MIAMI - From the weekend before Christmas Day through Three Kings Day on January 6, Miami International Airport welcomed 2.48 million passengers – its highest number ever during the 17-day holiday travel period, and an increase of 117,000 over 2017. MIA also set its all-time-high for passengers in a single day, eclipsing 160,000 for the first time ever on Saturday, December 22.
Through November, MIA had served 818,000 more travelers year over year, putting it on track to surpass 45 million annual passengers for the first-time ever – also a new record. Final audited traffic statistics will be released later this month.
“Congratulations to the MIA team for the hard work and dedication that went into welcoming this record-breaking number of visitors to our community,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez. “MIA’s holiday travel growth translates to more business revenue and economic impact for Miami-Dade County, which is welcome news.”
MIA’s winter travel season benefited from multiple new air service launches in December: Sunwing Airlines began 10 weekly flights to Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto and Ottawa on December 1; Flair began weekly service to Edmonton, Winnipeg and Toronto on December 15; Viva Air began three weekly flights to Santa Marta, Colombia on December 18; and United Airlines began daily Washington Dulles service on December 19.
Most notably, MIA hub carrier American Airlines launched the new international routes of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on December 15, Pereira, Colombia and Georgetown, Guyana on December 20, new daily domestic service to Knoxville, Tennessee, and Greenville, South Carolina on December 19, and increased from daily to double-daily domestic service to Kansas City, Memphis, Greensboro (NC), Savannah (GA), and Louisville (KY) on December 19 as well.
“MIA’s performance during the holiday season exceeded our projections, which is an encouraging sign for the New Year,” said Lester Sola, MIA Director and CEO. “With more new route launches on the way in 2019, the future at MIA this year looks even brighter.”
