TEMPE, Ariz. -- US Airways Group Inc., one of the nation's top carriers, said today 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 for 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.