Kenya Airways carried 518,844 passengers in its fiscal third quarter ended on December 31, a 15 percent increase over the same period the previous year when it carried 450,170 passengers, the airline said on Thursday.

"This translates into a passenger cabin factor of 75.1 percent, a much better occupancy level than the 72.1 percent achieved in the prior year," the airline said in a statement.

Kenya Airways attributed the growth to acquisition of new bigger Boeing 777-200 ER planes and increased flights on routes in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and West and Southern Africa.

Flights from Europe increased the number of passengers to Kenya following the withdrawal of travel advisories against the country. The number of domestic passengers also increased by 5 percent compared to the previous year.

"The tourist traffic has improved considerably following the relaxed western travel advisories," the airline said.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, which is part of Air France-KLM, owns 26 percent of the airline.