AirTran Airways said on Tuesday its traffic in May climbed 18.2 percent compared to the same period in 2007.

May traffic increased to 1.73 billion revenue passenger miles from 1.47 billion in May 2007.

The carrier boosted its capacity by 14 percent to 2.19 billion available seat miles.

AirTran's load factor, a measure of occupancy, was 79.3 percent.

Shares of parent AirTran Holdings Inc. rose 2.80 percent to close at $2.94.