American Airlines served 30.3 million passengers at Miami International airport in 2019, a year-over-year increase of 1.7% and the most passengers it has carried through Miami since establishing the hub 30 years ago, the Dallas-based airline states 21 January.
American operates more than 340 daily flights from Miami, including routes to more than 80 cities across Latin America and the Caribbean, the airline says.
On 17 January, competitor Delta Air Lines gave a preview of its new partnership with LATAM Airlines by adding 13 daily domestic nonstop flights to Miami International, giving it 41 total daily domestic flights to that airport. Significantly, Delta stated that the new flights to Miami will be timed to “maximise connectivity” with LATAM, which is “co-located” with Delta at Miami International.
A Chilean court in May 2019 blocked a long-gestating proposed joint venture between Chile-based LATAM and American. In September 2019 Delta invested $1.9 billion in LATAM, representing a 20% stake.
“As our new industry-leading partnership with LATAM develops, this announcement broadens our footprint in south Florida to provide our customers with better connections between the US and South America,” Delta senior vice president of network planning Joe Esposito stated 17 January.
