New York, March 11th (TradersHuddle.com) - The NYSE Airline index ended the session higher by closing at $38.17, which represents 0.21% versus previous day close. The airline index was mixed with a slight upside bias with 8 out of 13 components trading higher.

Benchmark crude for April delivery was higher closing the trading session at $82.32 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange higher by $0.23 from the previous trading session. Crude prices are closely watched by traders as they usually correlate with the airline stocks, given that a big component of the airlines' cost structure is covered by the price of fuel.

Continental Airlines (NYSE:CAL) was the top performer of the sector today closing at $22.82 representing 2.47%. versus the previous trading session. The Houston based airline that uses Newark airport as a hub has defined support at $20.14 and its resistance level at $21.44.

AMR (NYSE:AMR) was also among the top performers today closing at $10.16 representing 1.91% from its previous close. The owner and operator of the 2nd largest U.S. based airline and founder member of the Oneworld airline alliance has caluclated support and resistance levels at $8.93 and $9.65 respectively. The other top performer was UAL (NASDAQ:UAUA), which closed the trading session at $19.17 representing 1% from the previous trading session.

The sector's worst performers include Delta (NYSE:DAL) that closed the trading session at $12.99 or -2.33% from the previous close. The largest airline in the world has defined support at $12.52 and resistance at $13.50. Also among the worst performers was US Airways (NYSE:LCC), which closed the trading session at $7.84 representing -1.26% from the previous trading session.