Tourism has had a huge boom in recent years, and is directly related to the advances made by airlines to deliver more and better options to travelers. Together with the technological and aeronautical engineering innovations, the advances in infrastructure and logistics have been monumental, managing to create modern hubs that are efficient centers of connection with the world. The trajectory of the Miami hub over the past 30 years is an example of strategic development.
There are many things that make Miami such an important center for world aviation. Its cultural proximity to Latin America and the geographical advantages of its location make it the natural gateway to North America for Latin American travelers. The enormous connectivity with the rest of the countries that it has achieved over time and its tourist tradition have caused that this city of the state of Florida has been devoted with surpluses as an iconic meeting point in commercial aviation.
Our history of service to Latin America goes back more than 76 years ago when American started flying to Mexico, but it wasn’t until 1989, when American bought Eastern routes to Central and South America for approximately $ 430 million, which we became in the largest airline in the region. Eastern routes originated from Miami, where in 1989 we only operated 18 daily flights to six destinations and had about 200 employees.
Today, our passengers enjoy 338 daily flights to 135 national and international destinations, of which 51 are cities in Latin America. We have grown in Miami from 200 employees to more than 13,500, and from 2 million annual passengers to more than 29 million, representing almost 75% of all passenger traffic at the Miami airport.
But the importance of Miami as a hub lies not only in its aeronautical capacity, but also in the benefits it provides to the community and its boost to the local economy, creating thousands of secondary jobs, especially in the service industry.
Miami continues to grow while responding to the demands of the modern world and the profound changes that the aeronautical industry has experienced and will experience in the near future. And speaking of continuing to grow, we have recently announced even more flights from Miami to Latin America, with additional frequencies to Lima, São Paulo and Santiago from next year, reinforcing the leadership of the Miami hub as the main port to Latin America, and to American as the leading airline in the region.
In American we feel tremendously proud and very grateful to be an important part of this hub in the city of Miami, which after 30 years continues to contribute to the development of the region, connecting Latin America better than ever with the world.