American Airlines said Today advance bookings through late summer are down from last year, and it will cut more flights, according to AP. Chief Executive Gerard Arpey said American would cut its full-year 2009 capacity about 7.5 percent. That's up from an earlier goal of cutting 6.5 percent, and will require about a 2 percentage point reduction in flights in the second half of the year. The reductions will take effect in late August. Arpey said advance bookings through August were down about 2 percentage points from last year. «That's terribly alarming to me,» he said. Arpey blamed the travel slump on the weak global economy and the swine flu outbreak, which he said devastated American's business in Mexico and dampened travel around the world. American joined Delta Air Lines Inc., the world's largest airline operator, in announcing deeper capacity cuts than previously planned. American, a unit of Fort Worth, Texas-based AMR Corp., cut capacity last year. That helped the airline weather the downturn in travel in early 2009 _ American left its summer schedule mostly untouched. But the weak summer bookings convinced company officials they needed to reduce the fall schedule, Arpey said at an investor conference in New York. Once the cuts are made, American will offer 15.5 percent less capacity _ measured in the number of seats times miles flown _ in the United States and about 5.5 percent fewer internationally, compared with two years ago.
