MIA gets green light on massive improvement programme
07 / 06 / 2019
The Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners has adopted a new capital improvement programme for Miami International Airport (MIA) that would see funding of up to $5bn to support airport-wide modernisation projects over the next five to 15 years.
MIA is the USA’s biggest air gateway for international freight, as well as the nation’s third-busiest airport for international passengers.
Located on 3,230 acres of land near downtown Miami, it is operated by the Miami-Dade Aviation Department and is the property of the Miami-Dade County government.
The gateway’s modernisation is needed to support the ever-growing traffic passing through MIA. In fact, the forecast is for the airport to be handling more than 4 million tons of airfreight a year by 2040, as well as up to 77 million passengers a year by that date.
The plan takes in five sub-programmes, namely:
- An expansion of aircraft parking positions and warehouses for cargo operations
- The redevelopment of Central Terminal concourses E and F
- The expansion of the South Terminal (concourses H and J)
- The renovation of Concourse D gates to accommodate additional wide- and narrowbody aircraft, as well as larger regional jets
- The building of two new hotels (one which will include a business and conference centre with exhibition space) and other miscellaneous landside projects
“The goal of this new capital program is for MIA to provide even greater value, convenience and efficiency to our visitors, airline partners and cargo operators,” outlined Miami-Dade County’s mayor, Carlos Gimenez.
Lester Sola, MIA’s chief executive, described the plan as the “next chapter in the transformation of MIA”, one that will deliver “new and improved airport facilities” to the gateway’s customers.
MIA celebrated its 90th anniversary in September. Last year, MIA handled 2.3m tonnes of freight, up 60,000 tons on the figure for 2017.
It also handled 45 million passengers – an increase of nearly one million over the previous year.
