Higher taxes are reducing US Airways' profit, but the airline's results beat expectations.

US Airways Group Inc. said third-quarter net income was $216 million, or $1.04 per share. That's down 12 percent from $245 million, or $1.24 per share, a year ago.

The difference: In this year's quarter, US Airways owed $120 million in income taxes compared with just $1 million last year.

Excluding costs of its proposed merger with American Airlines, US Airways says it earned $1.16 per share, four cents better than analysts were expecting.

Revenue rose 9 percent to $3.86 billion, a bit higher than analysts' forecast of $3.84 billion.