' new international passenger terminal, the first U.S. mainland port of entry for visitors arriving in the U.S. via air, during the terminal's opening on January 9, 1929. in 1929. The airport terminal with domed roof is located at center, flanked by two hangars to the east and one to the west. Only the west hangar, Pan Am Hangar 5, located at its original site off NW 36th Street, remains in existence. In June 1928,
Pan American Airways acquired 116 acres of land on NW 36th Street for the purpose of building a privately owned and operated international airport in Miami, Florida. The establishment of a commercial airport and of regularly scheduled international passenger airline service by Pan Am was a transformative event for the City of Miami. By September 1928, Pan Am had begun to operate regularly scheduled Air Mail service between Miami and Havana. On January 9, 1929, Pan American Airport, also known as Pan American Field, was officially dedicated at a ceremony attended by thousands of residents and celebrities such as Amelia Earhart, who saw in the new airport the promise of a bright new future in international aviation for Miami. It was the first mainland airport in the United States to have international port of entry facilities. The passenger terminal building, designed by Delano & Aldrich of New York City, was the most advanced and luxurious in the country. Three hangars, two on the east and one on the west, provided housing and maintenance facilities for Pan Am's fleet of Sikorsky amphibian and Fokker aircraft. During the first few years of its operation, from late 1928 until late 1930, it was from this busy airport that Pan American Airways historically pioneered U.S. international passenger aviation, inaugurating regularly scheduled Air Mail and passenger airline service from the U.S. to the West Indies, Caribbean, and Central and South America. In the 1930s Pan American leased space at its airport to
Eastern Air Lines. Eastern officially took up residence at the 36th Street Airport in August 1935. In 1940, Intercontinent Corporation, owned by William Pawley, built an aircraft manufacturing plant on land acquired immediately east of Pan American Field. The City and County, eager to encourage the growth of an aircraft manufacturing industry in Miami, agreed to finance and build runways and ground facilities at the Intercontinent plant, including an east–west runway that extended from Le Jeune Road as far west as Pan American Field, where it intersected with Pan Am's east–west runway.
National Airlines, which had been operating in Miami at Miami's city-owned Municipal Airport since 1937, moved to the 36th Street Airport in 1942. National used a terminal on LeJeune Road, across the street from the airport and would stop traffic on the road in order to taxi aircraft to and from its terminal.
Miami Army Airfield opened in 1943 on 1400 acres of land acquired during
World War II to the south of Pan American Field. The two airfields were listed in some directories as a single facility. Following
World War II, the Dade County Port Authority embarked on a long-planned airport expansion in order to meet Miami's increasing commercial aviation needs. On December 31, 1945, a formal agreement between the County and Pan Am transferring ownership of the airport to the county was signed, becoming effective at 1:00 AM on January 1, 1946. Thus ended any distinct identity of Pan American Field. It also acquired Intercontinent's former holdings, which were leased to Eastern Air Lines, and changed the name of the newly expanded airport to Miami International Airport. Pan American's former NW 36th Street terminal building continued to serve as the hub for the new Miami International Airport. Between 1945 and 1950, the Port Authority cobbled together thousands more acres adjacent to and south of the airport, including the Army's former air base; the Seaboard Air Line Railroad property; and additional parcels, with the intention of meeting Miami's future aviation needs. The result was a County-owned, Miami International Airport based at NW 36th Street that by 1948 had grown to 2500 acres. The former domed-roofed Pan Am terminal building was extensively remodeled and enlarged, the words “Miami International Airport” now curving across its façade. The new airport was officially dedicated January 4, 1950.
United States Air Force Reserve troop carrier and rescue squadrons also operated from the airport from 1949 through 1959, when the last unit relocated to nearby
Homestead Air Force Base (now
Homestead Air Reserve Base). In the late 1940s, Pan Am and Eastern also expanded their bases at MIA on NW 36th Street, which made the airport the world's largest commercial aircraft maintenance and overhaul facility at the time. In the 1950s, a continuing boom in post-
World War II passenger aviation stretched the county's expanded airport to capacity. Scheduled airlines had outstripped ships, trains and buses to become the state's as well as the nation's largest carriers of interstate and international traffic. Delta had joined Pan Am, Eastern and National to become MIA's "Big Four" carriers and the airport also served a host of smaller scheduled and non-scheduled airlines. A new jet age loomed. Plans for an entirely new airport, to be built from scratch on land south and east of the existing facility were set in motion. On February 1, 1959, after years of planning and construction, Miami's brand-new Miami International Airport was formally inaugurated at 20th Street, on what was dubbed Wilcox Field in honor of Port Authority attorney
J. Mark Wilcox who had been instrumental in bringing the project to completion. No longer needed, the former domed-roofed terminal building on NW 36th Street was torn down in November 1962. This part of MIA along NW 36th Street is known today as MIA's north field. When it was dedicated in 1959, MIA's new 20th Street Terminal was the largest central airport terminal in the world, with five concourses (Concourses C-G) and a 270-room hotel. In 1961, the terminal was expanded with the addition of a sixth concourse (Concourse H) on the south side, which was the first concourse at the airport to include jetways. By 1965, the original five concourses were renovated with jetways added to them. The 20th Street Terminal was expanded in the 1970s. Parking garages were added just east of the terminal and Concourse B opened on the north side of the terminal in 1973 to accommodate the expansion of Eastern Air Lines. In 1977, Concourse E's satellite terminal opened. The satellite was originally connected with shuttle buses, though a
people mover was built to connect the satellite in 1980.
