Miami International Airport (IATA: MIA, ICAO: KMIA, FAA LID: MIA), also known as MIA and historically as Wilcox Field, is the primary international airport serving Miami and its surrounding metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of Florida. It hosts over 1,000 daily flights to 185 domestic and international destinations, including most countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean. The airport is in an unincorporated area in Miami-Dade County, Florida,^[4] 8 miles (13 km) west-northwest of downtown Miami, in metropolitan Miami,^[2] adjacent to the cities of Miami and Miami Springs, and the village of Virginia Gardens. Nearby cities include Hialeah, Doral, and the census-designated place of Fontainebleau.

Quick Facts Summary, Airport type ...

Miami International Airport
Miami International Airport in November 2012
IATA: MIA ICAO: KMIA FAA LID: MIA WMO: 72202
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner/Operator	Miami-Dade Aviation Department
Serves	Miami metropolitan area
Location	Miami-Dade County, Florida, U.S.
Opened	1928; 97 years ago (1928)
Hub for	ABX Air American Airlines Amerijet International Atlas Air Avianca Cargo Eastern Airlines, LLC FedEx Express IBC Airways LATAM Cargo Chile Northern Air Cargo Sky Lease Cargo UPS Airlines Western Global Airlines World Atlantic Airlines
Focus city for	Avianca LATAM Cargo Colombia LATAM Chile LATAM Perú Polar Air Cargo
Operating base for	Frontier Airlines Global Crossing Airlines Norse Atlantic Airways[1] Spirit Airlines
Time zone	EST (UTC−05:00)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC−04:00)
Elevation AMSL	3 m / 9 ft
Coordinates	25°47′36″N 080°17′26″W
Website	miami-airport.com
Maps
FAA airport diagram
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 8L/26R 2,621 8,600 Asphalt 8R/26L 3,202 10,506 Asphalt 9/27 3,967 13,016 Asphalt 12/30 2,853 9,360 Asphalt
Statistics (2024)
Total passengers 55,926,566 Aircraft operations 485,448 Metric tonnes of cargo 3,035,777
Source: FAA[2][3]

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In 2021, Miami International Airport became the busiest international cargo airport in the U.S.^[5][6][7] and the busiest U.S. gateway for international passengers, surpassing John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.^[8][9] As of 2021, it is the 10th busiest airport in the U.S. with 17,500,096 passengers for the year. It is Florida's busiest airport by total aircraft operations, total cargo traffic and total passenger traffic.^[10] The airport is American Airlines' third-largest hub and serves as its primary gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean. Miami also serves as a focus city for Avianca, Frontier Airlines, and LATAM, both for passengers and cargo operations.

In 2024, MIA Airport served nearly 56 million passengers and saw 3 million tons of cargo passing through MIA, recording three consecutive record years for passenger volume and five straight years of cargo volume.^[11]

Miami International Airport covers 3,300 acres (1,300 ha).^[2][12] It is South Florida's main airport for long-haul international flights and a hub for the Southeastern United States with passenger and cargo flights to cities throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia. It is the largest gateway between the U.S. and Central, South America and the Caribbean and one of the largest airline hubs in the nation.

In June 1928, Pan American Airways acquired 116 acres of land on NW 36th Street for the purpose of building a privately owned and operated international airport in Miami, Florida. The establishment of a commercial airport and of regularly scheduled international passenger airline service by Pan Am was a transformative event for the City of Miami. By September 1928, Pan Am had begun to operate regularly scheduled Air Mail service between Miami and Havana. On January 9, 1929, Pan American Airport, also known as Pan American Field, was officially dedicated at a ceremony attended by thousands of residents and celebrities such as Amelia Earhart, who saw in the new airport the promise of a bright new future in international aviation for Miami. It was the first mainland airport in the United States to have international port of entry facilities. The passenger terminal building, designed by Delano & Aldrich of NYC, was the most advanced and luxurious in the country. Three hangars, two on the east and one on the west, provided housing and maintenance facilities for Pan Am's fleet of Sikorsky amphibian and Fokker aircraft.

