Sarajevo International Airport (SIA) welcomed on Wednesday its one millionth passenger in 2018, registering a new annual record in its history.

"This is an important day for Sarajevo International Airport, given that, for the first time in its history a record one million passengers were served in one year," SIA's announcement said.

This represents a 9 percent growth year-on-year. In addition, SIA has hit a record by handling nearly 12,000 flights and more than 2 million kilograms of cargo goods in one year.

Aida Birno, the one millionth passenger, said she was a frequent traveler and that she was surprised by the award.

"I travel often for business to Istanbul. I used to read about similar awards in the newspapers, and it was always pretty unreal. However, it is also a nice feeling to be the one millionth traveler," Birno told reporters after being rewarded with a free return ticket from Sarajevo to Istanbul.

Armin Kajmakovic, SIA director, said this was an important record for the airport.

For the third year in a row, SIA has registered a record number of passengers. At the beginning of Dec. 2016, more than 800,000 passengers were registered; in 2017, more than 900,000 passengers; and this year more than one million passengers.