Miami International Airport (MIA) set a new freight record of 2.3 million tonnes in 2018 – 60,000 more than the total achieved in 2017.
The figures last year at the busiest US airport for international freight was driven by a growing network as new belly and freighter routes arrived.
Three new cargo carriers launched MIA in 2018. Southern Air began a weekly freighter service to Hong Kong; Ethiopian Airlines launched two-weekly freighter flights to Addis Ababa, creating the first-ever cargo-only route between the African continent and MIA; and Amazon Air launched double-daily freighter service in October to destinations across the US.
On the belly side, American Airlines launched new international routes to Bonaire, Netherland Antilles, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Pereira (Colombia) and Georgetown (Guyana) and increased service to 11 domestic destinations.
MIA welcomed Air Italy which launched four weekly flights to Milan; Brazilian low-cost carrier GOL began daily flights to Brasilia and Fortaleza; Sunwing Airlines began 10 weekly flights to Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto and Ottawa; and Flair began weekly service to Edmonton, Winnipeg and Toronto.
In 2019, MIA will welcome four international carriers as on 31 March Norwegian will fly into MIA from London Gatwick Airport; Moroccan national carrier Royal Air Maroc will launch the first-ever Miami-Casablanca route on 3 April; LOT Polish Airlines will begin four weekly flights to Warsaw on 1 June; and French airline Corsair will launch service to Paris Orly Airport on 10 June, with four weekly flights.
“We are extremely encouraged by the substantial gains made at MIA last year, from both our passenger and cargo operations,” said MIA director and chief executive officer, Lester Sola. “With more new international service launches coming soon, we are expecting another strong year of growth.”
