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Miami International Airport

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Miami International Airport
Quick Info
Type of Airport commercial
Run by Miami-Dade Aviation Department
Opened January 9, 1929
City Miami, Florida, United States
Latitude Longitude
25° 77' 61.0" north 80° 28' 36.0" west
IATA MIA ICAO KMIA
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
9/27 13,000 3,900 Paved
8R/26L 10,500 3,150 Paved
12/30 9,355 2,806 Paved
8L/26R 8,600 2,580 Paved
Statistics
2003
Number of Passengers 29,590,000
Number of Takeoffs/Landings 417,423

Miami International Airport (IATA Airport Code: MIA, ICAO Airport Code: KMIA), is located in Miami, Florida. It has flights to airports throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America, The Caribbean, and Western Europe. Along with Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport, MIA is one of the largest aerial gateways into the American South. The airport has long enjoyed such a lofty status because of Miami's proximity to tourist attractions, local economic growth, and large Latin American and European population.

The airport is currently a hub of American Airlines, American Eagle, cargo airline Fine Air, and charter airline Miami Air. In the past, it has been a hub of Eastern Airlines, Air Florida, the original National Airlines, the original Pan American World Airways, and Iberia.

Gulfstream International Airlines operates regular flights between MIA and several airports in Cuba, the only commercial air links between the two countries. However, these flights must be booked through agents with special authorization from the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and are only generally available to government officials, journalists, researchers, professionals attending conferences, or expatriates visiting Cuban family.

History

Overhead view of Miami International Airport, overlaid with the runways of the original Pan American Field
Pan Am's first terminal consisted of a single hangar. The airport was the base of Pan Am's flights to Cuba, but fell into disuse when the airline switched to seaplanes in the mid-1930s.

MIA was opened to flights in 1928 as Pan American Field, the operating base of Pan American World Airways, on the north side of the modern airport property. After Pan Am acquired the New York, Rio, and Buenos Aires Line, it shifted most of its operations to the Dinner Key seaplane base, leaving Pan Am Field largely unused until Eastern Airlines began flying there in 1934, followed by National Airlines in 1937.

In 1945, the City of Miami established a Port Authority and raised bond revenue to purchase the airport, now known as 36th Street Airport, from Pan Am. It was merged with an adjoining Army airfield in 1949 and expanded further in 1951. The old terminal on 36th Street was closed in 1959 when the modern passenger terminal (since greatly expanded) opened for service.

Pan Am and Eastern remained Miami's main tenants until 1991, when both carriers went bankrupt. Their hubs at MIA were taken over by United Airlines and American Airlines. United slowly trimmed down its Miami operation through the 1990s, and eventually shut down its crew base and other operations facilities in Miami. At the same time, American expanded its presence at the airport, winning new routes to Latin America and transferring employees and equipment from its failed domestic hubs at Nashville and Raleigh-Durham. Today, Miami is American's largest air freight hub, and forms the main connecting point in the airline's north-south oriented international route network.

For many years, the airport was a common connecting point for passengers traveling from Europe to Latin America. However, stricter visa requirements for aliens in transit (a result, in part, of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks) have lessened MIA's role as an intercontinental connecting hub. In 2004, Iberia Airlines ended its hub operation in Miami, opting instead to run more direct flights from Spain to Central America.

Disasters involving MIA

Airline crashes involving MIA include the 1972 crash of an Eastern Airlines L-1011 in the Everglades (the subject of Hollywood movie, The Ghost Of Flight 401), the 1983 crash of a Miami-bound Air Florida Boeing 737 in Washington, DC, the 1995 crash of American Airlines Flight 965 into a mountain while en route from Miami to Cali, the 1996 crash of ValuJet Flight 592 in the Everglades, the 1997 Crash of Fine Air Flight 101, a cargo plane which crashed onto NW 72nd Avenue less than a mile from the airport, and the 2000 crash of a Miami-bound Air France Concorde in Paris. Another flight that almost ended in death was Miami-bound American Airlines Flight 63, the target of "shoe bomber" Richard Reid.

