Passenger traffic through Hong Kong International Airport rose 17.3 percent in May, compared to the same month last year, helped by healthy demand from long-haul travelers, the Airport Authority said on Sunday.

The city's airport handled 3.3 million passengers last month.

"Europe and the mainland markets continued to be the driving force in the growth of cargo volume, while long-haul passenger markets of the United States, Europe and Australia showed healthy growth," the authority said in a statement.

Air cargo throughput rose 9.4 percent to 269,000 tonnes in May.