DALLAS (AP) _ Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) on Thursday reported a third-quarter loss of $1.16 billion, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.

The Dallas-based company said it had a loss of $1.96 per share. Losses, adjusted for non-recurring gains, came to $1.99 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of $2.44 per share.

The airline posted revenue of $1.79 billion in the period, also surpassing Street forecasts. Eleven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.68 billion.

Southwest shares have declined 26% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen slightly more than 6%. The stock has dropped 25% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on LUV at https://www.zacks.com/ap/LUV

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