Miami International Airport
Facts on MIA
Miami's airport traces back to Pan American Field, dedicated on January 9, 1929 by Pan American Airways; when the current airport formally opened at its present site on February 1, 1959, the site was dubbed 'Wilcox Field' in honor of Port Authority attorney J. Mark Wilcox, who helped bring the project to completion.
Source: Wikipedia
In 2021, MIA became the busiest U.S. gateway for international passengers, surpassing New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, and it is also the busiest international cargo airport in the country.
Source: Wikipedia
MIA's Concourse J in the South Terminal has a gate capable of handling the Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger airliner.
Source: Wikipedia
Pan American Airways bought 116 acres on NW 36th Street in 1928 to build Miami's first airport, and by September had regular airmail service running to Havana. The passenger terminal, designed by New York's Delano & Aldrich, was called the most advanced and luxurious in the country when it opened.
Source: Wikipedia
On January 1, 1931, Eastern Air Transport began the first scheduled passenger flights between Miami and New York from Pan Am's field, making Miami the clearing point for a coordinated air network stretching from Canada to South America -- a reach no other U.S. city could then claim.
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American Airlines built its Miami hub from scratch amid Eastern Air Lines' 1989 bankruptcy, growing from 34 daily departures in 1989 to a peak of 301 by 1995. Miami remains American's largest air-freight hub and its primary gateway into Latin America and the Caribbean.
Source: Wikipedia
Miami had supersonic service for seven years: British Airways flew Concorde three times a week between London and Miami, via a stop at Washington Dulles, from 1984 until 1991.
Source: Wikipedia
Miami International covers 3,300 acres and handled nearly 56 million passengers in 2024 -- its third consecutive record year for passenger traffic and fifth straight year of rising cargo volume.
Source: Wikipedia