An improved process for dehydrogenating an alkane, the process comprising placing an alkane in operative contact with a heated alkane dehydrogenation catalyst in a reactor, the catalyst comprising a Group VIII noble metal, a Group IIIA metal and, optionally, a promoter metal, removing from the reactor a partially deactivated catalyst, rejuvenating the partially deactivated catalyst in a regenerator, and transporting the rejuvenated catalyst from the regenerator to the reactor, wherein the improvement comprises a combination of treatment within the regenerator and transport of the rejuvenated catalyst from the regenerator to the reactor, the treatment within the regenerator comprising sequential steps: (a) heating the partially deactivated catalyst to a temperature of at least 660 degrees Celsius using heat generated by combusting both coke contained on the partially deactivated catalyst and a fuel source other than said coke, said heating yielding a heated, further deactivated catalyst which has an alkane dehydrogenation activity that is less than that of the partially deactivated catalyst; and (b) subjecting the heated, further deactivated catalyst to a conditioning step which comprises maintaining the heated, further deactivated dehydrogenation catalyst at a temperature of at least 660 degrees Celsius while exposing the heated, further deactivated dehydrogenation catalyst to a flow of an oxygen-containing gas for a period of time greater than two minutes and sufficient to yield an oxygen-containing reactivated dehydrogenation catalyst that has an activity for dehydrogenating alkane that is greater than that of either the partially deactivated catalyst or the further deactivated catalyst; wherein the oxygen-containing gas has an oxygen content within a range of from 5 mole percent to 100 mole percent, each mole percent being based upon total moles of oxygen-containing gas; and wherein the oxygen-containing gas is substantially free of combustible hydrocarbons, carbon oxides, and water vapor. (a) heating the partially deactivated catalyst to a temperature of at least 660 degrees Celsius using heat generated by combusting both coke contained on the partially deactivated catalyst and a fuel source other than said coke, said heating yielding a heated, further deactivated catalyst which has an alkane dehydrogenation activity that is less than that of the partially deactivated catalyst; and (b) subjecting the heated, further deactivated catalyst to a conditioning step which comprises maintaining the heated, further deactivated dehydrogenation catalyst at a temperature of at least 660 degrees Celsius while exposing the heated, further deactivated dehydrogenation catalyst to a flow of an oxygen-containing gas for a period of time greater than two minutes and sufficient to yield an oxygen-containing reactivated dehydrogenation catalyst that has an activity for dehydrogenating alkane that is greater than that of either the partially deactivated catalyst or the further deactivated catalyst; wherein the oxygen-containing gas has an oxygen content within a range of from 5 mole percent to 100 mole percent, each mole percent being based upon total moles of oxygen-containing gas; and wherein the oxygen-containing gas is substantially free of combustible hydrocarbons, carbon oxides, and water vapor. <EOS>