BANGOR – When it comes to tapping into regional air travel markets, Bangor International Airport will be in the pilot’s seat, according to a national study that projects growth at the facility to outpace most others in the country.

“Bangor is not some rural whistle-stop; it’s an international gateway,” Michael Boyd, president of the Boyd Group, an aviation consulting and forecasting company, said recently.

Boyd’s Colorado-based company studies airports across the country, generating weekly and monthly assessments as well as a five-year growth projection released earlier this year.

Peering five years into the future, the Boyd Group is predicting that of the 133 airports it examined – encompassing 95 percent of U.S. passenger boardings – BIA will grow the fastest. The Bangor airport will increase its passenger base by nearly 32 percent, edging out Logan International Airport for the top growth spot. Others in the top 10 include airports in Atlanta, Phoenix and Milwaukee.

Part of Bangor’s top ranking may simply be attributed to the fact that BIA is starting from a relatively smaller base of passengers, making increases more noticeable. Bangor last year served about 452,000 passengers compared to more than 26 million passengers at Logan. The statistics don’t include military flights and federally mandated diversions.

But Boyd insists there’s much more involved in Bangor’s predicted growth. Rising demand for regional hubs and BIA’s aggressive pursuit of new markets, as well as economic stability in the Bangor area, helped to fortify Bangor’s top spot, he said.

Airlines such as Northwest and Continental are finding significant new revenues in regional flights, said Boyd, whose company has been assessing airports for more than 10 years. Northwest Airlines has been doing well with its flights to Detroit from BIA and is looking into other connections.

That’s been proven since Northwest formally started flights from Bangor to Newark on June 9.

Airport Director Rebecca Hupp said this week the airport has been actively courting other airlines looking for niche markets. The airport is pursuing flights to Washington, D.C., through United Airlines and flights to Boston or New York through JetBlue, although Hupp said Jet Blue officials have indicated that such expansions likely are years away, maybe 2008.

Hupp has said BIA has made presentations to Spirit and TransMeridian airlines for niche low-cost flights to Florida.

“In terms of chasing after and trying to develop new air service, Bangor is as aggressive as any airport in the country,” Boyd said.

Other factors that figured into the Boyd Group’s predictions included a principle that any real estate agent will tell you: location, location, location.

By expanding its offering of hubs, Bangor is strengthening its position as gateway for much of Maine and beyond, according to Boyd.

Competing airports such as Manchester in New Hampshire, while attractive to the vacationer heading to Florida, is less so to the regular commuter and too close to Boston to develop the regional edge that Bangor can, he said.

Boyd noted that Bangor has a stable economy, job growth and the area has a growing population, some things that airlines look at when considering whether to add new services.

The report by the Boyd Group, issued earlier this year, reaffirms what Hupp had concluded in internal airport assessments – that there’s significant growth to be had in regional air traffic.

But she also is quick to note that growth isn’t being handed to the airport, that it’s not a foregone conclusion.

“If we sit back and do nothing, it definitely will not happen,” she said.

With passenger numbers increasing in recent years – 11 percent last year and 5.4 percent so far this year – the airport is already experiencing growing pains.

Officials are hoping to develop a parking garage to handle increased parking, and Hupp said the airport is moving ahead with a study to expand the domestic terminal building and add more gates.