Miami’s global boom takes flight

As the airline industry recovers from the pandemic, the emphasis in the U.S. has been on domestic airport hubs like Charlotte and Denver, but one international gateway hub has stood out. That is Miami International Airport. The gateway is uniquely positioned as close to short-haul leisure destinations in the Caribbean, and the key hub for South America, which was one of the international sectors that recovered the fastest. Miami is also a hub for American Airlines, the global US airline ramped up quicker than its two principal competitors. In 2021, Miami was the busiest airport for international traffic in the US, according to figures released this month by Airports Council International (ACI). The facility handled 13.2m international travelers, and ranked 11th globally for international traffic. Air travel joins a larger boom happening in Miami, from new efforts to attract the tech sector and fresh startups, to next-level buyer interest in Miami’s red-hot real estate. Miami’s successes in the past two years may have been a pandemic anomaly, to be sure. Overall, Miami handled 37.3m air passengers in 2021. The total was down 19% from the 2019 but double the year before. While ACI has not yet released its full list of the world’s busiest airports in 2021, other US hubs and leisure-oriented cities handled more overall travelers, including Atlanta, Chicago O’Hare, and Las Vegas.<br/>