NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - US Airways Group Inc. is set to make deep cuts in its flight schedule and staffing as it follows other major carriers in trying to stem losses.

The nation's No. 7 airline, operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, will cut about 13 percent of its flights by the end of the year and reduce its fleet to 280 aircraft from 311, CEO David Siegel told CNN/Money Thursday. While the company has not put out an announcement of the cuts, Siegel is holding meetings with US Air employees around the nation to detail plans.

US Air will cut its schedule by 13 percent and make an undetermined number of staff cuts.

The cuts will come in two stages, with reduction of 130 flights daily from a current schedule of 1,550 flights by September, and an additional 70 flights a day by year's end. The overall capacity cut is not yet determined because the specific planes to be grounded has not yet been settled, airline spokesman David Castelveter said.

The company also will furlough an additional 250 pilots by the end of the year and another 250 in the first quarter of 2003, and is working on furlough plans for its other unions, Siegel said. The company already has won about $570 million in annual wage concessions from unions in an effort to win final approval of about $1 billion in federal loan guarantees.

All major U.S. airlines other than growing discount carrier Southwest Airlines (LUV: Research, Estimates) cut back their schedules last fall due to a drop in demand for air travel in the wake of the terrorist attack. But those capacity cuts left planes with about the same percentage of seats filled as before the attack, when most airlines already were losing money. The drop in demand also led to lower fares throughout the industry, further hitting airline results.

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AMR Corp. (AMR: Research, Estimates)'s American Airlines unit, the world's largest carrier, started a new round of capacity cuts in an attempt to return to profitability when it announced plans Aug. 13 for a 9 percent cut in its schedule and a 6 percent cut in its staff by next March. That was followed by a similar cutback by No. 2 United Airlines, which also warned that it would be forced to file for bankruptcy itself in the fourth quarter without employee and supplier concessions, and a 6 percent cut in schedule announced Monday by Continental Airlines (CAL: Research, Estimates), the nation's No. 5 carrier. Continental said it hoped use attrition, retirement and voluntary separation programs to take care of reductions in staffing.

The other two major airlines, No. 3 Delta Air Lines (DAL: Research, Estimates) and No. 4 Northwest Airlines (NWAC: Research, Estimates), said that they also plan reductions in capacity this fall, but said that their cutbacks should not reduce employee headcount.

Delta spokeswoman Catherine Stengel said the 8 percent reduction in capacity this fall compared to the summer is a slightly deeper than normal seasonal reduction in operations. She said the Atlanta-based carrier would reassess its schedule in the winter and spring.

Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said Northwest's November capacity would be 13 percent below summer levels, but said that is nothing different from plans announced in the spring, when the airline said it would eliminate its nine remaining DC-10-40 jets by Labor Day and its 20 727 jets by year's end.

"We've been doing things for much longer than other carriers who are just beginning to make cuts," he said.

US Airways filed for bankruptcy court protection Aug. 10, listing assets of $7.81 billion and liabilities of about $7.83 billion. It lost $534 million, or $7.86 a share, excluding special items, in the first six months of this year, following a loss of $17.35 a share in 2001. Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call were expecting second-half losses of $6.27 a share, and 2003 losses of $6.24 a share.

The airline was hit particularly hard by the Sept. 11 terrorist attack as its main hub at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., remained shut for weeks longer than other airports due to security concerns. It also has seen greater ground competition than many carriers for its key Washington-New York-Boston shuttle from Amtrak's Acela high-speed train, though it got a bit of a lift earlier this month when Amtrak had to shut that service due to problems with the engines.

US Air's internal company hotline said it would start a new advertising campaign in October to try to win back passengers who have shifted to Amtrak due to concerns about security delays at airports, emphasizing a $200 refund if it takes passengers more than 20 minutes to check in and using the slogan "Time flies, it doesn't wait for a train."

But even before the security problems, US Air executives had admitted the airline was having trouble operating in its position in the market, too small to be a major national carrier with the broad network desired by many businesses, and too big to be able to operate as a low-cost upstart carrier.

It had tried to sell itself to United parent UAL Corp. (UAL: Research, Estimates) in 2000 for $4.3 billion, only to have the deal blocked by federal antitrust regulators. Just before the attack it announced plans to downsize the carrier and renegotiate labor agreements, but it didn't have time to implement those plans before Sept. 11 disrupted operations.

Shares of US Airways (UAWGQ: Research, Estimates) have not traded since the company's bankruptcy filing.