Washington :  US airline traffic continued its momentum in April after four consecutive monthly increases, the US transport department has said.

US airlines carried 61.5 million domestic and international passengers in April, 1.6 percent more than in the same period of 2011, Xinhua quoted the department as saying.

Specifically, there were 1.5 percent more domestic passengers and 1.7 percent more international passengers in April than a year ago.

The top 10 US airlines, including Southwest, Delta, United, American, US Airways, ExpressJet, JetBlue, SkyWest, American Eagle and Alaska, carried 82.4 percent of the total passengers, up from 70.1 percent in April 2011.

In the first four months of 2012, US airlines carried 233.5 million passengers, up 2.5 percent from the same period in 2011.