Mexico's AeroMexico says August traffic up 17 pct

MEXICO CITY, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Grupo AeroMexico, which controls Mexico's largest airline, said on Tuesday its passenger traffic in August increased 17 percent from a year earlier, helped by a jump in international bookings.

AeroMexico (AEROMEX.MX), which went public earlier this year, said it carried 1.29 million passengers in August, following on a strong July when traffic increased 32 percent compared to July 2010.

The airline has greatly benefited from the demise of rival Mexicana, which stopped flying a year ago buried under heavy debt problems, leaving many domestic and international routes unattended.

International passengers increased 35 percent from the year earlier, while passenger traffic within Mexico was up 11 percent, the company said.

Shares in AeroMexico closed up 1.79 percent at 25.55 pesos on Tuesday. (Reporting by Veronica Gomez Sparrowe; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)