The past year at Dayton International Airport saw nearly a 3 percent increase in travelers compared to 2011 and double digit growth in air cargo, newly released figures show.

Passengers boarding aircraft at the airport numbered 1,304,313 compared to 1,269,106, an increase of 2.8 percent. Delta Air Lines and American Airlines had the largest increases in passengers, both hitting 8.8 percent increases year over year.

Total aircraft operations were down slightly, or 57,914 compared to 58,327 in 2011, or .7 percent.

Cargo is also up significantly by 17.1 percent from 8,597.2 tons to 10,068.93 tons.

Airport spokeswoman Linda Hughes attributes economical ticket prices in Dayton in part for the good showing in 2012.

“We don’t set the ticket prices, the airlines do, but nine times out of ten it is much less expensive to fly out of Dayton,” Hughes said.