Brent crude broke back above $100 a barrel this week for the first time in this scan series (Bloomberg and CNBC, September 9, on continued US-Iran tanker strikes), yet every airline's 30-day loss actually narrowed as the acute late-August plunge finally rolled out of the window — the improvement is a base-effect, not a recovery. The more telling move is structural: the sector ETF ($JETS) crossed below its 200-day average for the first time this series, and four of the six names in the cohort are now further below their own 200-day line than they were a week ago. Delta ($DAL) remains the cohort's one clean, market-beating trend — still 7.1% above its 200-day with a 32.21% one-year gain and alpha that improved to +15.99. United ($UAL) and American ($AAL) both flipped from modestly positive to essentially flat one-year returns this week (UAL +0.42%, AAL +0.46%), and Alaska ($ALK) remains the sector's confirmed breakdown, down 35.55% over the year with -51.77 alpha, the single worst reading in the cohort.

Data as-of the 2026-09-11 close for all six tickers, including the sector ETF ($JETS). All numbers from the pre-computed airlines summary. Comparison scan: the September 4, 2026 close — a normal one-week gap.

Every name in the cohort posted a positive day (Delta +2.13%, United +3.13%, Southwest +1.42%, JETS +1.19%, American +1.25%, Alaska +2.62%), but the week itself was mixed — Delta, Southwest, and JETS eased into small weekly losses while American's weekly decline actually narrowed. RSI moved in both directions versus the prior close: Delta rose to 43.3 (was 41.6), United to 43.6 (was 43.2, roughly flat), Southwest to 38.7 (was 38.0, roughly flat), while JETS eased to 37.8 (was 40.0) and Alaska eased to 42.1 (was 42.8). American ticked up slightly to 36.9 (was 36.2). None of the six short-term trend tags changed direction this scan — Delta, United, and JETS stay weak-down, Southwest and American stay down, Alaska stays strong-down with its death cross still confirmed. Relative volume was unremarkable across the board except United, which traded at 1.78x its average — the only name with a real volume signal this scan, though nothing in the news or event corpus below explains it.

The 30-day window tells a friendlier story than the underlying trend does. Every name's monthly loss narrowed materially from the prior scan — Delta -13.93%→-11.14%, United -16.10%→-12.23%, Southwest -18.79%→-12.76%, JETS -14.11%→-10.91%, American -20.81%→-12.86%, Alaska -19.23%→-13.11% — but that's mechanical: the sharpest days of the late-August selloff are rolling out of the trailing-30-day window, not evidence the group is stabilizing. The distance from each name's 200-day average is the more honest read, and it moved the wrong way for four of six: Delta eased to 7.1% above (was 8.1%), United to 1.1% above (was 2.9%), Southwest deepened to 9.2% below (was 8.0%), JETS flipped to 1.0% below (was 1.5% above — the sector ETF's first breach in this series), American deepened to 6.7% below (was 5.7%), and Alaska deepened to 10.4% below (was 8.4%). Only Delta and Southwest's alpha improved on the year (Delta +13.75→+15.99, Southwest +8.66→+7.49, though Southwest's underlying 200-day breach is still widening); United's, JETS's, and Alaska's all worsened (United -13.63→-15.8, JETS -7.75→-9.19, Alaska -51.72→-51.77, still the cohort's worst by a wide margin), and American's held roughly flat (-16.55→-15.76).

Delta and Southwest run the sector's newest, most fuel-efficient fleets and typically absorb fuel-cost spikes better than legacy peers, but none of that shows up as a ticker-specific driver in this week's data. Brent crossing $100 is well documented this week — Bloomberg and CNBC both reported it September 9 on continued US-Iran tanker strikes, and Bloomberg (September 9) tied the same spike to a broader stocks-and-bonds selloff as rate-cut odds shifted; Treasury yields also moved, consistent with the long-duration bond proxy's own weakness this scan (-1.63% over 7 days). Jet fuel is a direct cost line for every name in this cohort, so that's a real macro backdrop — but no ticker-specific news receipt in this corpus falls inside the September 4–11 window for any of the six names (the freshest, Alaska's, is dated August 28 and predates this move; United's, Delta's, and JETS's pulls are months old), and no stock-events entry sits in that window either. The oil/rate backdrop is documented macro context; the specific driver of any single name's move this week is cause unknown at the ticker level from this data. This pattern lines up with the other two oil-input-sensitive lanes in this week's sweep: chemicals saw broad deterioration in names above their 200-day lines, and cruise lines in travel-leisure deepened further.

