In his first interview since the Delta deal died a week ago, Parker said the Tempe airline doesn't see another merger involving US Airways in the foreseeable future.

He said the airline believed, and still does, that Delta was the best match, in part because of the benefits of its bankruptcy status.

With Delta and Northwest now poised to emerge from bankruptcy on their own, he said he doesn't expect a shakeup in the industry until the next downturn weakens some players.

"I could definitely be wrong about that, but that's our view," he said. "You'll find US Airways looking a little more like everyone else right now, saying, 'Look, if everyone else wants to stand still, we'll stand still.' "

"If, indeed, others decide, 'We need to make ourselves more competitive through mergers,' then our appetite will increase," he said. "But right now, we're perfectly fine being the most profitable network carrier."

Parker attributed speculation about US Airways' next merger moves to the end of the non-stop attention on the airline's 10-week battle for Delta and the talk it sparked about industry consolidation.

He said one of the company's board members likened the frenzied pace of the deal to drinking out of a firehose, and the end of it to the firehose being suddenly turned off.

"I think this speculation about other deals is just water still dripping out of the firehose," he said. "It's been hard for everyone to turn it off."

That includes Parker and other US Airways executives who worked on the merger.

"It takes you some time to realize, 'My God, the firehose just got turned off.' "

Parker said he has taken Boeing CEO Jim McNerney's advice to lament the way things turned out for a week and then move on.

The executive called him with words of praise and support last week, when the deal collapsed after Delta's creditors committee said it was going to support management's plan to emerge from bankruptcy on its own. (The planemaker is a big Delta supplier and held a key seat on the creditors committee.)

He decompressed by playing golf on Friday and then hosting a birthday party sleepover that night for his son's 9th birthday. On Saturday, he went to Miami for the Super Bowl, a trip he takes every year. US Airways President Scott Kirby also went to the game.

On Tuesday, he held his first meeting in weeks with the airline's pilots and flight attendants in Phoenix. Today, he will do the same at its biggest hub, in Charlotte

Parker said the airline's biggest priority remains fixing its troubled Philadelphia hub. It is a key reason US Airways' customer-service measures are among the worst of its peers in baggage handling and customer complaints.

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