Terminal, Airlines, and Destinations

Current diagram of Miami International Airport, reflecting the ongoing construction of the American and Star Alliance concourses

The main terminal at MIA is semicircular and has eight pier-shaped concourses, lettered A through H in a counter-clockwise direction. Ticketing and departures are located on the upper level: immigration and baggage carousels are located on the lower level. Each gate can route arriving passengers to the main level (for domestic arrivals) or to the immigration halls downstairs (for international arrivals). Concourse E has a third-floor people mover that transports passengers to a satellite terminal.

A parking garage is located inside the terminal's curvature, and is connected to the terminal by overhead walkways. There is a heliport on top.

At present, the terminal is being dramatically altered. Concourses A, B, C, and D, which primarily house American's flights, are being merged into a single linear concourse. Portions of the new concourse have already been built as extensions of concourses A and D: concourses B and C will eventually be demolished to accommodate the new pier. The merged complex is slated to be called the "North Terminal." The remaining "South Terminal", consisting of concourses E through H, will also be expanded. Another new concourse, Concourse J, is under construction with the support of fifteen Star Alliance and SkyTeam carriers: it will be seven stories tall and have fifteen gates, with a total floor area of 1.3 million square feet (120,000 m²) including space for airline lounges and offices. American plans to use the old portion of the South Terminal to handle overflow from the North Terminal. Although this construction was originally slated for completion by 2005, it now appears more likely that the opening will be delayed until 2006 because of the ongoing need for security upgrades and other capital improvements.

Airlines at MIA

Concourse A

  • Aeropostal (Caracas, Maracaibo)
  • American Airlines (Atlanta, Aruba, Barbados, Belize City, Baltimore/Washington, Bermuda (Starting March 2, 2005), Bogota, Boston, Buenos Aires, Cali, Cancun, Caracas, Charlotte, Chicago O'Hare, Cleveland, Curacao, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, Grand Cayman, Guatemala City, Guayaquil, Hartford, Houston Bush, Indianapolis, Kingston, La Paz, La Romana, Las Vegas, Lima, London Heathrow, Los Angeles, Madrid, Managua, Manchester (UK), Maracaibo, Medellin, Mexico City, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Montego Bay, Montevideo, Montreal, Nashville, New Orleans, New York JFK, New York La Guardia, Newark, Orlando, Panama City, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Philadelphia, Port au Prince, Port of Spain, Providenciales, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, Quito, Raleigh/Durham, Rio de Janeiro, Roatan, St. Croix, St. Louis, St. Lucia (Starting November 1, 2004), St. Maarten, St. Thomas, San Francisco, San Jose (C.R.), San Juan, San Pedro Sula, San Salvador, Santiago (Chile), Santiago (Dom. Rep.), Santo Domingo, Sao Paulo, Tampa, Tegucigalpa, Toronto, Washington Dulles, Washington Reagan)
  • British Airways (London Heathrow)
  • Grupo Taca (Guatemala City, Managua, Roatan, San Pedro Sula, San Salvador, Tegucigalpa)
  • Lacsa (Managua, San Jose C.R.)
  • Lan Chile (Bogota, Caracas, Quito, Guayaquil, Santiago, Santo Domingo)
  • Lan Peru (Lima)
  • Lan Dominicana (Punta Cana)
  • Swiss International Airlines (Zurich)
  • TAM Brazilian (Sao Paulo)

Concourse B

Concourse C

Concourse D

Model of a Pan Am flying boat in Concourse E

Concourse E

Concourse E is divided into two sections: a pier concourse, called "low E," and a satellite terminal, called "high E." Low E is mostly used by American Airlines; high E is used by other carriers.

Concourse F

Concourse G

Concourse H

Other Carriers

Ground transportation

MIA's only direct public transport link is to Miami-Dade Transit's Metrobus network, although free shuttles are provided to and from the Miami Airport Station (Tri-Rail) and the Tri-Rail/Metrorail Transfer Station. MDT is currently planning to link the airport by people mover to the upcoming Miami Intermodal Center, which will provide access to Metrorail as well as the future BayLink light rail to South Beach.

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