Officials in Miami are pushing for new routes connecting the city to destinations in East Asia, the Middle East, and South America.
The Miami-Dade County Board of Commissioners this week issued a resolution calling on Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to investigate the feasibility of nonstop passenger flights between Miami and Tokyo, Singapore, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Asunción, Paraguay. Currently, none of the airlines at Miami International Airport offer nonstop service to those cities.
If possible, the resolution adds, the mayor should “undertake all appropriate efforts to solicit such flights from the appropriate carriers.”
Miami International Airport is owned and operated by the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, which is part of the county government.
The commissioners highlighted the potential economic benefits of establishing connections to the four cities. Tokyo and Singapore have some of the largest city economies in the world, they said, and both Riyadh and Asunción are growing fast and likely to achieve greater international prominence in the years ahead. Launching service to those locations would increase tourism and business travel and open up new commercial opportunities, the board said.
Miami is a major transit point between the continental U.S. and Latin America, but no airlines there fly nonstop to Paraguay.
Miami International Airport offers nonstop flights to Dubai and Doha, Qatar, in the Middle East, but the commissioners want to see service to Riyadh as well as it develops into a business and technology hub. Riyadh is the capital of and largest city in Saudi Arabia.
