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ATLANTA — US Airways' chief executive has issued a scathing rebuke of Delta Air Lines' stand-alone reorganization plan and said he is more determined than ever to push ahead with his company's hostile bid to buy Delta.

Delta shot back that it hasn't changed its position that it wants to remain independent, intensifying the war of words that started when the Tempe, Ariz., US Airways Group Inc. disclosed its $8.4 billion offer to buy Delta Air Lines Inc. on Nov. 15.

As Christmas approached, US Airways CEO Doug Parker made it clear his company isn't going to back down.

"This is the beginning of a process that we suspect is going to be going on for a while," Parker told analysts and reporters during a conference call.

Parker said Delta's projection that it will be worth as much as $12 billion when it emerges from bankruptcy as a stand-alone airline is "way out of whack."

He said his company's analysis of Delta's stand-alone plan values the airline at $5.5 billion to $6.9 billion. He also said that while US Airways generally agrees with Delta's profit projections for 2007, his company believes Delta's projections beyond that are too rosy.

Parker also said that his company strongly believes that its offer to buy Delta, based in Atlanta, will pass regulatory scrutiny.

"We did not go launch this offer without knowing all this," Parker said. "We are not going to let this transaction fail on antitrust issues."

Delta said in a statement Thursday that it stands by the valuation prepared by its financial advisers.