US Airways Group Inc. backed off from alliance discussions with United Airlines. This had made a way for United, to focus on talks with Continental Airlines Inc. over a potential merger.

US Airways said its board, "after an extensive review and careful consideration," decided to end merger talks with United that had gone on for "the past several months," said on Thursday.

A lot of analysts believe that United and Continental would be a better match.

In 2008, Continental refused United as a fusion partner, mentioning concerns that it might be monetarily dangerous and damage Continental's moderately pleasant employment associations.

It is said that later, both the parties decided on a marketing deal within the Star Alliance, and United ended parallel amalgamation talks it had been having with US Airways.

On Thursday, Jeff Smisek, Continental's new CEO, talking on an earnings meeting call, refused to remark on amalgamation rumor, but said, "We are examining Continental's options".

Continental which is Houston-based, the fourth best U. S. airline by traffic, accounted a somewhat wider, first-quarter loss of $146 million on profits of $3.2 billion, up 7% from the year-ago quarter.

It is said that the least of the big hub-and-spoke airlines, US Airways is the No. 6 in the U. S. by traffic. The Tempe, Ariz., firm is likely to account a narrower first-quarter loss, coming Tuesday and return back to revenue later, in
2010.