OREANDA-NEWS. Denver International Airport (DIA) set a record for the busiest May in its 19-year history, marking the second consecutive month of record-setting passenger traffic at DIA.

Overall passenger traffic at DIA increased in May by 2.1 percent, with 4,563,190 passengers using the airport compared to 4,470,164 passengers in May 2013. Through the end of May, DIA has seen 21,105,942 passengers so far this year, an increase of 2.1 percent over the 20,680,015 passengers during the same time last year.

The number of passengers traveling on international flights increased by 18.8 percent, from 153,827 travelers in May 2013, to 182,691 travelers in May 2014. International passenger counts have continued to show steady growth at DIA as overall international traffic increased about 20 percent through the first five months of 2014 compared to the same timeframe in 2013.

“Southwest and Frontier both saw strong increases in origin and destination traffic while United saw an acceleration in connecting traffic - all of which helped fuel two consecutive months of record-setting passenger traffic at Denver International Airport,” said Kim Day, DIA's chief executive officer. “International traffic at DIA also continues to strongly outpace previous years, and May signaled the start of the peak season for transatlantic travel. We remain on pace to have a very strong year as we enter the height of the busy summer travel season.”

Additionally, mail, freight and express cargo operations were essentially flat in May compared to the same month last year. To date, 204,527,435 pounds of cargo have been handled at DIA in 2014, down 2 percent from 208,628,724 pounds of cargo handled during the same timeframe in 2013.