During the first few years of its operation, from late 1928 until late 1930, it was from this busy airport that Pan American Airways historically pioneered U.S. international passenger aviation, inaugurating regularly scheduled Air Mail and passenger airline service from the U.S. to the West Indies, Caribbean, and Central and South America. In the 1930s Pan American leased space at its airport to Eastern Air Lines. Eastern officially took up residence at the 36th Street Airport in August 1935.

In 1940, Intercontinent Corporation, owned by William Pawley, built an aircraft manufacturing plant on land acquired immediately east of Pan American Field. The City and County, eager to encourage the growth of an aircraft manufacturing industry in Miami, agreed to finance and build runways and ground facilities at the Intercontinent plant, including an east-west runway that extended from Le Jeune Road as far west as Pan American Field, where it intersected with Pan Am's east-west runway. National Airlines, which had been operating in Miami at Miami's city-owned Municipal Airport since 1937, moved to the 36th Street Airport in 1942. National used a terminal on LeJeune Road, across the street from the airport and would stop traffic on the road in order to taxi aircraft to and from its terminal. Miami Army Airfield opened in 1943 on 1400 acres of land acquired during World War II to the south of Pan American Field. The two airfields were listed in some directories as a single facility.^[13]

Following World War II, the Dade County Port Authority embarked on a long-planned airport expansion in order to meet Miami's increasing commercial aviation needs. On December 31, 1945, a formal agreement between the County and Pan Am transferring ownership of the airport to the County was signed, becoming effective at 1:00 AM on January 1, 1946. Thus ended any distinct identity of Pan American Field. It also acquired Intercontinent's former holdings, which were leased to Eastern Air Lines, and changed the name of the newly expanded airport to Miami International Airport. Pan American's former NW 36th Street terminal building continued to serve as the hub for the new Miami International Airport. Between 1945 and 1950, the Port Authority cobbled together thousands more acres adjacent to and south of the airport, including the Army’s former air base; the Seaboard Air Line Railroad property; and additional parcels, with the intention of meeting Miami’s future aviation needs. The result was a County-owned, Miami International Airport based at NW 36th Street that by 1948 had grown to 2500 acres. The former domed-roofed Pan Am terminal building was extensively remodeled and enlarged, the words “Miami International Airport” now curving across its façade. The new airport was officially dedicated January 4, 1950. United States Air Force Reserve troop carrier and rescue squadrons also operated from the airport from 1949 through 1959, when the last unit relocated to nearby Homestead Air Force Base (now Homestead Air Reserve Base). In the late 1940s, Pan Am and Eastern also expanded their bases at MIA on NW 36th Street, which made the airport the world's largest commercial aircraft maintenance and overhaul facility at the time.^[14]

In the 1950s, a continuing boom in post-World War II passenger aviation stretched the county’s expanded airport to capacity. Scheduled airlines had outstripped ships, trains and buses to become the state’s as well as the nation’s largest carriers of interstate and international traffic. Delta had joined Pan Am, Eastern and National to become MIA's "Big Four" carriers and the airport also served a host of smaller scheduled and non-scheduled airlines. A new jet age loomed. Plans for an entirely new airport, to be built from scratch on land south and east of the existing facility were set in motion. On February 1, 1959, after years of planning and construction, Miami's brand-new Miami International Airport was formally inaugurated at 20th Street, on what was dubbed Wilcox Field in honor of the Port Authority attorney who had been instrumental in bringing the project to completion. No longer needed, the former domed-roofed terminal building on NW 36th Street was torn down in November 1962. This part of MIA along NW 36th Street is known today as MIA's north field.

When it was dedicated in 1959, MIA's new 20th Street Terminal was the largest central airport terminal in the world, with five concourses (Concourses C-G) and a 270-room hotel. In 1961, the terminal was expanded with the addition of a sixth concourse (Concourse H) on the south side, which was the first concourse at the airport to include jetways. By 1965, the original five concourses were renovated with jetways added to them.^[15]

The 20th Street Terminal was expanded in the 1970s. Parking garages were added just east of the terminal and Concourse B opened on the north side of the terminal in 1973 to accommodate the expansion of Eastern Air Lines.^[16] In 1977, Concourse E's satellite terminal opened. The satellite was originally connected with shuttle buses, though a people mover was built to connect the satellite in 1980.^[15]

