United, US Airways chiefs said to meet

The chief executives of UAL Corp.’s United Airlines and US Airways Group Inc. met to work through details of a possible merger as rising fuel prices add to pressure for a tie-up, people familiar with the talks said Thursday.

United’s Glenn Tilton and US Airways’ Doug Parker focused on labor, financing, seating-capacity cuts and other issues that have slowed work on a combination, said the people, who asked not to be named because the meeting was private.

The face-to-face session came more than two months after the talks began. A 20% surge in jet fuel in May is eroding profits and spurred the announcement last week by AMR Corp.’s American Airlines of the industry’s biggest service reductions.