Miami-Dade plans to expand airport’s cargo capacity. What this means for jobs
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Miami’s major airport is getting an upgrade with a new building expected to help meet the airport’s growing international commerce demands.
The Miami-Dade County Commission approved a lease agreement with Miami Gateway Partners, LLC, to build a four-story cargo facility that would increase Miami International Airport’s storage capacity by 2 million tons, or by about 50 percent, bringing its total capacity to about 4.5 million tons.
Under the deal, Miami Gateway, as tenant and developer, will put in a minimum of $400 million for the 11.9- acre parcel of land. The lease is for 40 years and over that time, the firm will pay at least $512 million in rent and other revenue to the county’s aviation department.
The commission approved the deal on July 16.
The planned facility, scheduled to open in 2029 and located at 1701 NW 63rd Ave., is expected to yield 2,500 permanent jobs after construction, and 8,500 temporary jobs during the five years of design and construction, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and District 7 Commissioner Raquel Regalado said in a statement.
The plans also call for 60 percent of the design and construction firms involved in the project to be headquartered in Miami-Dade. And those firms have to hire registered small businesses during all phases of the project.
“This is great news for our community and our economy,” said Levine Cava. “MIA is our largest economic engine.”
Ralph Cutie, director and chief executive officer of MIA, described the project as “one of the many historic investments being made at MIA to modernize and transform every facet of our operations.”
This agreement comes as cargo commerce at MIA is booming. In 2023 it set a new record, with 2.78 million tons of cargo moving through the airport, about 1% more than the prior year. Most of that, about 2.2 million tons, were international goods.
In 2023, Chilean airline LATAM began cargo routes between Miami and Brasilia and increased its Miami-Florianópolis service from two to three weekly flights. It’s betting big on the Magic City. “Our biggest cargo market is Miami,” said Martin St. George, chief commercial officer for LATAM, during an interview last year with the Herald.
And DHL Express started shipping from Miami to Argentina in September.
It flies cargo six days a week between MIA and Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires. Each DHL flight between Miami and Buenos Aires can carry up to 52 tons, or 104,000 pounds, of cargo. After landing in Buenos Aires, the planes go on to Santiago, Chile, before returning to MIA.
That addition came after the firm launched direct service from Miami to Brazil in 2022, tapping into growing business and commerce between the United States and Latin America.
Colombian airline Avianca has eight freighters, Airbus330s, operating out of MIA to Latin America and calls MIA its headquarters for cargo.
In May, ahead of Mother’s Day, Avianca said it transported more than 400 million flower stems, about 18,000 tons of cargo, from Colombia and Ecuador to the United States. About 95 percent passed through MIA.
