Florida’s busiest gateway Miami International Airport goes from strength to strength and 2019 is set to be another record year
Traffic continues to grow at Miami International Airport (MIA) and is not set to slow anytime soon at the Florida gateway, as new routes domestically and internationally take-off.
In the first three months of 2019 grew by 583,073 over the same period last year – representing a five per cent increase in the airport’s first operating quarter.
MIA’s growth included an additional 306,421 (+5.5 per cent) international passengers and 276,652 (+4.6 per cent) domestic passengers year-over-year.
Among airlines expanding their presence at MIA are low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines, which will grow its schedule in November by 28 weekly flights and six additional routes, bringing its total weekly departures to 57.
The new schedule will include three weekly flights to Hartford/Springfield and three weekly flights to San Juan beginning 14 November, in addition to four weekly flights to Boston starting 15 November – three first-time routes by Frontier from MIA.
Frontier will also launch four daily flights to Detroit starting 15 November, as well as bring back daily service to New York LaGuardia and Chicago O’Hare on 14 November. The LCC will also begin daily service from MIA to Las Vegas on 10 September, followed by four weekly flights to both Cincinnati and Cleveland on 10 October.
Frontier currently operates 14 weekly flights from MIA: daily flights to Denver; four weekly flights to Philadelphia; and three weekly flights to Atlanta.
After launching into the Miami market in 2014, Frontier has become MIA’s fifth-busiest passenger airline, carrying more than 725,000 total passengers in 2018.
MIA also welcomed the inaugural Warsaw-Miami flight by LOT Polish Airlines on 1 June – the only direct route between Florida and Eastern Europe. LOT operates four weekly flights with Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft
Warsaw brings MIA’s network of European destinations to 24, while Miami will join LOT’s eight other nonstop destinations in North America.
Other route enhancements are low-cost long-haul carrier Norwegian starting daily flights to London Gatwick Airport started on 1 April; Royal Air Maroc’s three weekly flights to Casablanca on 3 April; and Corsair’s four weekly flights to Paris Orly Airport that started on 10 June.
The Casablanca route is MIA’s first passenger flights to Africa since the year 2000 and Florida’s only nonstop service to the continent. The Warsaw route marks MIA’s first-ever service to Poland and the only nonstop route between Florida and Eastern Europe.
“It is very encouraging to see MIA begin 2019 with a strong start, even before our busy summer travel season and the launch of four popular international routes,” said Lester Sola, MIA Director and CEO. “MIA grew by one million passengers in 2018, and we are optimistic about a larger increase this year.”
