NEW YORK (Bloomberg) - Delta Air Lines Inc., poised to become the world's largest carrier by acquiring Northwest Airlines Corp., plans to drop more flights to blunt soaring fuel bills.

"There will be some incremental cuts," president Ed Bastian told reporters yesterday after Delta's annual shareholders meeting in New York. "It'll be targeted. We haven't decided yet" exactly how many flights or where, he said.

The reductions will expand on domestic cutbacks of as much as 11 percent announced earlier this year, which include grounding 90 planes and eliminating the jobs of 3,000 employees who took buyouts.

Airlines' efforts to cover fuel costs with fare increases and new baggage-check fees have fallen short, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst Jamie Baker estimates the US industry's losses will top $7.2 billion this year. The price of jet fuel has jumped 77 percent during the past 12 months, surpassing labor as the largest expense at most airlines.

AMR Corp.'s American Airlines said on May 21 it will slash US seating capacity by 12 percent, in part by retiring more than 100 planes and ending "thousands" of jobs. UAL Corp.'s United Airlines has said it will cut 1,100 jobs as it trims flying.

Atlanta-based Delta rose 25 cents, or 4.3 percent, to $6.10 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading and are down 59 percent this year. The value of the Northwest acquisition has declined 42 percent since the deal was announced April 14, to $2.11 billion.

An 11-percent jump in crude oil since then doesn't undercut the logic behind the combination, Mr. Bastian said. The new airline will have more international routes and little overlap domestically, he said.

"Even at these fuel prices, the merger not only makes sense but makes more sense," Mr. Bastian said. Delta's business plan assumes its fuel costs will "remain at these levels," he said.