Miami International Airport (MIA) is a public airport located eight miles (13 km) northwest of the central business district of Miami, in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is between the cities of Miami, Hialeah, Doral, and Miami Springs, the village of Virginia Gardens, and the unincorporated community of Fountainbleau.
The airport is a hub for passenger airlines American Airlines, American Eagle, and Executive Air; cargo airlines Arrow Air, Fine Air, UPS and Federal Express; and charter airline Miami Air. Miami International Airport handles flights to cities throughout the Americas and Europe, as well as Israel and cargo flights to Asia, and is South Florida's main airport for long-haul international flights, although most domestic and low-cost carriers use Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Palm Beach International Airport, which charge significantly lower fees to tenant airlines.
Miami is the premier gateway between the US and Latin America, and, along with Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, Miami is one of the largest aerial gateways into the American South, owing to its proximity to tourist attractions, local economic growth, large local Latin American and European populations, and strategic location to handle connecting traffic between North America, Latin America, and Europe. In the past, it has been a hub for Eastern Air Lines, Air Florida, the original National Airlines, the original Pan Am, and Iberia. As an international gateway to the United States it ranks third, behind New York-JFK in New York City and LAX in Los Angeles.