Admittedly I take more of an interest in Miami International Airport (MIA) than the average person, given that it’s my home airport (unfortunately). I’m subscribed to receive email updates about the Miami-Dade Airport Committee Agenda, since this is often how we learn about new lounges, and other developments at the airport, before they’re otherwise publicly announced.
Along those lines, the committee is meeting today, and has an interesting item on the agenda…
Miami wants to attract four new long haul routes
On the Miami-Dade Airport Committee Agenda this week is the following resolution:
Resolution directing the County County Attorney Mayor to determine the feasibility of direct passenger or cargo flights between Miami International Airport and the cities of Tokyo, Asuncion, Riyadh, and Singapore and, if feasible, to undertake all appropriate efforts to solicit such flights from the appropriate carriers.
The resolution goes on to explain that:
- Asuncion is the capital and largest city of Paraguay, and has been one of the fastest growing economies in Latin America in the past decade
- Miami has direct flights to Doha and Dubai, but lacks direct flights to Riyadh, which is “rapidly transforming into a leading global economic hub”
- Tokyo and Singapore are two of the world’s leading economies
With approval, the mayor or mayor’s designee will have to provide quarterly updates on the progress of these projects.
My take on the feasibility of these four desired routes
Let me of course emphasize that just because Miami wants these new routes, doesn’t mean they’ll actually happen. Airports and communities always have goals of new service that they’re pursuing, but actually making that service a reality is a different story. These are four interesting markets for different reasons, and with very different likelihoods of becoming a reality.
First, the Miami to Singapore route… that’s not happening. Period. That flight would cover a distance of over 10,500 miles, so it would be even longer than Qantas’ planned “Project Sunrise” flights, which will be the longest in the world. So this is about as likely as a Sarasota to Yangon route, which is to say zero.
On the other end of the spectrum, Miami to Asuncion absolutely could happen. I could see American operating it seasonally with a Boeing 787, or otherwise, once American gets its Airbus A321XLRs, this would be the perfect route for that plane. However, I can’t imagine this is at the top of the list of things American wants to do with the plane (since the focus will be transcon and transatlantic flights), so it’ll likely be a few years.
I imagine that a Miami to Riyadh route could eventually happen on Riyadh Air, once the airline grows its fleet massively, several years down the road. I’m sure Miami is on Riyadh Air’s radar, but not among the first 20 long haul destinations it plans to serve.
It seems unlikely that American would operate this route. For one, the only long haul destinations American exclusively serves out of Miami are to Latin America, so I can’t imagine that trend would change here. Second, without connecting traffic in Riyadh, American will have a much tougher time there than Delta, which is partnering with Riyadh Air, and also has a partnership with Saudia. That being said, don’t be surprised if American eventually flies to Riyadh from elsewhere, given that the Saudi government is throwing money at airlines to start Riyadh flights.
And that brings us to the Miami to Tokyo route. Miami has been pursuing a nonstop Tokyo flight for longer than I’ve been living here. If it were to happen, I have to imagine it would be more likely on Japan Airlines than American. The problem is, Japan Airlines is such a conservative airline with growth. The airline will be growing long haul capacity in the coming years, so I wouldn’t be shocked to see Miami service finally added (though I also wouldn’t take it as a sure bet).
Bottom line
Miami Airport has created a list of four long haul destinations it’s hoping to get service to, and they include Asuncion, Riyadh, Singapore, and Tokyo. To save them a little time, let me share how this is going to play out. 😉
The Singapore service isn’t happening. The Asuncion service could happen with American’s A321XLRs. Riyadh Air may eventually launch Miami flights, but that’ll take some time. And regarding Tokyo, that hope has been there for years, and I do wish it would eventually happen.
What do you make of Miami Airport’s prospects here?