NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Delta Air Lines warned that it expects a worse-than-forecast loss in the current quarter due to weaker-than-expected September air traffic, and it announced it would cut 1,500 flight attendant jobs.

The nation's No. 3 airline said it expects a loss of about $225 million, excluding special items, in the quarter. That works out to about $1.83 a share, which is worse than current forecasts and previous guidance from the carrier.

Shares of Delta (DAL: Research, Estimates) lost $2.81, or 24.4 percent, to close Friday trading at $8.69.

Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call had a consensus loss-per-share forecast of $1.57, ranging from $1.00 to $1.90. The company had said when reporting its second-quarter loss of $1.34 a share that it did not expect its third-quarter to be significantly different. The company lost $2.43 a share in the third quarter of 2001.

The airline said that including special items, including the write-down of aircraft and a charge related to carrying costs of grounded aircraft, it expects a net loss in the neighborhood of $350 million.

The company said it is doing what it can to control costs, including buying long-term fuel contracts for about half of its fuel needs in both the third and fourth quarters. A Delta spokeswoman also told CNNfn that it plans to cut 1,500 of 16,000 flight attendants by the end of this year. Catherine Stengel said the airline is hoping to handle the cuts through voluntary programs. She said no other job classes are affected by cuts yet, but the airline is looking at possible moves. Pilots are the only unionized employee group at Delta.

Delta had previously followed other major airlines in announcing plans to cut back on schedules during the rest of the year, but it had not previously given details on staff cut plans. Delta had already cut about 11,000 jobs in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The company made the statements about losses and fuel hedging in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday. The filing also said that pension obligations would cause Delta to be out of compliance with debt-to-equity requirements of some of its loan agreements. But it said lenders had agreed to eliminate those requirements as long as Delta has a minimum of $1 billion of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments as of the end of each month beginning in October.

On Tuesday, Delta CEO Leo Mullin and other top airline executives testified before a congressional subcommittee, requesting further financial assistance for the industry, beset by steep fiscal losses.