BANGOR – For the third month in a row, Bangor International Airport has bucked the national slump in air travel.

On Monday, the state’s second-largest airport announced a passenger traffic increase of 11 percent over February of last year. Nationwide passenger traffic is down an average of 11 percent over the same period a year ago, according to preliminary statistics from the Federal Aviation Association.

The announcement marks the third consecutive month of climbing numbers for BIA, netting a year-to-date growth of 10 percent over the last fiscal year. The airport’s fiscal year runs Sept. 1 to Aug. 31.

The last three months haven’t been as kind to the national average as passenger traffic decreased by 14 percent over both December and January when compared with the same months the year before.

In the southern part of the state, Portland International Jetport showed a 7.6 percent decrease in passenger traffic from February of last year. However, that month was also the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks that the decline wasn’t in double digits at the state’s largest airport.

The increase in Bangor passenger traffic can be attributed to multiple causes, according to BIA Director Rebecca Hupp.

“It’s a combination of things,” Hupp said. “We have experienced an overall increase in the number of destinations, jet capacity and frequency of flights,” Hupp said, referring to all the carriers at BIA.

One of the most noticeable factors has been Delta Air Lines.

“Part of the increase has to do with Delta adding six flights to Boston back in August – seating capacity is going up,” said Hupp.

A year ago, Delta was operating six nonstop jet flights to and from the Bangor market, Hupp said. That number has climbed to 18 nonstop jet flights each day.

“Delta is now the number one carrier in the Bangor market,” she said.

The increase also reflects a passenger preference for regional jets over turboprop planes.

“The airlines are turning more towards regional jets,” Hupp said. “Jets are state of the art and they’re more available. We’re expecting to be an all-jet market within the next 18 months to two years.”

“I expect 2002 will be a very strong year, in part because of regional jet availability,” Hupp said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.