Sep. 3--Airline stocks got a lift Tuesday as oil prices fell $5.75 to $109.71, with several carriers seeing double-digit percentage gains.

Investors pushed AMR Corp., parent of American Airlines (ticker: AMR), up $1.17 to close at $11.50 per share, a jump of 11.3 percent. Northwest Airlines (NWA) climbed $1.39 to $11.17, up 14.2 percent, while Delta Air Lines (DAL) ascended $1.04 to fi- nish at $9.17, up 12.8 percent.

The Amex airline index, which tracks 14 airline-industry stocks, rose nearly 7 percent Tuesday.

Southwest Airlines (LUV), based in Dallas, rose 18 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $15.41 per share. Southwest's shares typically aren't greatly affected by swings in oil prices, because the airline locks in a majority of its fuel purchases in advance with hedging contracts.

The investor confidence came from the weaker-than-expected impact of Hurricane Gustav, which had threatened oil refineries along the Gulf Coast. That could have caused jet-fuel prices to soar, doing further damage to the fragile industry's financial picture.

The airlines have been working to keep fuel costs in check while boosting revenues. The industry reported positive trends in July, according to the Air Transport Association, with unit revenues rising more than 6 percent.

"Positive [revenue] performance is one of the keys to the airline industry profit recovery in a high fuel environment," said Michael Derchin, an analyst with FTN Midwest Securities.

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