American to Offer Business Class in U.S. : Airlines: It’s an attempt to cash in on a category of traveler that commands a higher fare.

NEW YORK —  American Airlines plans to offer business-class service in the United States in a push to attract higher-fare business travelers, industry sources said Tuesday.

The nation’s largest airline will become one of a handful of U.S. carriers to aim the service at passengers on domestic business trips.

Known as an industry innovator, American, based at Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport, is seeking to boost a key part of its business in a tough environment, analysts said.

The move could spark fresh turf battles among major airlines to woo business travelers, their most profitable customers.

Business and leisure travel has tumbled the past year, hurt by the tensions in the Persian Gulf and the recession.

Business class, traditionally offered on international flights, is an intermediate level of service with roomier seats and more attention to food than coach. It is less costly than first class.

Some U.S. airlines offer the service on domestic flights that connect with incoming overseas flights. Trans World Airlines Inc. has offered such service for some time, and Delta Air Lines Inc. began it last year after buying the European operations of the former Pan American World Airways.

A spokeswoman for AMR Corp., parent of American, said Donald Carty, the airline’s executive vice president of finance, and Michael Gunn, senior vice president of marketing, will hold a news conference today in New York to announce “a new dimension” in domestic service.

She declined to discuss specifics.

But analysts said business-class service was the likely subject.

“It makes sense,” said Edward Starkman at Painewebber. “American’s looking at their competitors . . . it might be a potential revenue booster.”

American has aggressively added overseas flights the past several years, and the move to business class on domestic flights would be a natural outgrowth of that, he said.

On Monday, the three biggest U.S. airlines reported strong traffic gains for December, including a substantial rise in domestic traffic--the first in a year. The other carriers were Chicago-based United Airlines and Atlanta-based Delta.