Airlines at the Des Moines International Airport carried 2,500 more passengers during the first three months of 2007 than they did in the same period last year, according to the airport’s first-quarter statistics released last night.

Cargo handling at the airport is also up nearly 6 percent from the same period last year.

U.S. Department of Transportation data from 2006 shows the airport held its position as the 90th most active commercial airport in the nation. The data also shows that the airport’s average one-way ticket price for the year was $178. That is $44 more than Kansas City International Airport’s average price, $29 more than Omaha’s Eppley Airfield and $11 more than Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.