Airline stocks mixed as oil falls below $80 a barrel

Airlines stocks were mixed Wednesday even as benchmark oil prices fell below $80 a barrel.

Flights to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, have been canceled after a severe earthquake rocked the Caribbean nation, causing buildings to crumble and leading to the deaths of potentially thousands of people.

At last check, the NYSE Arca Airline was down a fraction to 34.79 points with seven of its 13 components in the green. In the last 52 weeks, the benchmark index has moved in the range of 36.25 to 12.62 points.

Crude oil for February delivery fell $1.04, or 1.3%, to $79.75 a barrel in electronic trading after U.S. petroleum inventories grew due to lack of demand.

Jet fuel has become airlines largest cost in recent years. Most economists are predicting oil will average between $75 to $85 a barrel in 2010.