UPDATE 1-Shanghai Air sees China Eastern merger plan soon

* Merger plan details expected next month

* Shanghai Air to keep brand, become China Eastern subsidiary

* Airlines, government still discussing merger (Adds comments on retaining brand, clarification of time frame)

SHANGHAI, June 30 (Reuters) - Shanghai Airlines (600591.SS) expects a detailed plan for a long-anticipated merger with China Eastern Airlines (600115.SS) (0670.HK) to emerge next month, a senior executive at the airline said on Tuesday.

Shanghai Airlines Chairman Zhou Chi told a shareholders' meeting that the airline would remain an independent entity and retain its brand after becoming a subsidiary of China Eastern, one of China's three major airlines.

Zhou added that the two airlines and the government were still discussing the merger plan.

Shares in the two money-losing carriers, which have been grappling with weak air travel demand as China's economy slowed, were suspended from trading on June 8 as they neared a deal.

The government has been trying to broker a merger since last year, according to sources familiar with the situation, to bolster the position of the two carriers, which hold more than a 50 percent combined share of Shanghai's air passenger market.

Zhou initially told the meeting, in response to questions, that details of the merger were expected to emerge within a month, but later clarified to say within a month of the suspension of the two companies' shares.

Earlier this month, China Eastern Chairman Liu Shaoyong said the two had reached an agreement in principle on major issues for a merger. [ID:nSHA340364] (Reporting by Fang Yan and Edmund Klamann; Editing by Chris Lewis)