Delta Air Lines said Oct. 13 that it had high hopes for the last three months of the year after ending the busy summer season with a healthy profit.

The New York Times reports the airline reported a $695 million profit over the three months that ended in September, despite rising costs and Hurricane Ian’s disruptions to travel. Still, Delta’s third-quarter result was less than half the profit it reported during the same period in 2019.

The airline reported record revenue for the third quarter, after making some financial adjustments. That adjusted revenue was up 3% compared with the same three months in 2019, while Delta expects revenue in the final three months of the year to be up 5 to 9% from the same period in 2019.

Airlines have said in recent weeks that demand for travel did not immediately slow as the summer came to an end and economic concerns grew, as some had feared. International and corporate travel, which have lagged in the recovery, have shown continued improvement.

By the end of September, Delta’s corporate sales were back to about 80% of 2019 levels, the airline said.
Delta said it lost about $35 million in revenue in the third quarter because of cancellations and other disruptions caused by Hurricane Ian, which devastated parts of the southeastern United States at the end of September.

The airline expects to take a similar hit in the current quarter because of the hurricane.