British Airways flew a
Concorde SST (supersonic transport) triweekly between Miami and London via
Dulles International Airport in
Washington, D.C., from 1984 to 1991. The terminal was further expanded in the 1980s. The original Concourses D and E were rebuilt early in the decade and Concourses B and F were expanded. Pedestrian bridges with moving walkways were built in 1985 connecting the parking garages with the third level of the terminal. Within the next few years, the moving walkway system on the third level was expanded to run along the full length of the terminal. After former
Apollo 8 astronaut
Frank Borman became president of
Eastern Air Lines in 1975, he moved Eastern's headquarters from
Rockefeller Center in
New York City to Building 16 in the northeast corner of MIA, Eastern's maintenance base. Eastern remained one of the largest employers in the Miami metropolitan area until ongoing labor union unrest, coupled with the airline's acquisition by Texas Air in 1986, ultimately forced the airline into bankruptcy in 1989. Concourse E was the home for most international carriers, while Pan Am operated out of Concourses E and F. In 2026, MIA will be a hub for soccer fans as the nearby
Nu Stadium of
Major League Soccer's
Inter Miami CF has opened; connected to the airport via the
MIA Mover. It will also be a main transportation point for fans for
2026 FIFA World Cup events in the Miami area (and for connecting flights to other host cities), and the seven games being hosted at
Hard Rock Stadium, roughly 18 miles north of the airport.
American Airlines hub planes at Concourse D in January 2026 Amid Eastern's turmoil,
American Airlines CEO
Robert Crandall sought a new hub in order to utilize new aircraft which AA had on order. AA studies indicated that
Delta Air Lines would provide strong competition on most routes from Eastern's hub at
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport in
Atlanta, but that MIA had many key routes only served by Eastern. American Airlines announced that it would establish a base at MIA in August 1988. Lorenzo considered selling Eastern's profitable
Latin America routes to AA as part of a
Chapter 11 reorganization of Eastern in early 1989 but backed out in a last-ditch effort to rebuild the MIA hub. The effort quickly proved futile, and American Airlines purchased the routes (including the route authority between Miami and London then held by Eastern sister company
Continental Airlines) in a liquidation of Eastern which was completed in 1990. Today Miami is American's largest air freight hub and is the main connecting point in the airline's north–south international route network. In December 1992,
South African Airways launched flights to Johannesburg via Cape Town using a Boeing 747. The company's
codeshare agreement with American Airlines supported the route. The carrier later decided to codeshare with Delta Air Lines instead, which operated a hub in Atlanta. Consequently, South African replaced its Miami service with a flight to Atlanta in January 2000. Concourse A was built on the northeast side of the terminal in 1995, and Concourse H was rebuilt in 1997. Concourse J was built in August 2007 along with an expansion of the terminal on the south side. The terminal was ultimately completed in 2011 and included
Skytrain, an automated people mover system, as well as a wing for
American Eagle commuter flights.
Other hub operations Pan Am was acquired by
Delta Air Lines in 1991, but filed for bankruptcy shortly thereafter. Its remaining international routes from Miami to Europe and Latin America were sold to
United Airlines for $135 million as part of Pan Am's emergency liquidation that December. United ended flights from Miami to South America, and shut down its Miami crew base, in May 2004, reallocating most Miami resources to its main hub in
O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. United ceased all mainline service to Miami in 2005 with the introduction of its low-cost product
Ted. To meet such a demand, the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners approved a $5 billion improvement plan to take place over 15 years, concluding in 2035. The comprehensive plan includes concourse optimization, construction of two on-site luxury hotels, the demolition of Concourse G, and expansion of the airport's cargo capacity. ==Facilities==