b'40American Journal ofTransportation ajot.com(BOOSTcontinued from page 38) Merida.Mexico is MIAs second busiest permanent jobs and generate about $512international market and now five airlines million in fresh revenue over the 40 yearsserve that country from MIA.of the lease agreement. MIAisalsoattractingairlines Meanwhile,MIAoffersfreightfromotherFloridaairports.Lastyear, forwarders,3PLsanddirectshippersNorse Atlantic Airways,alsoalow-cost awidevarietyofchoicesformovingcarrierbutflyingBoeingwidebodied freight to both domestic and international787Dreamliners,switchedfromnearby destinations. And not just a few flights aFortLauderdale-HollywoodInternational day to several cities. Airport(FLL)toMIA.Theswitchover American Airlinesisahubcarrierallows forwarders and other Norse shippers atMIAandtheairportslargestairlineto connect to a variety of Latin American with 390 flights daily during peak season.boundairlinesandsavethemselves While it no longer has a freighter fleet trucking time and expense from FLL.Americanonceoperated747all-cargoMIAsgrowingpassengervolume aircraft with payloads of up to 221,000couldpresumablycreatemorebelly poundsithassubstantialbellyfreightcapacityforcargo,CutiesaysWere capacity and reach to 70 US destinations,on our way to our third straight record-45marketsinLatinAmericaandthebreakingpassengeryearwithabout57 Caribbean, and flights to 150 destinationsto58millionpassengers,upfrom52.3 overall, says Cutie. millionin2023,a9percentincrease. On its Latin American routes, however,Andthatsnotincludingtheupcoming Americanfacesfiercecompetitionforwinterholidaypassengers.Hecredits cargotonnagefromaggressiveSouththe gain to a pent-up traveler demand theFedEx flowers cold storageAmerican flag carriers including LATAM,COVID bump but also sees an uptick Avianca,AmerijetandCOPAAirplusinaircargowhichwouldsetafourthnot lose much cargo capacity when thesesays Cutie. Thats more than any other AtlasAir,DHL,UPSandFedEx.Allstraight annual tonnage record. passenger airlines pulled out. US airport I believe. operate freighters and fight hard for theInadditiontoNorseAtlanticandCutieisnotworriedaboutcarrierAdditional cool storage will be added steadystreamofperishablesandotherVivaAerobus,MIAhasaddedinthedefections.Thetrendhereisonthein 2029 when the new VICC warehouse time-sensitive traffic moving northbound. last 18 months Aer Lingus, SAP whichupswing,andwestillhavealotmoreopens.Wedontknowexactlyhow fliestoStockholm,Finnair,Frankfurt- airlines that want to fly with us. Our routemuch square feet will be devoted to per-n ewc arrIers anDe xPanDIng headquartered Condor Air, and LEVEL,marketingteamisconstantlymeetingishables because the project has not been b usIness aBarcelona-based,low-costairlinewith airlines so I expect that sometimefully designed, says the CEO. Another Overall,MIAisservedby59pas- thatfliesA300-200widebodiesandisnextyearwewillbebackover100airport warehouse facility is being joint sengerairlines,37freighterairlinesandaffiliated with Iberia Air. carriers. Thats big news. venturedbyMIAandMiamisseaport theairportcontinuestoaddnewcarri- MIAhasalsolostfiveairlinesinwhich will also include cold storage, but ers, says the airport CEO.With its geo- recent years including TUI fly, a Belgiumc olDc haIn anDc ruIses hIPs size and layout specifics have not been graphicallocation,itsnosurprisetherecharterairline,Aeroflot,theRussianMiami Internationals dominant importfinalized, he adds.is more lift to Latin American cities theseairline,VivaAirColombia,whichcommoditiescontinuetobeperishables,CutiecontendsMIAandthecitys days.MIA added Mexican low-cost car- liquidated several years ago, Sunwing, aspecifically flowers, fish, fruit and veg- seaport have an extremely strong, sym-rier Viva Aerobus in July to its schedule.budget leisure travel carrier, and Europeanetables.Wecurrentlyhaveroughlybioticpartnershipwhere90%oftheir The airline operates narrow-bodied A320Air Transport Leipzig (EAT), now 100%466,000squarefeetofcoldstorageoncruisepassengersflythroughourair-andthesomewhatlargerA321flightsowned by DHL which itself serves MIA.airport property and some of our partnersport.Thetwotransportationentities totheMexicancitiesofMontereyandExcept for all-freight EAT, the airport didhave cold storage facilities off airport,(BOOSTcontinued on page 42)'