Miami International Airport - History

History

For the World War II and United States Air Force Reserve use of the airport, see Miami Army Airfield

The airport opened to flights in 1928 as Pan American Field, the operating base of Pan American Airways Corporation, on the north side of the modern airport property. After Pan Am acquired the New York, Rio, and Buenos Aires Line it shifted most of its operations to the Dinner Key seaplane base, leaving Pan Am Field largely unused until Eastern Air Lines began flying there in 1934, followed by National Airlines in 1937. The airport then extended south from 36th St to the east-west rail line about where runway 8R is now.

In 1945 the City of Miami established a Port Authority and raised bond revenue to purchase the airport, which had been renamed 36th Street Airport, from Pan Am. It merged with the Army airfield south of the railroad in 1949 and expanded further in 1951 when the railroad line was moved south to make room. The old terminal on 36th Street was closed in 1959 when the modern passenger terminal (since greatly expanded) opened. Air Force Reserve troop carrier and rescue squadrons also operated from Miami International from 1949 through 1959, when the last unit relocated to nearby Homestead Air Force Base, now Homestead Air Reserve Base.

During the late 1970s and early 1980s Air Florida had a hub at MIA, with a nonstop flight to London which it acquired from National upon the latter's merger with Pan Am. Air Florida ceased operations in 1982 following the crash of Air Florida Flight 90.

After Frank Borman became president of Eastern in 1975 he moved Eastern's headquarters from Rockefeller Center in New York City to a campus adjacent to MIA. Eastern remained one of the largest employers in the Miami metropolitan area until ongoing labor union unrest, coupled with the airline's acquisition by union antagonist Frank Lorenzo in 1986, ultimately forced the airline into bankruptcy in 1989.

In the midst of Eastern's turmoil American Airlines CEO Bob Crandall sought a new hub in order to utilize new aircraft which AA had on order at the time. AA studies indicated that Delta Air Lines would provide strong competition on most routes from Eastern's hub at Atlanta, but that MIA had many key routes only served by Eastern. American announced that it would establish a base at MIA in August 1988. Lorenzo considered selling Eastern's profitable Latin American routes to AA as part of a Chapter 11 reorganization of Eastern in early 1989, but backed out in a last-ditch effort to rebuild the MIA hub. The effort quickly proved futile, and American purchased the routes (including the route authority between Miami and London then held by Eastern sister company Continental Airlines) in a liquidation of Eastern which was completed in 1990. Later in the 1990s, American transferred more employees and equipment to MIA from its failed domestic hubs at Nashville and Raleigh-Durham. Today Miami is American's largest air freight hub and is the main connecting point in the airline's north-south international route network.

Pan Am, the other key carrier at MIA, was acquired by Delta Air Lines in 1991, but filed for bankruptcy shortly thereafter. Its remaining international routes from Miami to Europe and Latin America were sold to United Airlines for $135 million as part of Pan Am's emergency liquidation that December. United maintained a Latin American hub at MIA through the 1990s but ended flights from Miami to South America, and shut down its Miami crew base, in May 2004, reallocating most Miami resources to its main hub in Chicago.

Stricter visa requirements for aliens in transit (a result, in part, of the September 11, 2001 attacks) have lessened MIA's role as an intercontinental connecting hub, but it nonetheless remains the most important hub between Europe and Latin America. In 2004, Iberia Airlines ended its hub operation in Miami, opting instead to run more direct flights from Spain to Central America. Air France continues to run flights to Port-au-Prince using Airbus A320 aircraft. Today, more European carriers serve Miami International Airport than any other airport in the United States, except New York City's John F. Kennedy.

American Airlines, American Eagle, Delta Air Lines, Miami Air, Sky King Airlines, and United Airlines all operate regular flights between MIA and several airports in Cuba, one of a few airports with direct airlink between the two nations. However, these flights must be booked through agents with special authorization from the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and are only generally available to government officials, journalists, researchers, professionals attending conferences, or expatriates visiting Cuban family.