Miami Airport Has Record European Capacity This Winter

Summary

• Miami has more Europe capacity than any previous winter
• Norse Atlantic has made its debut in Miami, replacing Fort Lauderdale
• This winter, Miami has non-stop passenger flights to 20 European destinations

Ever-congested Miami is gearing up for a record winter from Europe. The carrier list now includes long-haul low-cost carrier Norse Atlantic (replacing Fort Lauderdale). Miami has non-stop flights from 20 European destinations this winter – but still not Milan, the largest unserved market, with ~172,000 passengers in 2019. Note: Condor and Level will begin flying to Miami next summer.

Welcome, Norse Atlantic!

Miami gained its latest airline on September 18th, when Norse Atlantic UK flight Z0723 touched from London Gatwick a little behind schedule at 19:16 local. The route is served four weekly but rises to five weekly through winter. It replaces Norwegian, which served it until March 2020.

Less than an hour later, it was followed by Norse Atlantic flight N023 from Oslo at 20:37, presently twice-weekly but weekly this winter. It replaces SAS, which served it for years until March 2023. Paris CDG and Berlin will join them in December. It is part of the carrier’s attempt to make winter work, which has also seen San Francisco cut.

Technically, these are two airlines, as they each have different air operator’s certificates and operating licenses. However, I consider them as one here as they’re part of the same group.

Despite higher fees and charges at Miami, Norse Atlantic is betting on more awareness of and demand for Miami, helping to secure higher fares and yields. It may also help with freight, an important consideration for most long-haul routes. For this reason, Norse’s predecessor, Norwegian, also switched between the South Florida airports.

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Miami’s Europe winter record

Analysis of schedules using OAG data shows that airlines plan 1.25 million departing seats to Europe in winter 2023 (W23; double for both ways). The Northern Hemisphere aviation winter season runs from October 29th to March 30th.

Seats for sale have risen by a quarter versus W22 but are up by a much more modest amount over the previous record held in W19. Miami ranks behind only New York JFK and Newark for Europe capacity, remaining above Los Angeles. Still, Miami does not feature in the world’s most-served long-haul routes list.

18 airlines, 20 destinations

As of September 23rd and subject to change, the plan is as follows, organized in this rather large table. Frequencies can change wildly from week to week or at different times of the season, with Christmastime often having more flights from higher demand. I have put ‘up to’ where change happens to a meaningful degree.

Will you be flying any of the routes mentioned here this winter? If so, let us know in the comments.

Sources of data: OAG, Flightradar24, Google Flights, Norse Atlantic’s website, booking data.