American Airlines May traffic falls 11.7 percent

FORT WORTH, Texas -- American Airlines said Wednesday that traffic in May fell 11.7 percent year-over-year.

The airline flew 10.38 billion revenue passenger miles, each unit representing one paying passenger flown one mile. That compares with 11.76 billion miles for the same month in 2008.

Domestic traffic dropped 13.3 percent as the airline cut capacity by 12.4 percent. International traffic fell 8.9 percent with a 2.7 percent capacity cut.

The airline's occupancy rate fell to 79.2 percent from 81.7 percent.

Shares of parent company AMR Corp. slipped 3 cents to $5.17 in after-hours trading following the release of the figures, after falling 10 cents, or 2 percent, to $5.20 during the regular session.