Turning around last year's losses completely, Air Canada posted a profitable third quarter report on Friday. Although this is being taken as a definite sign of improvement, the company feels that it has a long way to go before it can expect to make a good profit and recover all the revenues it had lost in the previous year alone.

"Although we are seeing indications that the bottom of the recession is now behind us, the industry is still facing an extremely challenging revenue environment and we do not expect to see a full recovery for another 12 to 18 months", Air Canada CEO Calin Rovinescu said.

The Montreal based airline, which is also Canada's largest carrier, posted earnings of $277 Million, or $2.44 per share, for the July-September period for the year. This was a significant improvement from last year's loss posted for the same period which stood at $132 Million, or $1.32 per share. According to analysts' estimates revealed in the Thomson Reuters survey, per share price was pegged at 38 cents. The actual figures have managed to beat these estimates by a large margin.

Steadily pulling itself out of recession, and with the economy stabilizing, Air Canada is looking at posting better results for the coming quarters and making up for the huge losses the company incurred in the past year.