Nonstop flights to Chicago and Newark started in late 1946, but nonstops didn't reach west beyond St. Louis and New Orleans until January 1962. Nonstop transatlantic flights to Europe began in 1970. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Air Florida had a hub at MIA, with a nonstop flight to London, England which it acquired from National upon the latter's merger with Pan Am. Air Florida ceased operations in 1982 after the crash of Air Florida Flight 90.^[17] British Airways flew a Concorde SST (supersonic transport) triweekly between Miami and London via Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., from 1984 to 1991.^[18]

The terminal was further expanded in the 1980s. The original Concourses D and E were rebuilt early in the decade and Concourses B and F were expanded.^[19] Pedestrian bridges with moving walkways were built in 1985 connecting the parking garages with the third level of the terminal. Within the next few years, the moving walkway system on the third level was expanded to run along the full length of the terminal.^[20]

After former Apollo 8 astronaut Frank Borman became president of Eastern Air Lines in 1975, he moved Eastern's headquarters from Rockefeller Center in New York City to Building 16 in the northeast corner of MIA, Eastern's maintenance base. Eastern remained one of the largest employers in the Miami metropolitan area until ongoing labor union unrest, coupled with the airline's acquisition by Texas Air in 1986, ultimately forced the airline into bankruptcy in 1989.^[17] Eastern operated out of Concourses B through D on the north side of the terminal, where American's Concourse D stands today.^[21][22] Concourse E was the home for most international carriers, while Pan Am operated out of Concourses E and F.^[21][23]

