Miami International Airport

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Miami International Airport Template:Airport codes, is a major airport located in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida between the cities of Hialeah, Doral, Fountainbleau, and Miami Springs.

The airport is a hub for passenger airlines American Airlines, American Eagle, and Executive Air; cargo airlines Arrow Air, Fine Air, UPS and Federal Express; and charter airline Miami Air. Miami International Airport handles flights to cities throughout the Americas and Europe, and is South Florida's main airport for long-haul international flights, although most domestic and low-cost carriers use Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, which charges significantly lower fees to tenant airlines.

Along with Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Miami is one of the largest aerial gateways into the American South, as well as Latin America, owing to its proximity to tourist attractions, local economic growth, large local Latin American and European populations, and strategic location to handle connecting traffic between North America, Latin America, and Europe. In the past, it has been a hub for Eastern Air Lines, Air Florida, the original National Airlines, the original Pan Am, and Iberia. As an international gateway to the United States it ranks third, behind JFK International Airport in New York City and LAX in Los Angeles.[1]

In 2005, 31,008,453 passengers traveled through the airport.[2]

Contents

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History

Image:PanAm KeyWest terminal.jpg

MIA was opened to flights in 1928 as Pan American Field, the operating base of Pan American Airways Corporation, 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 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. However Air France still has flights to Port Au Prince using smaller A320 and ERJ-145 aircraft.

Gulfstream International Airlines operates regular flights between MIA and several airports in Cuba, the only direct airlik between the two nations. 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.

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Disasters and incidents involving MIA

Airline crashes involving MIA include the 1972 crash of an Eastern Airlines Lockheed L-1011 in the Everglades (the subject of Hollywood movie, The Ghost Of Flight 401), the 1982 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, and the 1997 Crash of Fine Air 101, a cargo plane that crashed onto NW 72nd Avenue less than a mile (1.6 km) from the airport. Another flight that almost ended in disaster was Miami-bound American Airlines Flight 63, the target of "shoe bomber" Richard Reid.

On December 7, 2005, forty-four year old Rigoberto Alpizar, a passenger aboard American Airlines Flight 924, claimed to have a bomb in his carry-on luggage while boarding the flight's second leg to Orlando, Florida after arriving on a flight from Quito, Ecuador; the flight had just arrived from Medellín, Colombia. Federal air marshals reportedly shot and killed the man as he attempted to escape the plane after being confronted onboard, marking the first time an air marshal has fired a weapon on or near an airplane.

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Terminal, airlines, and destinations

Image:Miami airport historical.jpg The main terminal at MIA is semicircular and has seven pier-shaped concourses, lettered A through H (B was demolished in 2005) 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. To make space for completing the new terminal, the former concourse B has been already been demolished and concourse C will soon follow to accommodate the new pier. [3] 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 (photo) with the support of fifteen Star Alliance and SkyTeam carriers: it will be seven stories tall and have 15 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.

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Concourse A

Concourse A is a recent addition to the airport and will eventually form part of American Airlines' North Terminal. It houses many American domestic and international flights, although all check-in counters for American are located adjacent to concourses C and D. Both American and British Airways have lounge facilities in Concourse A.

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Concourse C

The airside Concourse C consists of four gates accommodating small-to-medium jet aircraft such as the Boeing 737 or Boeing 757. American uses these gates for domestic flights and some departures to Central America and the Caribbean. The Concourse C check-in area is for American's international flights. During the course of the American Airlines/North Terminal project, Concourse C will be demolished, allowing for the creation of new gates where the concourse was located.

  • American Airlines (Belize City, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Cali, Cancún, Caracas, Guatemala City, Guayaquil, La Paz (Bolivia), Lima, London-Heathrow, Madrid, Managua, Manchester (UK) [seasonal], Maracaibo, Medellin, Mexico City, Montevideo [seasonal], Quito, Panama City, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Rio de Janeiro-Galeão, San Salvador, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, São Paulo-Guarulhos, Santiago de Chile, Tegucigalpa)
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Concourse D

Although Concourse D was one of the original concourses in the MIA terminal, the original portion has been mostly closed, and the concourse now consists of a new extension which will eventually form part of American Airlines' North Terminal. American uses the concourse for domestic and international flights; the Concourse D check-in area is for domestic and Caribbean flights.

  • American Airlines (Atlanta, Barbados, Baltimore/Washington, Bermuda, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago-O'Hare, Cleveland, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, Grand Cayman, Hartford, Houston-Intercontinental, Indianapolis, Kingston, La Romana, Las Vegas, Liberia (CR), Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Montego Bay, Montréal, New Orleans, New York-JFK, New York-LaGuardia, Nashville, Newark, Oranjestad, Orlando, Philadelphia, Port au Prince, Port of Spain, Providenciales, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, Raleigh/Durham, St. Croix, St. Kitts, St. Louis, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, San Francisco, San Jose (CR), San Juan, San Pedro Sula, Santiago (DR), Santo Domingo, Tampa, Tegucigalpa, Toronto, Vail/Eagle, Washington-Dulles, Washington-Reagan, Willemstad)
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Concourse E

Image:Pan am clipper.jpg Concourse E is divided into two sections: a pier concourse, called "low E," and a satellite terminal, called "high E," connected by a people mover. Low E is mostly used by American Airlines; high E is used by various other carriers. American has an Admirals Club in the landside portion of the concourse.

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Concourse F

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Concourse G

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Concourse H

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Concourse J

Concourse J is a concourse currently under construction and due to open in late spring 2006 under Miami International Airport's South Terminal Renovation Project. The Concourse will hold Star Alliance and Sky Team Members. Together with Concourses G and H this new area will be called the South Terminal. Once the North and South Terminals are completed, all airlines not affiliated with Star Alliance, Sky Team Alliance, or oneworld will be housed at the remaining Concourses E and F.

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Charter Carriers

Most charter airlines have counters at concourse E, and use the "high E" satellite terminal for gates.

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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 Tri-Rail commuter rail's Miami Airport Station and Miami Metrorail's 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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Cargo

The airport is one of the largest in terms of cargo in the United States, and is the main connecting point for cargo between Latin America and the world. In 2000 LAN Cargo opened up a major operations base at the airport and currently operates the second largest cargo facility at the airport second to UPS. Most major passenger airlines, such as American Airlines use the airport to carry belly cargo on passenger flights though most cargo is operated through cargo only airlines. UPS, Fedex, and DHL, all operate their major Latin American operations through MIA.

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Cargo Airlines

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New Service

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External links

Template:US-airport Template:Mapit-US-hoodscalede:Miami International Airport es:Aeropuerto Internacional de Miami fr:Aéroport international de Miami ja:マイアミ国際空港

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