Airlines bounced this week — four of six carriers posted positive weekly moves and RSI recovered broadly off the prior scan's lows — but the 30-day trend kept deteriorating everywhere: every single name in the group is now further below its 52-week high than it was a week ago, and every one shows a deeper 30-day decline than last scan. The fresh casualty is Southwest ($LUV), whose trend classification broke from strong-up to weak-down on the sector's sharpest RSI drop (50.9 to 39.7), ending its run as the group's safest hold. American ($AAL) now carries the sector's worst 30-day decline at -17%, even though its own weekly print calmed from -11.62% to -3.37%. Alaska ($ALK) was the surprise: its trend classification recovered to strong-up, though it remains the sector's furthest name from a 52-week high.

Data as-of 2026-07-24 close (all six tickers, current); scan run 2026-07-25. All numbers from precomputed summaries/airlines.json. Prior scan: 2026-07-17-airlines (2026-07-17 close).

Four of the six names — Delta, United, Alaska, and (on a smaller scale) American — posted positive weekly moves this close, and RSI climbed back toward the middle of its range for most of the group after two straight scans of compression. That's the good news. The less good news is that the 30-day and distance-from-high numbers tell a different story: every single carrier is now showing a deeper 30-day decline and a wider gap to its 52-week high than it was a week ago. This reads as a one-week bounce inside a still-deteriorating medium-term trend, not a reversal.

The standout move is Southwest, which had been the group's steadiest hold for the past two scans (smallest weekly decline, near-flat 30-day change) and this week broke structure outright — its trend classification flipped from strong-up to weak-down, its RSI fell the furthest in the sector, and its 30-day change swung from roughly flat to -11.5%. Alaska moved the opposite direction, recovering its trend classification to strong-up despite remaining the sector's biggest laggard on distance from its 52-week high, now -32.07%.

• Delta: RSI 45.2→49.6, 7D -3.68%→+1.06% (turned positive), 30D +0.24%→-5.94% (worsened), 52wkHi -12.03%→-14.33% (widened), trend unchanged (strong-up).
• United: RSI 41.0→47.1, 7D -8.4%→+2.48% (turned positive), 30D -2.46%→-9.4% (worsened), 52wkHi -14.38%→-16.88% (widened), trend unchanged (strong-up).
• Southwest: RSI 50.9→39.7 (sharpest drop in the sector), trend downgraded strong-up→weak-down, 7D -0.72%→-6.24% (worsened), 30D +0.23%→-11.5% (worsened sharply), 52wkHi -12.76%→-18.87% (widened).
• JETS (ETF): RSI 44.7→44.6 (flat), 7D -5.08%→-1.18% (still negative, less bad), 30D -1.74%→-7.33% (worsened), 52wkHi -10.36%→-13.71% (widened), trend unchanged (strong-up).
• American: RSI 39.0→40.5, 7D -11.62%→-3.37% (still negative, calmer), 30D -6.32%→-17% (worsened sharply, now worst in sector), 52wkHi -20.28%→-27.86% (widened), trend still weak-down (no recovery from last scan's structural break).
• Alaska: RSI 42.3→46.5, trend upgraded weak-up→strong-up, 7D -7.91%→+1.36% (turned positive), 30D -7.61%→-10.53% (worsened), 52wkHi -30.92%→-32.07% (widened, still worst in the sector).

RSI (Relative Strength Index) gauges how aggressively a stock has been bought or sold over roughly the past two weeks, on a 0-100 scale — under 30 signals an oversold, potentially undervalued stretch; over 70 signals overbought, extended risk; readings in between are neutral. The color icons below track that scale: green marks oversold/healthy, yellow marks neutral, orange marks approaching overbought, red marks a breakdown or extreme overbought reading. Trend reflects a stock's structural direction based on its moving averages (strong-up, weak-up, weak-down, strong-down); vs SMA20 shows how far price sits above or below its 20-day average; 52wkHi shows the distance below the stock's own one-year high — the closer to zero, the closer to a new high.

THE BOUNCE — DAL, UAL, AND ALK TURNED POSITIVE ON THE WEEK: Delta ($85.06, RSI 49.6, was 45.2), United ($118.27, RSI 47.1, was 41.0), and Alaska ($46.13, RSI 46.5, was 42.3) all posted positive weekly moves and RSI recoveries after two straight scans of sector-wide compression. None of the three has resolved its 30-day trend, however — all three deepened further negative on that measure, and all three widened their distance from their 52-week highs.

LUV BREAKS DOWN — THE FRESH STRUCTURAL CASUALTY: Southwest ($45.08, RSI 39.7) had been the group's steadiest hold across the last two scans — smallest weekly decline, near-flat 30-day change. This week it posted the sector's sharpest RSI drop (50.9→39.7), its trend classification downgraded from strong-up to weak-down, and its 30-day change swung from +0.23% to -11.5%. This is the first structural break for Southwest in this cluster's recent scans.

AAL — WORST 30-DAY DECLINE IN THE SECTOR, DESPITE A CALMER WEEK: American ($14.48, RSI 40.5) posted a calmer weekly print than last scan (-3.37%, was -11.62%), but its 30-day change deepened to -17% — the sector's worst — and it's now -27.86% from its 52-week high, versus -20.28% last scan. Its trend classification remains weak-down, unchanged since the structural break flagged two scans ago; there's no sign of recovery yet.

EVERY NAME IS FURTHER FROM ITS 52-WEEK HIGH THIS WEEK: Regardless of which side of the weekly bounce a name landed on, every single carrier in the sector widened its distance from its own 52-week high this scan — Delta -12.03%→-14.33%, United -14.38%→-16.88%, Southwest -12.76%→-18.87%, JETS -10.36%→-13.71%, American -20.28%→-27.86%, Alaska -30.92%→-32.07%. That uniformity, alongside every name's 30-day change also deepening, is the clearest read of the week: a bounce sitting inside a still-deteriorating medium-term trend.

Does Southwest's structural break stabilize next scan, or does it continue lower the way American did two scans back? Does Alaska's trend recovery hold, given it remains the sector's furthest name from a 52-week high? And with every single carrier's 30-day change deepening again this week despite a broad weekly bounce, does the sector find a floor soon, or does this settled-close recovery prove to be a one-week wobble inside a longer pullback?

• Tape data (price/RSI/SMA/returns): pre-computed summaries as of the 2026-07-24 close — airlines.