• Delta: RSI 41.6→43.3 (rose), trend weak-down unchanged, price $80.17→$79.91, 7D +0.12%→-0.32% (turned negative), 30D -13.93%→-11.14% (improved), vs 200-day 8.1%→7.1% (eased slightly), 1Y +32.4%→32.21% (flat), alpha +13.75→+15.99 (improved) — remains the cohort's cleanest trend.
• United: RSI 43.2→43.6 (flat), trend weak-down unchanged, price $111.38→$109.82, 7D +0.73%→-1.4% (turned negative), 30D -16.10%→-12.23% (improved), vs 200-day 2.9%→1.1% (eased), 1Y +5.03%→+0.42% (flipped to roughly flat), alpha -13.63→-15.8 (worsened).
• Southwest: RSI 38.0→38.7 (flat), trend down unchanged, price $39.62→$39.24, 7D -0.08%→-0.96%, 30D -18.79%→-12.76% (improved), vs 200-day -8.0%→-9.2% (breach deepened), 1Y +27.31%→+23.71% (eased), alpha +8.66→+7.49 (eased) — strong long-run numbers, but the 200-day break keeps widening, not resolving.
• JETS: RSI 40.0→37.8 (eased), trend down unchanged, price $28.80→$28.17, 7D -1.23%→-2.19% (worsened), 30D -14.11%→-10.91% (improved), vs 200-day +1.5%→-1.0% (flipped negative — first breach this series), 1Y +10.9%→+7.03% (eased), alpha -7.75→-9.19 (worsened).
• American: RSI 36.2→36.9 (flat), trend down unchanged, price $13.13→$13.01, 7D -3.67%→-0.91% (improved), 30D -20.81%→-12.86% (improved), vs 200-day -5.7%→-6.7% (deepened), 1Y +2.1%→+0.46% (flipped to roughly flat), alpha -16.55→-15.76 (roughly flat).
• Alaska: RSI 42.8→42.1 (flat), trend strong-down unchanged, death cross still confirmed, price $42.04→$41.16, 7D -0.66%→-2.09% (worsened), 30D -19.23%→-13.11% (improved), vs 200-day -8.4%→-10.4% (deepened), 1Y -35.55% (worse than -33.07% two scans ago), alpha -51.72→-51.77 (flat, still the cohort's worst by far).

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. Trend reflects a stock's structural direction based on its moving averages over the past several weeks — it is a short-window read, not a verdict on the multi-year story, and this scan's improving 30-day numbers are mostly a base effect from an old selloff rolling out of the window. vs SMA shows how far price sits above or below its 20-day average. The one-year change, alpha, and distance from the 200-day average are the longer-horizon check: a name above its 200-day with a strong one-year gain and positive alpha is genuinely beating the market no matter how a single week looks; a name below its 200-day with a flat-to-negative year and negative alpha is a trend under real test.

RSI < 25 (Oversold): None this scan.

RSI 25-40 (Approaching Oversold): Southwest (38.7), JETS (37.8), and American (36.9) sit here. Southwest's long-run numbers are the strongest of the three but the 200-day breach is widening; JETS just crossed into breach territory; American is flat-to-negative on the year with negative alpha.

RSI 40+ (Neutral-to-Strong): Delta (43.3), United (43.6), and Alaska (42.1) sit here, but the long-horizon check splits them sharply. Delta is the cohort's one clean, market-beating trend. United is technically above its 200-day but its year just went flat and alpha keeps worsening. Alaska's RSI tells nothing about its picture — it remains broken on every long-horizon measure with the sector's worst alpha.

Does JETS's first-ever breach of its 200-day this series confirm as a real trend break, or does it reclaim the line quickly? Does Southwest's widening 200-day gap ($43.21) ever reverse, or does it join American and Alaska as a confirmed breakdown? And does the sector's 30-day improvement (a base effect from the late-August plunge rolling out of the window) turn into a genuine stabilization next scan, or reverse again if oil keeps climbing past $100.

• Tape data (price/RSI/SMA/returns/alpha/200-day): pre-computed summaries as of the 2026-09-11 close — airlines.
• Comparison figures: 2026-09-04-airlines (2026-09-04 close).
• Broad-market context (SPY, TLT, VIXY): market-pulse (same 2026-09-11 close).
• Cross-sector read: chemicals, travel-leisure (same close).
• Oil/rate macro corpus: 2026-09-09-bloomberg-oil-tops-100-on-supply-fears-apple-faces-a-big-test-tl3y1mn3n0bb00, 2026-09-09-cnbc-brent-crude-nears-100-a-barrel-as-u-s-iran-tit-for-tat-strik-108360126, 2026-09-09-bloomberg-stocks-bonds-drop-as-oil-spike-boosts-fed-wagers-markets-wra-tl47jjkijh8t00, 2026-09-09-bloomberg-treasury-yields-climb-after-new-buyback-targets-disappoint-tl3d6ikgctfw00.
• News/event check per ticker: stocks{DAL,UAL,LUV,JETS,AAL,ALK}/news/latest.json— all six predate or fail to cover the September 4–11 window (Alaska freshest at August 28; United's latest pull marked stale/failed);research/stock-events/` has no entry for any of the six tickers in this window — driver unconfirmed at the ticker level from this data.