DAYTON — Passenger traffic declined in October at Dayton International Airport and for its busiest airlines, but the traffic total for the year to date remains slightly ahead of last year’s pace.

Passenger boardings in Dayton during October fell to 110,147, down approximately 5 percent from 115,615 in October 2010, airport management reported Tuesday. But for the year to date, there have been 1,065,211 local boardings, a 1 percent increase from last year’s total of 1,055,900 for the same period.

That would put Dayton International on track to at least reach last year’s total of 1.3 million passenger boardings.

The airport’s most popular carriers reported traffic declines for October. Delta Air Lines’ total was down 6.5 percent to 27,990; AirTran Airways, down nearly 1 percent to 22,857; US Airways, down 2 percent to 19,801; and United Airlines, down nearly 4 percent to 13,971.

American Airlines’ traffic, however, surged by 22 percent to 13,548 for the month.

That good news came on the same day that American, its parent company, AMR Corp., and AMR-owned American Eagle filed for bankruptcy reorganization in New York.

AMR said all business operations will continue as usual while the company develops a plan to reduce its operating costs and debt, and emerge from bankruptcy court protection.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.