OREANDA-NEWS. Aided by record-setting origin and destination traffic, as well as double-digit growth in international passenger traffic, Denver International Airport (DIA) set a record for the busiest first half of any year since the airport opened 19 years ago.

"Denver International Airport finished the first half of 2014 with record traffic," said airport CEO Kim Day. "A significant increase in origin and destination traffic from Southwest and Frontier and a large increase in United's connecting traffic fueled June's growth. International traffic also remained strong, up 12 percent over June 2013."

In the first six months of the year, a total of 25,936,343 passengers passed through DIA. In June, overall passenger traffic at DIA increased by 2.4 percent, with 4,830,401 passengers using the airport compared to 4,716,309 passengers in June 2013. The June statistics were just shy of the all-time record for June passenger traffic, which was set in 2011 with 4,863,158 passengers.

Year-to-date, more than 1.1 million international passengers have traveled through Denver, making the first half of 2014 the second-highest level of international traffic ever at DIA.

Additionally, mail, freight and express cargo operations were slightly higher in June compared to the same month last year. To date, 245,381,726 pounds of cargo have been handled at DIA in 2014, down 1 percent from 247,826,626 pounds of cargo handled during the same timeframe in 2013.