Three alternative sites for a commercial airport to handle a growing share of the passenger and cargo flights that now rely on Miami International Airport are on the runway and cleared for rapid takeoff.  County commissioners quickly accepted an assessment from Mayor Daniella Levine Cava of where a n added commercial airport could function even though the report wasn’t on last week’s agenda. They then asked the mayor to dig deeper into the three finalists and within 90 days pinpoint funds to build a commercial airport at the site they ultimately choose. The 63-page report narrowed a list of eight sites to either expanding Miami Executive Airport or Miami Homestead General Aviation Airport into a full-blown commercial airport or else building an airport from scratch somewhere between the two. The report found it’s past time to be planning an airport because Miami International, which is regarded as Miami-Dade’s main economic engine, “will approach its airfield capacity within approximately 15 years.” While the county has in recent years bought slices of land around Miami International, an airport in the midst of a fast-growing metropolis faces seemingly insurmountable challenges in acquiring enough space for meaningful airfield growth. The understated report notes that Miami International can handle 631,000 takeoffs and landings a year and in 2025 it had 501,529, almost 80% of capacity. Federal Aviation Administration standards are that an airport should start planning for growing use at 60% of capacity and should be developing new capacity by the time it hits 80% – right where we are now. But once the mayor reports by June 3, commissioners will take time to decide whether to proceed and where, which can face turbulence. Though the county’s incinerator burned three years ago, for example, the commission has yet to decide how to replace it or where. A final commission go-ahead would trigger an airport development process. The mayor’s report estimates those steps would take 12 to 15 years at either Miami Executive Airport or Miami Homestead, with a need for 20-plus years if the county chose to build from scratch between the two. The report didn’t attach costs to the choices for a commercial airport site. But commissioners last week had funding on their radar. “My assumption is that this is going to be funded as part of a proprietary system, as part of MDAD (the Miami-Dade Aviation Department),” said Oliver Gilbert III. He said he expected funding to be by user fees “at some level,” with debt funding through the aviation department rather than via general county revenues. The report listed a menu of monetary sources, ranging from federal and state funds to fees charged to passengers at commercial airports and customer facility charges on rental car services. It also looked to unspecified public-private partnerships but didn’t directly cite debt financing of the sort that Miami International Airport is relying on during an ongoing $9 billion upgrade that is adding passenger gates, terminal improvements and cargo handling upgrades but isn’t adding airfield capacity. The mayor’s report pictures Miami International as continuing to be the county’s principal airport. A new site is to be supplemental – but vital. Based on use forecast, the report warns that without a new airport “MIA could become a capacity-constrained airport like John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport.” The post Miami-Dade pinpoints three sites for vital new major airport appeared first on Miami Today. ...read more read less