US Airways Group Inc., one of the nation's top carriers, said Thursday its third-quarter loss narrowed by 21 percent, and operating profit beat Wall Street expectations by a wide margin.
Losses shrank to $78 million, or 88 cents per share, from $99 million, or $5.74 per share, a year ago. Excluding special items, the company reported profit of $101 million, or $1.09 per share, in the latest period.
Total revenue climbed to $2.97 billion from $929 million last year.
Last year's results are comprised of America West's stand-alone results, due to the former US Airways Group and America West Holdings Corp. merger on Sept. 27, 2005. America West was treated as the acquiring company for accounting purposes.
On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were looking for profit of $1.01 per share on higher revenue of $3.02 billion.
"We are pleased to report our third consecutive profitable quarter excluding special items, especially given the new security regulations put into place in August, which we estimate negatively impacted revenue by $30 million to $40 million during August and September. Those security directives caused a spike in checked baggage," said Chairman and CEO Doug Parker. "We are particularly pleased to have accrued another $12 million for our employee profit sharing program, bringing our year-to-date accrual to $48 million."
Looking ahead, the company said it expects to post a profit in the "seasonally difficult" fourth quarter.
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