United Airlines CEO Glenn Tilton says the USA's No. 2 carrier could be a big player in a round of what he called an essential industry consolidation.

"The market has no space for six network, hub-based, legacy carriers," Tilton said at an investors conference in New York. Two big traditional airlines, United and US Airways, are operating in bankruptcy-court protection. American, Delta, Northwest and Continental are struggling to regain profitability.

Tilton strongly pushed the notion of consolidation, saying the big airlines should take cues from the telecommunications industry. SBC is buying AT&T, and MCI has accepted Verizon's bid as the industry adjusts to a new competitive landscape. Likewise, Tilton said, big airlines must consolidate to survive competition from fast-growing low-cost carriers.

Tilton repeated his belief that United will emerge from Chapter 11 in the fall. Its parent, UAL, entered Chapter 11 protection in December 2002 and continues to haggle with employees and creditors to reduce its costs.

Reacting to investors' sometimes pointed questioning, Tilton said it's not necessary that United be involved in a merger once it emerges from bankruptcy. But that, he said, is the path he thinks would be best.

Senior executives from several rivals, speaking at the same conference sponsored by J.P. Morgan, were more skeptical. They cited the government's historical reticence to approve airline mergers, the complexity of combining networks, and the failure of past airline mergers to produce significant labor cost savings. "There have been historically a lot of barriers to consolidation in the airline industry, and those barriers remain in place today," said Gerard Arpey, American Airlines CEO. Continental President Jeff Smisek said consolidation wouldn't do much to control the industry's chronic overcapacity. Only eliminating weak carriers will do that, and even that's not likely.

"This business has extremely high barriers to exit ... and low barriers to entry," Smisek said.

Despite Tilton's optimism about United's prospects for exiting bankruptcy this year, the carrier continues to battle with its unions. Management is fighting to end its defined-benefit retirement plans. It also must still negotiate big savings with bag handlers and mechanics.