Every name in the cohort round-tripped back to green: after Wednesday's across-the-board red session, all six airlines closed higher again today, and the week's structural gains kept building on top of it — Delta ($DAL) upgraded from a weak-down trend to a confirmed strong-up trend with a golden cross, and the sector ETF ($JETS) reclaimed its 200-day average for the first time in this series. Alaska ($ALK), the cohort's one broken name for three straight scans, is the one to watch for a different reason this time: its 200-day gap actually narrowed for the first time since this series began, from -13.4% to -10.5%, even though it remains the cohort's only name still tagged in collapse with a confirmed death cross. Southwest ($LUV) shows the same kind of split on its own: price and RSI both surged while its trend classifier and death cross stayed put at strong-down/confirmed, a disconnect worth naming rather than resolving. The desk's own oil proxy fell another 3.1% today after a Wednesday report that Washington and Tehran are exploring a phased deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — a plausible tailwind for airline fuel costs, but no news receipt on any of the six ties today's gains to it specifically.

Data as-of the 2026-09-25 close for all six tickers, including the sector ETF ($JETS). All numbers from the pre-computed airlines summary. Comparison scan: the September 23, 2026 close.

Today's tape reversed the prior session's pattern for a second time this month: Wednesday's close (the comparison point for this scan) had every one of the six names finishing red, and today every one finished green — Delta +2.63%, United +2.52%, Southwest +2.72%, the sector ETF +1.83%, American +3.9% and Alaska +2.27%. Layered on top of the week's already-positive returns, every name now carries a solidly positive seven-day change, ranging from Alaska's +0.99% (still the cohort's weakest week by a wide margin) to American's +7.02% (the cohort's best). The desk's own oil proxy fell 3.11% today and 3.57% over the week, coinciding with a Semafor report dated September 24 that the U.S. and Iran are exploring a phased deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. A falling fuel-cost proxy the same week the whole airline cohort rallies is a plausible connection, but it is not a confirmed one — none of the six carries a fresh news pull naming today's session as a driver, and no entry exists in the stock-events record for any of them in this window. Call it context, not a stated cause.

The week's structural story moved further than the headline bounce. Delta's trend classifier flipped from weak-down to a confirmed strong-up, with a golden cross now in place; its cushion above its 200-day widened again from 8.6% to 12.6%, and its one-year return jumped from 39.15% to 49.7% with alpha improving from 23.38 to 32.48 — both the cohort's best by a wide margin and both continuing to climb. United's cushion above its 200-day, which it had just reclaimed last scan at a thin 1.6%, widened to 4.6%, and its alpha improved from -9.44 to -2.25, closing in on flat versus the market. American came closest to a full reclaim: its 200-day gap narrowed from -4.0% to -0.2%, and its alpha turned solidly positive at +4.56 after sitting at -6.26 last scan — though its trend tag stayed at "down," unchanged, and its three-month return (-22.38%) is still deeply negative. JETS crossed the line outright, moving from 1.0% below its 200-day to 1.5% above it, the sector ETF's first reclaim in this series.

Southwest is the cohort's clearest example this scan of a number that has moved further than its tag. Its 200-day gap narrowed sharply from -5.5% to -1.8% — the sharpest one-scan narrowing here — and its RSI rose from 50.6 to 59.2, but its trend classifier remains "strong-down" and its death cross, confirmed two scans ago, is still marked confirmed. Price and momentum are recovering faster than the moving-average structure underneath them; that gap is worth watching, not resolving in either direction.

Alaska remains the cohort's one name tagged in collapse, but this scan is the first time since this series began that its 200-day breach actually narrowed rather than widened — from 13.4% to 10.5% below the line. Its one-year return improved to -20.18% and its alpha to -37.4, both still by far the cohort's worst, and its three-month return (-23.99%) is now the single worst reading in the cohort, edging out American's. The regime tag and death cross are both unchanged from last scan. One narrowing session does not undo three scans of a widening breach, but it is the first data point pointing the other way.

Every RSI reading in the cohort now sits at 46.3 or higher — no name is anywhere near the oversold band this scan, extending last scan's clearing of that threshold.

