The Portland International Jetport's streak of record-breaking passenger traffic volumes came to an end last month.

Passenger traffic in September was down 6.7 percent from the same time last year. Last month, 147,263 passengers used the airport, compared with 157,771 last year.

The September decline follows 16 months of record-breaking increases in Portland.

Gregory Hughes, the airport's marketing manager, attributed the decline to the economy's effect on discretionary travel. The average passenger load was 77.8 percent last month, down from 83.7 percent the year before.

In the domestic U.S. market, passenger traffic was down 9 percent last month, Hughes said.

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