Is that the sky falling?

No, it’s just the stock market.

And—no big shock here—airline stocks tumbled along with everything else.

Just ahead of the House of Representatives rejecting the government’s $700 billion bailout on Monday, Northwest and Continental “led” the pack with stocks that plunged 11 percent and 10.7 percent, respectively.

By the close of the trading day, UAL Corp., the parent company of United, took a dive of 9 percent; American Airlines’ parent company AMR Corporation, fell 8.7 percent; US Airways 8.5 percent; Delta Air Lines 7. 8 percent; and JetBlue 6.3 percent. Southwest came out a relative winner, dropping only 3 percent.

Monday marked the biggest single-day point loss in history, when the Dow sank 777.68 points. That loss translated into about a $1.2 trillion loss in market value. The only other day to come close was on September 17, 2001, the first trading day after 9/11.

Other transportation stocks took a beating. The Dow Jones Transportation Average dropped nearly 247 points, or 5.2 percent, which included freight airline and railroad shares. Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings dropped 13 percent, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway saw its shares decline 6.9 percent, and Union Pacific was down 5.9 percent.

Related Links: ?Forbes, CNN, Dow Jones, Associated Press

By Managing Editor Sarika Chawla for PeterGreenberg.com.

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