Miami International Airport traces its roots to September 1928, when Pan American Airways began scheduled air mail service between Miami and Havana from a privately built 116-acre field on NW 36th Street. Pan American Field was officially dedicated on January 9, 1929, at a ceremony attended by Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh. It was the first mainland U.S. airport with international port-of-entry facilities. The name changed over the following decades as the site expanded. On January 4, 1950, the fully consolidated, county-owned Miami International Airport was officially dedicated.

Geographically, MIA occupies a singular position. Situated roughly 6 miles west-northwest of downtown Miami in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, it sits at the natural convergence of North America, the Caribbean, and South America. No other U.S. airport operates more flights to Latin America and the Caribbean. American Airlines established a hub here in 1988, absorbing Eastern Airlines' profitable Latin American routes during that carrier's 1989-1991 bankruptcy and liquidation. Today MIA is American's third-largest hub and its primary gateway to the region. In 2021, the airport surpassed JFK to become the busiest U.S. gateway for international passengers and the leading U.S. airport for international air cargo, a ranking it has held since. In 2024, nearly 56 million passengers and 3 million tons of cargo moved through the airport.

The terminal complex has grown considerably since the 1959 opening of the 20th Street Terminal, which was the world's largest centralized airport terminal at the time. A $2.85 billion North Terminal Development Program, completed in 2013, expanded Concourse D to 51 gates. The South Terminal, anchored by Concourse J, opened in 2007. Today the airport covers 3,300 acres with 3 terminals, 6 concourses, and 131 gates, handling over 1,000 daily flights to 195 destinations across every populated continent.