WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Airline stocks declined modestly on Tuesday after posting strong gains in the previous session. The NYSE Arca Airline Index (xal) fell less than 1% to 33.38 points with all but four of its 15 components trading off. Shares of Hawaiian Airlines (ha) declined nearly 4% to $4.08, while Alaska Air (alk) and US Airways (lcc) each fell more than 1%. The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 Index (spx) slipped a fraction to about 1,206 points. On Monday, the Arca Airline Index rose more than 5%.

© 1997-2008 MarketWatch.com, Inc. All rights reserved. See details at http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/docs/useragreement.asp.