US Airways continued negotiating for concessions from reluctant labor unions yesterday while it prepared to argue before a federal bankruptcy judge this week that the court should wipe out collective bargaining agreements covering 20,000 employees.

The contract discussions with unions representing flight attendants, reservation and gate workers and machinists and baggage handlers could continue up to or during a hearing that opens Thursday on the airline's Nov. 12 request to abrogate its existing contracts.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Stephen Mitchell will hear arguments in Alexandria, Va., over the airline's request to reject its contracts, terminate the pensions of 53,000 existing and former workers and slash the health benefits of nearly 11,000 retirees.

The judge is not expected to immediately rule since he has scheduled six days of hearings to be held over a two-week period ending on Dec. 17. By law, he has up to 30 days after those hearings to consider the request.

The contract discussions were confirmed yesterday by representatives of the Association of Flight Attendants, the Communications Workers of America and the International Association of Machinists.

Those three unions are being asked to collectively provide $646 million of $1.08 billion in average annual concessions the bankrupt airline has requested from all of its employee groups through 2009.

Since September, when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for a second time, US Airways has reached negotiated agreements giving it $326 million in annual savings from 3,200 pilots who belong to the Air Line Pilots Association and a few hundred other union workers including dispatchers and flight-crew training instructors.

The airline has argued in court filings that it must have huge savings in wages, work rules and benefits beyond previously negotiated concessions in order to compete with lower-cost carriers or it will go out of business.

Part of US Airways' strategy is to outsource work now done by reservationists, mechanics, stock clerks and cleaners to lower-paid, nonunion companies. Some of its competitors already operate reservations centers in India and do heavy jet maintenance in Asia.

Outsourcing was among the main topics in discussions yesterday between the airline and the CWA, which represents gate agents and reservation agents.

Chris Fox, president of CWA Local 13302, said the union wants work that is outsourced to eventually come back to the bargaining unit but the company wants "to do it forever."

The company has said it wants to cut its reservations staff by about 800 positions, or approximately in half. It could close a center in suburban Green Tree, where 850 people take reservations over the phone, or one in Winston-Salem N.C., that employs about 950.

"It's not good," Fox said of the negotiating options.

The International Association of Machinists also has been informed that the company wants to cut 2,800 of its workers by outsourcing work, in addition to pay and benefit reductions.

The IAM also was in discussions yesterday, said spokesman Joe Tiberi. He declined to comment on the specifics of the discussions.

The airline is seeking cuts worth $116 million a year from its flight attendants. The AFA gave the company a counterproposal over the weekend and was awaiting a reply yesterday, said Teddy Xidas, president of Pittsburgh-based AFA Local 40 and president-elect of the AFA's Master Executive Council at US Airways.

Xidas said US Airways' announcement Friday that it had reached a new financing agreement with two units of General Electric Corp. put additional pressure on the negotiations.

The agreement with GE, which held $2.8 billion in loans, leases and regional jet commitments with US Airways when the airline entered bankruptcy protection, could free up $140 million for the strapped airline.

The GE deal, however, is contingent on the bankruptcy judge approving pay cuts, work rule changes and relief from retiree health and pension benefits. It also sets a deadline for US Airways to emerge from bankruptcy protection by June 30.

It's like "giving the company a loaded gun with a steadier hand," Xidas said of the GE arrangement. "It hurts our negotiations by telling us what we should do and when we need to do it."

Meanwhile, US Airways yesterday thanked its employees for professionalism in handling a high volume of passengers over the extended Thanksgiving holiday despite snow, heavy rains and gusty winds in some areas.

Paying passengers filled between 81.5 and 88.5 percent of the airline's seats Wednesday through Sunday, according to the company, making the holiday one of the busiest for US Airways since 2000, the year before the terrorist attacks crippled the domestic aviation industry.

"Employees maintained their usual level of professionalism and admirable performance during one of the heaviest travel periods since 2000," Al Crellin, executive vice president of operations, said in a company bulletin, US Airways Today. "We look forward to continued excellent customer service throughout the holiday season."