After ‘Milton’
The ‘Sunshine State’ was well prepared for the hurricane – one of the strongest ever to hit the southeastern USA. How did the region’s airports fare?
Air travel is vital to Florida’s economy, bringing tourists and goods to the USA’s third-most populous state. Visitors to the last Tiaca Air Cargo Forum, held in November 2022, when hurricane ‘Nicole’ was brewing off Miami Beach (see page 15 of ITJ 47-48 / 2022), know that not only good things come from above, however.
Some measures to protect people and equipment from the impact of a hurricane are routine, such as the temporary closure of airports and the securing of individual aircraft. The aviation industry’s main focus was on Tampa airport (TPA), located on Florida’s west coast.
The first passenger line in the world was opened there in 1914, but when it comes to cargo, TPA is of secondary importance. In 2020, the year of the outbreak of Covid-19, it recorded its record volume of airfreight and airmail – 232,000 t. The 106,000 t handled in the first eight months of 2024 were approximately 42% less than in the previous year.
Medium and long-term objectives
Things are completely different for Miami airport (MIA), in contrast. It was less affected by hurricane Milton, and in 2024 it handled more than 1 million t of air cargo and airmail by May. This was approximately 6.3% more than in the first five months of 2023.
In July MIA, aka ‘Latin America’s airfreight hub’, received the go-ahead to build a cargo facility costing more than USD 400 million and four storeys high. MIA is aiming to increase its throughput capacity by half to approximately 4.5 million t a year from 2029 onwards.
A trade agreement concluded at the airport at the end of September points to a fossil-fuel-free future. World Fuel Service is set to deliver the equivalent of 227 million l of mixed SAF to DHL Express in the next two years, as a part of one of the first regular deliveries of sustainable aviation fuel in Florida.