By James Pilcher
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Delta Air Lines on Tuesday said it lost $326 million during the third quarter, with company executives saying that further job cuts at one of Northern Kentucky's largest employers will be coming soon because they don't see the situation improving anytime soon.

Delta chairman and chief executive officer Leo Mullin said the Atlanta-based airline's struggles "require us in the near future ... to go beyond the 1,500 or so flight attendants that we have already indicated."

Delta operates its second-largest hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, where it employs about 6,500 workers . Another 4,000 or so work at Delta's subsidiary Comair, the Erlanger-based regional carrier.

Delta had already cut about 10,000 jobs shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, with most coming through voluntary retirements, leaves and buyouts.

Although they did not offer specifics, Delta executive vice president and chief financial officer M. Michele Burns said an announcement would be "imminent" and Mr. Mullin ruled out pay cuts for the immediate future.

"Delta has had a track record of being thoughtful and considerate in these situations," Ms. Burns said in a separate interview.

Delta also announced that it was retiring its fleet of 15 MD-11 wide-body aircraft over the next two years, as well as deferring deliveries of all Boeing mainline jets for two years, including five planes in 2003 and another 24 in 2004.

Officials at Comair said no job reductions were anticipated for the time being, and Ms. Burns said Delta's regional jet delivery schedule would be unaffected by the mainline jet deferral. Comair is expected to receive about 30 regional jets next year, with Comair officials saying that the airline had turned a "modest" profit in the last quarter, although they would not give specifics.

Delta, the nation's third-largest carrier, was the first major airline to release its third-quarter results, with others scheduled for later this week. Most estimates call for the industry to declare losses approaching $1.6 billion for the quarter. In fact, US Airways has already declared bankruptcy and United Airlines has indicated that it would soon if its unions would not agree to concessions.

But Ms. Burns said that Delta was committed to avoiding that.

"It is a very remote possibility that bankruptcy would ever happen," said Ms. Burns. "Delta has the will never to declare bankruptcy."

E-mail jpilcher@enquirer.com