American Airlines Inc. said Wednesday that it filled 83.5 percent of its seats on its August flights, down 1.5 percentage points compared with August 2007.

While the Fort Worth-based carrier reduced capacity 1.1 percent, traffic declined at a faster rate, 2.9 percent.

Regional partner American Eagle also reported that its passenger loads declined in August, down 7.3 points to 69.7 percent.

Its traffic decreased 13.6 percent on a 4.5 percent reduction in capacity.

United Airlines Inc. said its August traffic dropped 5.1 percent, with a 3.1 percent cut in capacity. Its load factor dropped 1.8 points to 84.5 percent.

The results were consistent with those of Continental Airlines Inc., which reported Tuesday that its August flights saw a decline in passenger loads. However, Continental's traffic increased 0.7 percent on a 2 percent increase in capacity.

Terry Maxon