Since restarting operations in Q3 2020, we have increased flight from almost zero to nearly 70% of our pre-pandemic capacity in Q3 2021.
In terms of capacity, we reached almost 70% of third quarter 2019 ASMs compared to 48% of 2019 capacity in the second quarter.
Load factor came in at 79%, an improvement of two percentage points compared to the second quarter on an almost 50% quarter-over-quarter ASM growth.
Revenues increased by 46% over the previous quarter to $445 million.
Our ex-fuel CASM decreased from $0.76 in Q2 to $0.62 in Q3, reaching 2019 unit cost levels at 70% of 2019 capacity.
We reported an operating profit of $59 million and an operating margin of 13.3% in the quarter.
Excluding a $10.4 million passenger revenue adjustments, that Company would have reported an operating profit of $48.6 million and an operating margin of 11.2%.
We had a cash buildup of $54 million and ended the quarter with a cash balance of $1.3 billion and a total liquidity of over $1.6 billion.
On the operational front, the Company delivered an untimed performance of 89.4% and that completion factor of 99.8%, ONCE again among the best in the industry.
By the end of the year, Copa will provide service to 72 destinations in North, Central, South America, and the Caribbean.
During the quarter, we agreed with Boeing to accelerate the delivery of 12 737 MAX 9 that were originally intended to be delivered starting in 2025.
We will receive two of these aircraft in 2022 for a total of seven MAX 9 deliveries next year and the other 10 aircrafts will be added to Copa's deliveries from 2023 through 2025.
As to Boeing, during the fourth quarter, it expects to receive two aircrafts from the Copa fleet to end the year with a total of eight 737-800.
Our capacity came in at 4.4 billion available seat miles, which amounts to 69% of the capacity operated per quarter of 2019.
Load factor came in at an average of 79% for the quarter, an increase compared to Q2 while operating 49% more ASMs. We reported a net profit of $8.2 million or $0.19 per share.
Excluding special items, we would have reported a net profit of $29.9 million or $0.70 per share.
Special items for the quarter are comprised mainly of an unrealized mark-to-market loss of $32.1 million related to the Company's convertible notes issued in 2020 and $10.4 million in revenues related to unredeemed tickets, which we are not included in our underlying results as they correspond to sales made during 2019 and early in 2020.
We reported a quarterly operating profit which came in at $59 million.
Excluding the $10.4 million in unredeemed ticket revenues, we had an adjusted operating profit of $48.6 million for the quarter.
Our operating margin was 13.3%.
Excluding the passenger revenue adjustments, we would have reported an operating margin of 11.2%.
Unit cost excluding fuel were better than in the second quarter at $0.062 per ASM, driven by a quarter-over-quarter capacity growth of 49%.
We continue with our cost savings initiatives and we are now targeting to achieve the unit cost below $0.06 once we reach above 90% of our pre-COVID-19 capacity.
During the third quarter, we had a cash buildup of approximately $54 million, driven mainly by increased sales during the period.
As of the end of the third quarter, we had assets of close to $4.2 billion and our cash short and long-term investments ended at $1.3 billion.
We also ended the quarter with an aggregate amount of $345 million in unutilized committed credit facilities, which added to our cash, brought our total liquidity to more than $1.6 billion.
In terms of debt, we ended the quarter with $1.6 billion in debt and lease liabilities at similar levels to the ones reported for the end of the second quarter.
In July, we finalized the sale and delivery of our last Embraer 190 and during the quarter, we delivered two Boeing 737-700s to their new owner, the end of the third quarter with 87 aircraft; 68 737-800 70%, 13 737 MAX 9s, and six 737-700.
During the fourth quarter, we expect to receive two more 737 MAX 9s to end the year with a total of 89 aircraft.
We expect capacity to be approximately 83% of Q4 2019 levels at about 5.1 billion ASMs and we expect our operating margin to be approximately 4%.
Our Q4 2021 outlook is based on the following assumptions; revenues of approximately 80% of Q4 2019 levels at about $545 million, CASM ex-fuel of approximately $0.61, and oil price of $2.50 per gallon, an increment of approximately 17% quarter-over-quarter.
However, for the first half of the year, we preliminarily expect our capacity measuring ASMs to be approximately 92% of the capacity operated during the first half of 2019.

Summary:
During the quarter, we agreed with Boeing to accelerate the delivery of 12 737 MAX 9 that were originally intended to be delivered starting in 2025.
Load factor came in at an average of 79% for the quarter, an increase compared to Q2 while operating 49% more ASMs. We reported a net profit of $8.2 million or $0.19 per share.
Excluding special items, we would have reported a net profit of $29.9 million or $0.70 per share.