Aer Lingus owner IAG said trading was holding up in a tough environment and the trend for falling fares was probably stabilising.
IAG's chief executive Willie Walsh said he was seeing rival airlines trimming their capacity growth plans, providing investors with some comfort after the industry had warned that fares could fall further this winter on stiff competition.
That outlook, and the fact that trading conditions for the group, which also owns British Airways, Iberia and Vueling, had not deteriorated since July.
This offset any negative impact from the airline group's downgrade to its 2016 profit forecast, which it blamed on the weaker pound.
Asked about passenger unit revenues, a reflection of airfares, Walsh said that the outlook was better today than it had been three months ago, and that those trends would continue in the first and second quarter of next year.
That contrasted with recent warnings from low cost European rivals Ryanair and EasyJet, which said in October that fares would continue to decline.
US rival United Continental said last week it was seeing a glut in transatlantic capacity and it was unclear whether passenger unit revenue would stop declining in 2017.
IAG's third-quarter results showed that passenger unit revenue on a constant currency basis fell 5.9%, an improvement on the 6.2% fall in the previous period.
Willie Walsh said that he was pleased with the group's performance and that the main change since July had been the devaluation of sterling.
The pound has fallen 18% against the dollar since Britain voted in June to leave the European Union, and has shed 15% against the euro, causing headwinds for IAG.
The airline reports in euros but gets a third of its revenues from the UK, and pays for fuel in dollars.
The group said it expected an operating profit of €2.5 billion for 2016, up around 7% from last year but less than its July forecast for low double-digit percentage growth.
The downgrade included a negative currency impact of €162m during the third quarter, as well as the impact of a high level of air traffic control strikes in France.
For the third-quarter, IAG posted underlying operating profit of €1.205 billion, in line with a consensus forecast of €1.2 billion.
IAG will give provide a detailed update on its outlook at an investor day on November 4.