• Delta: RSI 50.6→58.6 (rose), trend weak-down→strong-up (upgraded, golden cross confirmed), price $81.75→$84.94, 7D +4.98%→+6.68% (improved further), 30D -0.89%→+2.24% (turned solidly positive), vs 200-day +8.6%→+12.6% (widened further — still the cohort's strongest cushion), 1Y +39.15%→+49.7% (improved sharply), alpha +23.38→+32.48 (improved sharply, still the cohort's best) — rose 2.63% today.
• United: RSI 47.6→53 (rose), trend weak-down unchanged, price $110.72→$113.99, 7D +4.16%→+4.86% (improved), 30D -2.51%→-0.73% (improved), vs 200-day +1.6%→+4.6% (widened from the thin cushion it just reclaimed), 1Y +6.33%→+14.97% (improved sharply), alpha -9.44→-2.25 (improved sharply, closing in on flat) — rose 2.52% today.
• Southwest: RSI 50.6→59.2 (rose sharply), trend strong-down unchanged, death cross still confirmed, price $41.04→$42.68, 7D +4.83%→+4.15% (eased slightly, still strong), 30D +0.81%→+4.94% (improved further), vs 200-day -5.5%→-1.8% (narrowed sharply, the cohort's sharpest one-scan move — but the trend tag and death cross did not follow), 1Y +23.1%→+33.67% (improved), alpha +7.32→+16.45 (improved) — rose 2.72% today.
• JETS: RSI 42.7→50.4 (rose), trend down→weak-down (upgraded), price $28.25→$28.98, 7D +1.62%→+2.69% (improved), 30D -4.79%→-2.62% (improved), vs 200-day -1.0%→+1.5% (reclaimed the line this scan — the sector ETF's first reclaim in this series), 1Y +10.05%→+17.04% (improved), alpha -5.72→-0.17 (improved, nearly flat) — rose 1.83% today.
• American: RSI 46.9→55.3 (rose), trend down unchanged, price $13.35→$13.87, 7D +5.12%→+7.02% (improved further, still the cohort's best week), 30D -2.05%→+0.22% (turned positive), vs 200-day -4.0%→-0.2% (narrowed to nearly reclaimed), 1Y +9.52%→+21.77% (improved sharply), alpha -6.26→+4.56 (turned positive) — rose 3.9% today, though its 3-month return (-22.38%) is still deeply negative.
• Alaska: RSI 40.0→46.3 (rose, cleared the neutral floor it sat on last scan), trend strong-down unchanged, death cross still confirmed, regime still tagged collapse, price $39.70→$40.94, 7D +0.05%→+0.99% (still by far the cohort's weakest week), 30D -4.48%→-4.79% (roughly flat), vs 200-day -13.4%→-10.5% (narrowed for the first time in this series, though still the cohort's widest breach), 1Y -26.67%→-20.18% (improved), alpha -42.44→-37.4 (improved but still by far the cohort's worst), 3-month -23.99% (now the cohort's single worst reading) — rose 2.27% today.

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, which is why Southwest can carry a "strong-down" trend tag and a confirmed death cross in the same row as a sharply narrowing 200-day gap and a strong one-year return. The distance from the 200-day average, the one-year change and alpha are the honest longer-horizon check: a name above its 200-day with a strong one-year gain and positive alpha — Delta, United, American and now JETS — is beating the market no matter how a short-term tag reads; a name below its 200-day with a negative year and deeply negative alpha, which is Alaska alone in this cohort, is a trend still under real test even on a session where the gap narrowed. Nothing in this table is a setup; these are screen conditions.

Capitulation, RSI under 25: None this scan.

Oversold, RSI 25-40: None this scan — the cohort has now cleared this band for a second straight scan.

Neutral to strong, RSI 40+: All six. Southwest (59.2) and Delta (58.6) are the cohort's two highest readings; Delta backs it with a newly confirmed strong-up trend and the cohort's best year and alpha, Southwest with a sharply narrowing 200-day gap that its trend classifier has not yet caught up to. American (55.3) and United (53.0) both posted strong weeks and narrowed or reclaimed their 200-day lines. JETS (50.4) just reclaimed its own line. Alaska (46.3), still the cohort's lowest reading, is the one name where a rising RSI and a narrowing (not widening) 200-day gap sit alongside an unchanged collapse tag and confirmed death cross.

Does Delta's newly confirmed golden cross and strong-up tag hold through the next pullback, or was today's continuation still riding Wednesday's oversold bounce? Does Southwest's trend classifier and death cross eventually flip to match its price action, or does the 200-day gap widen back out and vindicate the still-bearish tag? Does Alaska's one narrowing session extend into a second, or was it a single bounce inside a three-scan collapse that remains otherwise unchanged? And does the September 24 U.S.-Iran Hormuz report, or any other item, ever produce a news pull naming a fuel-cost driver behind this week's across-the-board airline strength — right now that link is context, not a confirmed cause for any of the six.

• Tape data (price/RSI/SMA/returns/alpha/200-day/3-month/52-week high/regime): pre-computed summaries as of the 2026-09-25 close — airlines.
• Comparison figures: 2026-09-23-airlines (2026-09-23 close).
• Broad-market and oil context (SPY, USO): market-pulse (same 2026-09-25 close).
• Hormuz corpus: 2026-09-24-semafor-us-iran-explore-phased-deal-to-reopen-hormuz-to-reopen-hormuz (dated September 24; a headline-only capture with no ticker-level attribution).
• Cross-sector read: chemicals, travel-leisure (same close).
• News/event check per ticker: stocks{DAL,UAL,LUV,JETS,AAL,ALK}/news/latest.json— none covers today's session; United and Southwest last pulled September 19 (generic quote pages), Alaska August 28, Delta and JETS stale since June 21, American since July 9.research/stock-events/` has no entry for any of the six in this window. Drivers unestablished at the ticker level from this data.