• On January 22, 1952, an Aerodex Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar on a test flight crashed after takeoff due to engine failure, all 5 occupants were killed.^[153]
• On August 4, 1952, a Curtiss C-46 Commando on a ferry flight crashed on approach to MIA because of the failure of the elevator control system, all 4 occupants died.^[154]
• On March 25, 1958, Braniff International Airways Flight 971, a Douglas DC-7 crashed 5 km WNW of MIA after attempting to return to the airport because of an engine fire crashing into an open marsh, 9 passengers out of 24 on board were killed.^[155]
• On October 2, 1959, a Vickers Viscount of Cubana de Aviación was hijacked on a flight from Havana to Antonio Maceo Airport, Santiago by three men demanding to be taken to the United States. The aircraft landed at Miami International Airport.^[156]
• On February 12, 1963, Northwest Airlines Flight 705, a Boeing 720, crashed into the Everglades while en route from Miami to Portland, Oregon, via Chicago O'Hare, Spokane, and Seattle. All 43 passengers and crew died.
• On February 13, 1965, an Aerolíneas de El Salvador (AESA) Curtiss C-46 Commando, a cargo flight, had an engine failure shortly after takeoff and crashed into an automobile junkyard, killing both occupants.^[157]
• On March 5, 1965, a Fruehaf Inc. Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar nosed down after takeoff due to elevator trim tab problems, and both occupants were killed.^[158]
• On June 23, 1969, a Dominicana de Aviación Aviation Traders Carvair, a modified DC-4, en route to Santo Domingo was circling back to Miami International Airport with an engine fire when it crashed into buildings 1 mile short of Runway 27. All 4 crewmembers aboard the Carvair and 6 on the ground were killed.^[159]
• On April 14, 1970, an Ecuatoriana de Aviacion Douglas DC-7, a cargo flight, crashed after takeoff from MIA beyond the runway and slid 890 feet before striking a concrete abutment, both occupants were killed.^[160]
• On December 29, 1972, Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, a Lockheed L-1011, crashed into the Everglades. The plane had left JFK International Airport in New York City bound for Miami. There were 101 fatalities out of the 176 passengers and crew on board.^[161] (This accident is the subject of the movie The Ghost of Flight 401.)
• On June 21, 1973, a Warnaco Inc. Douglas DC-7, a cargo flight, crashed into the Everglades six minutes after takeoff in heavy rain, wind, and lightning. All three occupants died.^[162]
• On December 15, 1973, a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation operated by Aircraft Pool Leasing Corp, a cargo flight, crashed 1.3 miles E of MIA because of overrotation of the aircraft causing a stall, crashing into a parking lot and several homes, all three occupants were killed, along with six on the ground.^[163]
• On September 27, 1975, a Canadair CL-44 operated by Aerotransportes Entre Rios (AER), crashed after takeoff because of an external makeshift flight control lock on the right elevator, 4 crew and 2 passengers of the 10 on board died.^[164]
• On January 15, 1977, a Douglas DC-3, registered as N73KW of Air Sunshine crashed shortly after take-off on a domestic scheduled passenger flight to Key West International Airport, Florida. All 33 people on board survived.^[165]
• On January 6, 1990, a Grecoair Lockheed JetStar crashed after aborting takeoff and exiting the runway, One occupant of the two on board died.^[166]
• On May 11, 1996, ValuJet Airlines Flight 592, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 crashed into the Everglades 10 minutes after taking off from MIA while en route to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport after a fire broke out in the cargo hold, killing all 110 occupants onboard.
• On August 7, 1997, Fine Air Flight 101, a Douglas DC-8 cargo plane, crashed onto NW 72nd Avenue less than a mile (1.6 km) from the airport. All four occupants on board and one person on the ground were killed.
• On November 20, 2000, American Airlines Flight 1291, an Airbus A300 en route to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, returned to Miami following a cabin depressurization. During the evacuation one of the emergency exit doors explosively opened, killing a flight attendant.^[167]
• On July 1, 2002, two America West Airlines pilots operating Flight 556 to Phoenix–Sky Harbor were ordered back to the gate by air traffic control before takeoff after security agents notified supervisors that the men smelled of alcohol and became belligerent when they were told they were not allowed to take an open cup of coffee through the security checkpoint. Breathalyzer tests conducted after their removal from the aircraft revealed that both men had blood alcohol content in excess of the legal limit for operating a vehicle in Florida, and they were arrested by police. Investigators found that the men had been drinking at a local bar until 4:40 am, roughly six hours before the flight was scheduled to depart. They were fired by the airline the next day, later stripped of their pilot certificates, and convicted in 2005 of operating an aircraft while drunk.^[168][169]
• On December 7, 2005, passenger Rigoberto Alpizar was killed by federal air marshals after frantically exiting an American Airlines flight to Orlando during boarding with a backpack strapped to his chest. The air marshals, who said they had heard Alpizar declare he had a bomb, confronted him in the jetway and shot him after he ignored their commands to stop moving and reached into the backpack. This was the first case of federal air marshals opening fire on a suspect after the September 11 attacks.^[170]
• On September 15, 2015, Qatar Airways Flight 778 to Doha overran Runway 9 during takeoff and collided with the approach lights for Runway 27. The collision, which went unnoticed during the 13.5-hour flight, tore a 18-inch (46 cm) hole in the pressure vessel of the Boeing 777-300ER aircraft just behind the rear cargo door. The crew had been confused by a printout from an onboard computer and erroneously began takeoff on Runway 9 at the intersection of Taxiway T1 rather than at the end of the runway, which trimmed roughly 1,370 m (4,490 ft) from the length of the runway available for takeoff.^[171][172]
• On June 21, 2022, RED Air Flight 203, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 on a flight from Las Américas International Airport with 130 passengers and 10 crew, skidded off Runway 9 on landing and collided with a small glideslope equipment building, starting a fire in the right wing which was rapidly extinguished by firefighters. There were no fatalities, while 4 passengers sustained minor injuries. Crew and passengers reported the aircraft "shaking violently" after a seemingly routine landing, and skid marks on the runway showed that the left main landing gear had shimmied heavily before turning 90° outboard and collapsing. Airline records indicated that the left main landing gear shimmy damper had a history of hydraulic fluid leaks but had passed recent maintenance checks. The accident was attributed to ineffective shimmy dampening of the left main landing gear, but the reason for the poor dampening could not be verified, as damage from the crash "precluded evaluation of whether the damper was properly serviced."^[173]
• On January 18, 2024, Atlas Air Flight 095, a cargo Boeing 747-87UF registered as N859GT, en route to San Juan, experienced an engine fire shortly after takeoff from Miami International Airport. The aircraft safely returned to the airport and made an emergency landing within 15 minutes of takeoff.^[174]

• Transportation in South Florida
• List of the busiest airports in the United States
• List of tallest air traffic control towers in the United States