Business has been blooming at Miami International Airport in the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, with the cargo gateway projecting that more than 1,500 tons of cut flowers will arrive daily between January 1 and the end of February – a 3% increase over the airport’s record-breaking peak season in 2024. America’s largest gateway for flowers, which welcomes 91% of all imports by air to the U.S., expects to receive 90,154 tons of cut flowers valued at more than $400 million during this year’s Valentine’s Day rush.
Flowers continue to be MIA’s largest imported product by weight, accounting for 359,396 tons annually worth $1.65 billion. MIA benefits from having the nation’s most extensive air route network with Colombia and Ecuador, the two top flower-producing countries in the region that account for approximately 86% of all flowers imported to the U.S. by air. Twelve cargo airlines provide freighter service from Colombia, and nine airlines have freighter service from Ecuador. Additionally, four airlines operate passenger flights carrying belly cargo from Colombia, while two passenger airlines carry belly cargo from Ecuador.