GENEVA ~ International air travel continued to expand in February, growing by 6.8 percent compared to the same month last year, the top airline industry association said on Wednesday.

“Passenger demand continues to exceed expectations,” Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association, said in a statement.

Global international passenger growth a month earlier reached 6.1 percent on a year-on-year basis, and averaged 5.9 percent for the whole of 2006.