BANGOR – Despite a predicted lackluster year for the airline industry nationally, a record-setting March at Bangor International Airport could help bolster a stronger-than-average year, an airport official said Tuesday.

Figures for flights at BIA in March showed a fairly robust growth of 8.6 percent, the highest March figure in at least a decade and welcome news after a flat January and slight drop in February, according to Airport Director Rebecca Hupp.

The number of passengers rose from 36,072 passengers in March 2004 to 39,162 last month.

“It’s a record-setting March,” Hupp said Tuesday from a conference room overlooking the runway where a spring snow was falling.

Northwest Airlines, which added a third flight to Detroit this year, contributed to the increase in passenger numbers, but Hupp said that simply more people are interested in flying.

Americans seem to be shaking off some of the jitters left in the wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The Federal Aviation Administration officials are predicting that by the end of this year, the number of people flying in the United States will return to pre-2001 levels.

Over the next dozen years, the number of passengers is expected to increase an average of 3.4 percent nationally, according to a forecast report issued recently by the FAA.

Hupp said some industry forecasts project a flat to relatively slow growth for this year, although Bangor may fare better.

“We’re optimistic that we will continue to see growth in passengers utilizing Bangor,” she said.

Hupp expects that local passenger numbers will outpace the industry average this year, but won’t keep up with last year, where the number of passengers rose by 11 percent.

“I don’t think it’s realistic to expect to continue to grow at that rapid pace,” she said.

Northwest Airlines spurred much of the growth, increasing its passenger numbers by 1,641 or 35 percent. American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and US Airways showed more modest growth, while Continental Airlines showed a deficit from the previous March.

A summary of the month developed by the airport showed, however, that there was still room for growth all the way around.

Four of the five major airlines serving the airport were at 65 percent to 75 percent capacity in March 2005, while the fifth, Continental, was at about a quarter of its load capacity. Continental did announce earlier this year that beginning in June it will start nonstop jet service to Newark, N.J.