American Airlines, the nation's largest carrier, said Thursday that domestic traffic slipped in December, and both American and Continental Airlines Inc. said their planes were less full than a year ago.

American said it boarded 7.9 million passengers in December, but its planes averaged 78.8 percent occupancy, down from 79.1 percent in December 2006.

Domestic traffic fell 4.1 percent, swamping American's effort to manage lighter demand by reducing capacity 2.6 percent. Rising international demand limited the overall traffic decline to 1 percent, said Fort Worth-based American, which is owned by AMR Corp.

Source: Topix