&P; report said. By 2009, the end of the 6 1/2 -year recovery period, US Airways expects pretax profit to be $587 million, the company said in court filings.

America West Airlines, the eighth-biggest U.S. carrier, is a unit of America West Holdings Corp. of Phoenix.