Miami International Airport (MIA), America’s leading international freight airport and the world’s 11th busiest, is the only US airport sponsor of Air Cargo India 2018.
The largest air cargo exhibition and networking conference in India, which will be attended by Air Cargo Week deputy editor James Muir, will take place February 20 to 22 at the Grand Hyatt in Mumbai.
The sponsorship is part of MIA’s ongoing outreach to India, MIA’s fourth-busiest Asian cargo market at $234 million in trade annually – despite not having nonstop Miami service. Most notably, India is also MIA’s largest source of pharmaceutical product imports by volume, accounting for 617 tonnes in 2016, at a value of $52 million.
MIA’s sponsorship includes hosting a roundtable on industry collaborations create efficient and profitable air cargo supply chains. In the last two years, MIA has helped launched successful cargo industry partnerships including MIA’s first e-commerce workshop with more than 30 local air cargo industry stakeholders in January, Florida’s first-ever ocean-to-air perishables trans-shipment program which allows perishable freight from local seaports to be trucked to MIA and depart by air without Customs duties and MIA’s Pharma Hub Airport designation by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the first in the US and 2nd in the world.
“We look forward to strengthening our ties with the Indian cargo industry at this year’s Air Cargo India event. The Indian economy – one of the world’s largest in gross domestic product – already generates substantial cargo traffic for MIA, and we hope to spur increased growth through new partnerships and eventually, nonstop routes with India,” says Miami-Dade Aviation department chief of staff Joseph Napoli.
Pictured: The MIA-sponsored roundtable at Air Cargo India 2016.