Qantas has said it is forecast to report better-than-expected profits for the six months to December.
It claims to have been boosted by lower oil prices and a renewed focus on its revival plans.
The carrier is expecting to post underlying pre-tax profit of between A$875 million (£419 million) and A$925 million for the period.
It follows the airline’s move to cut capacity and aggressively reduce jobs in recent months.
Following the news shares initially rose by 1%, but later closed down 2.4%. Airline analysts said they were surprised that the share price had closed lower.
"It is interesting," Flightglobal’s Ellis Taylor told the BBC. "The guidance that came out was very good, but perhaps some investors were hoping for better figures."
Earlier this year Qantas reported a return to annual profit of A$975 million (£457 million) – a huge turnaround for the airline which had posted a loss of A$646 million the previous year. Qantas subsequently saw its shares rise by almost 50% this year.