Miami's Airport Flying High With Travelers
MIAMI (CBS4) - If you caught a flight out of or in to Miami International Airport last year, congratulations you helped the airport set a new record.
On Monday, MIA announced that they had set an all-time annual record for passenger traffic; 35.7 million travelers passed through their gates in 2010. This number shattered the old record of 34.5 million passengers set back in 1997.
Domestic travel jumped five percent over the previous year to 18.8 million passengers. International travel increased nearly 6 percent to 16.9 passengers.
One reason for the increase was American Airlines' expansion at its Latin American and Caribbean hub. Together with American Eagle, American Airlines added more than 30 new flights daily in 2010. Combined, the air carriers operate 310 flights per day at MIA and handle approximately 70 percent of the airport's total passenger traffic.
MIA is number two airport in the nation for international passengers, second only to John F. Kennedy International in New York.
In addition, addition to passenger traffic MIA nearly matched its all-time record in cargo volume with 1.99 million tons of freight last year for a growth of 18.8 percent over 2009.
MIA is the number one airport in the U.S. and number nine in the world for international freight.
