"In a big restructuring, flights into and out of Salt Lake City will be cut back drastically," said Daryl Jenkins, a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University who follows Delta. "It will probably stay as a destination. But there's a high likelihood that Delta will close Salt Lake City down as a hub."

Such a scenario could be disastrous to Salt Lake City International Airport, where Delta flights account for about 78 percent of all air traffic, airport spokeswoman Barbara Gann said.

"Utah and Salt Lake City very much want to see the hub continue here," said Chris Roybal, executive director of the Economic Development Corp. of Utah. "It's a huge economic asset to this area and to our ability to attract and retain businesses."

Delta's financial woes already have been felt in Utah. The airline, which has lost more than $5 billion in the past three years, last fall laid off 150 of 4,500 employees in Salt Lake City. Another 90 workers lost their jobs when Delta closed five Mountain West regional offices.

Eliminating secondary hubs such as that in Salt Lake City is only one of many options Delta has. More job cuts are possible, as are proposals to exchange some debt for equity in the company and place more emphasis on long-haul or international routes for which the airline faces less competition from discount carriers.

Delta officials today are meeting with pilots union representatives, from whom they already have requested $1 billion in wage and benefit concessions. Pilots have agreed to $705 million in cuts, and say they want an equity stake in the company.

Delta spokesman Anthony Black said Wednesday that the bailout plan will be revealed piecemeal over coming months.

"The company is taking a comprehensive look at everything from soup to nuts, cities, processes and fares," Black said. "It's a matter of us doing something that is going to make us successful and [ensure] long-term profitability."

Mike Boyd, a Golden, Colo.-based airline industry consultant, argues that closing the Salt Lake hub would be a short-term solution that ultimately would lead to Delta's financial demise.

"Shutting down Salt Lake would close enormous amounts of flows from West to East. They would lose tremendous travel through the [Delta] system," Boyd said. "If they pull out of Salt Lake City their operation in Los Angeles is threatened. If Delta does that, Delta will soon be half the size it is today. And Delta will not survive at half its size."

However, Blaylock & Partners analyst Ray Neidl, like Jenkins, disagrees.

He says any restructuring plan with hope of success must include closing Delta's Salt Lake City International and Dallas/Fort Worth International hubs.

"With [major airlines'] cost structures there are some secondary hubs that never make money," Neidl said. "Salt Lake is one of them."

Although Boyd thinks closing Salt Lake City ultimately would prove a strategic mistake for Delta, he acknowledges: "Salt Lake will be a tough sell because it has always been on the edge of profitability."

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.