China Eastern, other Chinese carriers eyeing Miami flights

Miami-Dade officials are hoping that flights to Miami from mainland China and Taiwan could begin anytime soon as talks are currently underway. Media reports said that Miami-Dade County commissioner José “Pepe” Diaz and Miami-Dare Deputy Aviation Director Ken Pyatt recently led a business development mission to mainland China and Taiwan from April 11 to April 23, 2016, and held fruitful meetings with leading Chinese carriers to consider nonstop flights to Miami from China. These carriers include China Eastern Airlines, Hainan Airlines and China Southern Airlines.

Miami-Dade business development mission officials visited key cities in China, including Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai, as well as Taiwan’s capital Taipei. The officials deliberated and explored the possibilities for launching nonstop flights to Miami International Airport from Shanghai, Taipei, Hangzhou and Guangzhou. China is presently home to four of the world’s busiest airports. Even a 2015 preliminary world airport traffic rankings by Airports Council International has placed Shanghai as world’s fastest-growing airport, with 16 percent growth in passenger traffic.

A study by International Air Transport Association (IATA) said that the Asia-Pacific and Latin American regions reported highest growth rates globally in 2015, with passenger traffic registering a growth of nine and eight percent respectively. The IATA study further indicated that the passenger demand between the Caribbean/Latin American and Asia region has grown phenomenally to 55 percent during past five years, with up to 1,834,300 passengers traveling between the two regions in 2014. It may be noted that Miami International Airport (MIA) presently handles more flights services to/from the Caribbean and Latin America than any other airport in the United States.

Miami-Dade officials have expressed satisfaction and said that the renewed interest by Chinese carriers to consider launching nonstop flights to Miami is quite promising. The discussions would further continue for sometime until the new China-Miami route is launched.