MIA talks with Air India, Air Serbia about air links

Miami takes flight as air service agreements come to fruition and international flights continue to develop to and from this pivotal travel destination.

“We are constantly in contact and in communications with carriers about air service development and air routes to Miami,” said Emir Pineda, director of the marketing and air service development division of the Miami-Dade Aviation Department. “You’re probably aware that today [March 26], Condor airlines will start service: Miami-Frankfurt. We’ve been in discussions with Condor for at least two years. Sometimes these air service agreements take quite a while to come to fruition. And then later … actually on March 31, Level, which is an airline that will be flying from Miami to Barcelona, will be starting and we’re inaugurating that flight on April 3.”

Later in the year, sometime in June or July, said Mr. Pineda, the airline Viva Aerobus will fly to Mexico adding “some additional service to Monterrey and Merida.”

Additionally, discussions with Air Serbia have taken place, said Mr. Pineda. Air Serbia “will be flying to Belgrade, and we hope to hear from them on their startup scheduled sometime later this year, potentially early next year.”

International travel continues to be of interest.

“We’ve had discussions with Air India, and the Indian market is of great interest to this community,” said Mr. Pineda. “India … it’s a very large country and market. Having direct service to India would open up tremendous new opportunities, I think for Miami, South Florida, the whole Southeast United States for that fact, as well as for India if we were to get service into that market. Those discussions are ongoing. We’ve had some, and we’re continuing to have those discussions.”

Talks of direct passenger flights to Japan linking Miami with Asia with its first direct passenger route have been in the works for several years. Air Japan would use Miami as its feeder route to Latin America and Miami in turn would link to much of Asia. That link would require Air Japan to add three aircraft and three flight crews. A start to that route is said to depend on Air Japan’s continued recovery from prior financial losses.

International airlines already serving Miami International Airport also continue to add flights. Avianca Airlines, for example, last week announced the revival of ten seasonal nonstop routes as links to Latin America. One of those is a daily flight between Cali, Colombia, and MIA.

The impact of air carriers is reflected in many aspects in a community.

When a new carrier starts flying to Miami – or any new market – there is an economic impact to the community, said Mr. Pineda.

Not only are jobs associated with the carrier and the new service brought in, said Mr. Pineda, but it also impacts services provided at the airport and related services such as “hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, museums. Just think about everything that touches that potential passenger will have an impact to this community.”

Additionally, new air services are important to a community, said Mr. Pineda, “because it really does open up opportunities that don’t exist without that air connection. Particularly when you’re flying to a market that’s either underserved or not served, all of a sudden you have a new opportunity to not only showcase your community, so Miami and everything we have to offer here, but also from a business perspective … the investment … and development that can go into that community that wouldn’t be there without that air service. So it really is an important factor to a large, multi-ethnic, multicultural community like Miami; it really makes a difference.”

A pent-up air travel demand from the pandemic is still seen today, said Mr. Pineda. However, Florida did not shut down as much as other locations in the United States. This has resulted in the recovery being stronger and faster than competing gateways, he said.

Miami International Airport had a strong surge in low-cost carriers during the pandemic and is still benefiting from it, said Mr. Pineda. “We saw Southwest, JetBlue, Spirit, Frontier all grow here, plus a few international low-cost carriers.”

Last year, MIA handled 23.2 million international passengers. This exceeded the pre-pandemic 2019 number, which was 22.3 million.

“If we keep growing at the level that we’re growing right now, we’re going to again hit a record passenger number this year, a combination of both domestic and international,” said Mr. Pineda. “But the growth here isn’t stopping. It’s continuing.”