Recovery for Hawaiian Airlines was disrupted by the spread of the coronavirus Delta variant in the third quarter; although results beat Wall Street expectations as momentum picked up toward the end of the quarter.

The airline, which operates under the publicly traded holding company Hawaiian Holdings Inc., reported a third-quarter net income of $14.7 million, or twenty-eight cents a diluted share. At this time last year, Hawaiian had a wider loss of more than $97 million, or a loss of $2.11 a diluted share.

Once Hawaiian adjusted its earnings for non-recurring gains, it actually had a third-quarter loss of $48.7 million, or 95 cents a share. The carrier’s adjusted 2020 third quarter net loss was $172.6 million, for a loss of $3.76 cents a share.

Hawaiian’s quarterly loss of 95 cents a share was better than Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research anticipated a loss of $1.29 per share.

Hawaiian reported third-quarter revenue of $508.8 million. Hawaiian said its revenue during the third quarter was down 33% compared to the third quarter of 2019, on 21% lower capacity. The results are a marked improvement over this time last year when third quarter revenue was just over $75.9 million.

Peter Ingram, Hawaiian Airlines president and CEO, said during an earnings call today that the surge in COVID-19 cases associated with the Delta variant dampened Hawaiian’s near-term financial performance.

“As much as we would all prefer to see a straight-line recovery, the environment continues to deliver twists and turns for us to navigate,” Ingram said “While it’s disappointing to see the full recovery of our business delayed by a few months, we are absolutely confident that the effects of these conditions are short term.”

He added, “we are already seeing signs of a solid rebound in our domestic business at the same time as the necessary conditions for recovery of our international operations are falling into place.”