US airline stocks fell sharply on Wednesday as the price of a barrel of oil -- directly linked to the price of jet fuel -- rose more than USD$4.

Delta Air Lines' shares suffered the largest percentage decline in midday trading, falling 10.2 percent to USD$8.95 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Northwest Airlines shares were down 9.8 percent at USD$9.06 on the NYSE. The Amex airline shed 7.6 percent.

Calyon Securities analyst Ray Neidl said the drop in share prices was the result of the oil price spike. Nymex crude was up USD$4.20 at USD$105.42.

Earlier on Wednesday American Airlines said it voluntarily canceled nearly 10 percent of its flights to check plane wiring to comply with a request by the Federal Aviation Administration.

American parent AMR's shares were weaker after the news and were down 7.4 percent at USD$8.92 on the NYSE.

Shares of UAL, parent of United Airlines, were down 7.8 percent at USD$22.24 on Nasdaq.