American Airlines parent AMR Corp. on Wednesday reported a $375 million net loss for the first quarter of 2009, compared with a $341 million first-quarter loss last year.

American reported $4.8 billion in revenue for the quarter, a 15% decrease. The airline cited reduced capacity and economic factors, including less passenger traffic and lower fares as well as lower cargo demand, as the major reasons for the revenue drop.

Ancillary revenue -- including sales from confirmed flight changes, purchased upgrades, buy-on-board food and bag fees -- increased 6.9%, to $558 million.

American's mainline passenger revenue per available seat mile declined by 8.7%. Mainline capacity, or total available seat miles, decreased by 8%. American's mainline load factor (the percentage of total seats filled) was 75.7% during the first quarter, compared to 79.1% in the first quarter of 2008.

American's first-quarter yield, which represents average fares paid, decreased by 4.5%. its first year-over-year yield decrease following 15 consecutive quarters of increases.

The decrease in yield was largely due to more aggressive pricing industrywide and reduced traffic in the premium cabins, the airline said.

"While lower fuel prices have provided a significant buffer against falling demand in 2009, the struggling economy and capital markets remain significant challenges for American and the rest of the industry," said American CEO Gerard Arpey. "Even as we feel the impact of declining revenues, fares and traffic, we continue to make progress in areas within our control."

While traffic has declined in just about all segments, American, like other airlines, has seen a significant drop in business travel.

"We would all like to see corporate travel pick back up faster than it is,” said Arpey. "A lot of companies have hunkered down. If history is any indication, they will not stay hunkered down."