OREANDA-NEWS. Miami International Airport ended 2013 by reaching the 40-million passenger mark for the first time in the airport's 85-year history and setting a new record for annual passengers for the fourth year in a row. Preliminary numbers show that the watershed moment for MIA came on Friday, December 27, just five days before the end of the year. Since 2010, when MIA hit the 35.7 million passenger mark for the first time, annual passenger traffic at the airport has increased by more than 12 percent.

"Congratulations to the Aviation Department and the entire MIA community on this historic milestone," said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez. "Continued growth at our top economic engine is very good news for our economy and for continued job growth in Miami-Dade County."

Since December 1, more than 3.1 million passengers have travelled through MIA, including a new single-day record of 139,940 passengers set on December 21.

"This is a proud moment for MIA and the men and women who keep this airport going 24 hours a day, 365 days a year," said Miami-Dade Aviation Director Emilio T. Gonzalez. "Hitting the 40 million mark - with half of that total being international passengers - speaks to MIA's staying power as one of the top international hubs in the world. Our strategy this year has been to aggressively seek out new international carriers to solidify our position as a truly global airport."

MIA continued to expand internationally with seven new foreign destinations in 2013: Guadeloupe, Martinique, Cozumel, Milan, Curitiba and Porto Alegre, all by American Airlines; and Calgary by Canadian low-cost carrier WestJet. MIA's global route network will expand further with three new route launches scheduled in the first six months of 2014: Belem, Brazil; Brussels, Belgium; and Doha, Qatar.