MIAMI: April 26, 2018. Miami International Airport (MIA) reports an overall 4.0 percent increase in freight volume for the first three months of 2018 with international traffic rising 1.8 percent to 491,264 tons and domestic freight up 19.1 percent to 84,180 tons.

MIA says the trend is likely to continue in the next quarter with the launch of a weekly flight to Salvador, Brazil by LATAM this month and the start of a four times weekly service to Milan by Air Italy - in which Qatar Airways has a 49 percent - on June 08.

“It is extremely encouraging to see MIA have a strong start to 2018, even before a number of new service launches kick off our peak summer travel season,” said Miami-Dade Aviation director Lester Sola. “Of particular significance is [the] expanded service to Brazil - our top international market - as well as new service to Europe.”

American Airlines Cargo, which has long used Miami as a gateway to and from Latin America, reports an unexpected demand by Canadians for Brazilian limes and has shipped 103 tons in time for the Cinco de Mayo holiday when they will be used to create around one million margaritas.

According to the airline, Mexico has been the traditional source for lemons and limes but a poor harvest this year has prompted the Canadian food service industry to ship on AA from Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to New York for final delivery by reefer truck to Toronto and Vancouver.

"The global market for citrus fruits is changing and while limes move across our international network on a year-round basis, these large scale movements to Canada were something special,” commented Lorena Sandoval, American's managing director of Sales for Florida, Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America.