Miami International Airport, Florida-Air Freight Gateway

Miami International Airport (MIA) ranked seventh by value of shipments among all U.S. international air gateways in 2008. It was the 22nd leading gateway by value among all air, land, and sea freight gateways.

In 2008, 5 percent of the value of all U.S. international air freight moved through MIA (table 1). More than $40 billion worth of merchandise trade passed through MIA, an increase of 16 percent from $34 billion in 2007. Exports increased 22 percent, and imports grew 4 percent (USDOC CB 2009b).¹ By weight, MIA ranked second among all air gateways, handling 18 percent of U.S. international air cargo (table 1).² It handled about 1.7 million tons of international air cargo in 2008, down 5 percent from 2007 (table 2).

MIA is a major hub for trade with South American countries-the only air gateway of the top 25 gateways that has major partners other than European and Pacific Rim countries. By weight, Brazil was the leading country for exports from MIA in 2008 (table 3). Colombia was the second leading destination for exports and the leading origin country for imports through MIA on nonstop international flight segments. The other key origin countries for imports through MIA were Ecuador and Chile. The major city segments for air cargo were Bogota, Colombia; São Paulo, Brazil; and Guayaquil, Ecuador (table 4). The top origin and destination markets for MIA were similar to the origin and destination for nonstop international flight segments.

The majority of MIA's air cargo imports are perishable products, including flowers, fruits, vegetables, and seafood, and some assembled clothing. MIA's air cargo exports include computers and peripherals, machinery, medical equipment, telecommunications equipment, agricultural machinery, apparel articles, and aircraft parts.³

United Parcel Service was MIA's major U.S. air carrier for imports and exports in 2008. The other major carriers were Arrow Air and Lan-Chile Airlines (table 5).

MIA's major modernization plan to improve its cargo handling facilities and to accommodate growth in trade volume has been completed, providing the airport with more than 2.7 million square feet in 17 new cargo buildings.⁴

• FIGURE 1. Air Freight Imports and Exports via Miami, FL: 1994-2008
• FIGURE 2. Monthly International Air Cargo via Miami, FL: 2006-2008
• TABLE 1. Value and Weight of U.S. International Merchandise Freight: 2008
• TABLE 2. Total Air Freight Exports and Imports via Miami, FL: 2000-2008
• TABLE 3. Top 3 Destination and Origin Countries for International Air Freight via Miami, FL: 2008
• TABLE 4. Top 3 Destination and Origin Cities for International Air Freight via Miami, FL: 2008
• TABLE 5. Top 3 Air Carriers for Exports and Imports via Miami, FL: 2008

¹ The 2007 data used in this comparison are not presented in table 1. The data are available online in the gateways database at www.bts.gov.

² Ranking of air gateways by weight is available in table 9 of this report's overview section.

³ This information is based on Form 41 International Market Data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Office of Airline Information. Origin-destination airport-pair data by value are not available from the merchandise trade data. See box 2, page 15, for further discussion of the segment and market data.

⁴ MIA website at www.miami-airport.com/html/cargo_facts.html as of July 20, 2009.

⁵ MIA website at www.miami-airport.com/html/fact_at_a_glance.html.