Continued Growth at Miami International Airport

WingNaPrayer

Veteran
Aug 20, 2002
1,742
0
EYW
Visit site
MIAMI -- American Airlines announced today that it continues to see unprecedented growth at Miami International Airport (MIA). The number of passengers at MIA increased 18.5 million in 2005 to 19.7 million in 2006, growing at a rate of 6.5 percent. Each month throughout 2007, American and American Eagle boardings have surpassed 2006 numbers. September, traditionally a low season, saw unprecedented growth -- while available seats grew about 5 percent, enplaned passengers grew 14.4 percent, year over year.

"In addition to being one of our largest hubs, Miami is also our premier connecting hub for Latin American and the Caribbean," said Peter Dolara, American Airlines Senior Vice President -- Miami, Caribbean and Latin America.

To accommodate the growing traffic at the Miami hub, American has been working with the Miami-Dade Aviation Department to expedite the construction of the North Terminal Project. The recent opening of the South Terminal will allow the closing of Concourse A and for American to operate in Concourses C, D and E.

"While we understand that the closing of Concourse A will be a temporary inconvenience for passengers, it will ultimately help to speed up the construction of the North Terminal Project which, once completed, will be one of the finest in the industry and will give the community an important new asset for economic growth and development," said Dolara. "I commend Aviation Director Jose Abreu for his unwavering support of this critically important project and his continued efforts to expedite its completion."

When the North Terminal project is complete, American will operate from a new, state-of-the-art terminal with 50 international gates, an automated people-mover system, 49 ticket counter positions, 90 self-service check-in devices, 20 staffed self-service baggage check-in positions, a new baggage handling system, and a new Customs facility.

American and its regional affiliate, American Eagle, currently operate 261 daily flights from Miami to 100 destinations around the world, with more and more passengers choosing American Airlines as their carrier of choice for domestic and international travel. Both carriers continue to grow in Miami. This year new service was added to Cozumel, Mexico, and Northwest Arkansas Regional. Year-round nonstop service to Montevideo, Uruguay, also began. New service will soon be added to Barranquilla, Colombia; Phoenix, Ariz.; Savannah, Ga.; and Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla., as well as nonstop service to Santa Cruz, Bolivia. American is increasing the number of flights to Bogota and Medellin, Colombia; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Santiago, Chile. In Central America, American will be increasing service into San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa, Honduras. In Mexico, flights to Cancun will increase, while in the Caribbean there will be increases in service to Santo Domingo, Santiago and La Romana/Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic; Turks and Caicos; Port-au- Prince, Haiti; and St. Kitts. Domestically, there will be increases to Boston, Detroit and Chicago/O'Hare, while Canada will see increased service to Montreal. The addition of destinations and more flights means that Miami will continue to show growth in 2008.
 
2008 will be a good year for AA at MIA. Look for at least six new destinations, including possible service to Milan, and a 5-7% jump in capacity.

2007 will also be a record traffic year for MIA since 9/11, and if healthy growth at AA continues, MIA is on track to have it's highest traffic figures ever.
 
This is why corporate continually looks the other way as Hazy & Company violate company rules, day after day, and we're not talking "minor infractions" here either.
 
And with El Jefe taking over for Ralph, you can pretty much expect more of the same...