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| Home > City Guide - Miami - Getting There By Air | ||
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Getting There By Air Miami International Airport (MIA) Tel: (305) 876 7000. Fax: (305) 876 7398. Website: www.miami-airport.com Located 11km (seven miles) northwest of the city, Miami International Airport is regarded as the ‘Hub of the Americas’ – the primary connecting point for air travel between the Americas and the Caribbean and a major gateway to Europe. It has the third highest international passenger traffic in the USA and is number one in the world for international freight trade. There are approximately 1500 flights a day, to around 150 destinations on four continents, operated by almost 100 scheduled airlines and over 20 non-scheduled airlines – more airlines than any airport in the Western Hemisphere. The terminal building is in the shape of a horseshoe, with nine concourses (A-J). For easy access to any of the concourses, there is a moving walkway on Level 3. International flights arrive at concourses A, B, D, E and F. Major airlines: National airline American Airlines (tel: (800) 433 7300; website: www.aa.com) serves Miami International Airlines. Other airlines include Air Canada, Air France, Air Jamaica, British Airways, Continental, Delta, Lufthansa, Northwest/KLM, TWA, United, US Airways and Virgin Atlantic. Approximate flight times to Miami: From London is 8 hours 30 minutes; from New York is 3 hours; from Los Angeles is 5 hours; from Toronto is 3 hours 45 minutes and from Sydney is 18 hours. Airport facilities: Throughout the terminal, there are plenty of restaurants, cafés, snack bars, gift and duty-free shops, newspaper stands, foreign currency exchange booths, a pharmacy (concourse F), a post office (concourse B, level 4), a unisex hair styling salon and even a shoeshine stand. Car hire firms include Alamo (tel: (305) 633 6076), Avis (tel: (305) 637 4900), Budget (tel: (305) 871 3053) and Hertz (tel: (305) 871 0300). There are five Tourist Information Centers (the main one, at level 2 of Concourse E, is open 24 hours), a full-service bank (concourse B, level 4) and several ATMs (concourse C and G, level 2). Business facilities: There are data port connections at various locations throughout the airport terminal. For specific locations, visitors should either pick up a white paging phone or ask at one of the Information Counters. The Miami International Airport Hotel (tel: (305) 871 4100; fax: (305) 871 0800) offers conference suites, boardrooms and other meeting facilities, with catering service available. Many airlines (including American Airlines, Delta and United) belong to the airline VIP club, enabling their business-class passengers to access executive lounges. Arrival/departure tax: US$50-65, depending on airline and destination. Transport to the city: Public transport from the airport to Miami is complicated. A 24-hour shuttle bus (departing from the ground level of concourse E, directly across from US Customs) connects with the Tri-Rail (tel: (954) 942 7248; fax: (954) 788 7878; website: www.tri-rail.com) station, from which trains run along the coast as far as Palm Beach. To reach downtown Miami, passengers must transfer from Tri-Rail to Metrorail, operated by Miami-Dade Transit Department (tel: (305) 770 3131; fax: (305) 654 6583; e-mail: transit@miamidade.gov; website: www.co.miami-dade.fl.us/transit). Metrorail trains run 0500-2400, arriving every six minutes during weekday rush hours, every 15 minutes at midday and every 30 minutes after 2000. Weekend services run every 20 minutes until 2000, when trains arrive every half an hour. Tri-Rail trains run from Miami Airport station northwards to Mangonia Park station, Palm Beach, approximately once an hour, 0416-2210 weekdays and 0700-2157 weekends. In the opposite direction (southbound), Tri-Rail operates 0420-2157 weekdays, 0700-2144 weekends. Alternatively, the Miami-Dade Metrobus number 7 leaves from the lower level of Concourse E every 40 minutes 0600-2200, going to the Government Center in downtown Miami and the main bus terminal (journey time – 35 minutes). The Metrobus ‘J’ shuttle bus also departs from here to Miami Beach, every 30 minutes 0440-2400 (journey time – approximately 1 hour). Some hotels provide a free minibus or limousine service. Taxis charge flat fares from the airport to most tourist destinations (Port of Miami US$18, Miami Beach US$24 and Key Biscayne US$31) and take about 20 minutes to downtown Miami. |
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