Flying Private Into Miami: What to Know Before the Season Starts

Miami feels different once winter sets in elsewhere. By November, seasonal residents are back, restaurant tables are harder to secure and private aircraft are arriving from New York, the Caribbean and farther afield.

For anyone flying privately to Miami, the city runs on a different airport map. Miami International may be the name everyone knows, but it is often not where private passengers land.

Which airport private jets use in Miami

Miami International is the big commercial airport. Its private terminal sits on the north side of the field, and using the airport can make sense when the trip also involves an airline connection.

Miami-Opa Locka Executive is about half an hour north of downtown and has no scheduled airline service. In arrivals data since 2020 from Global Charter, a Miami-based private jet brokerage, 88% of the company’s Miami arrivals landed there. Opa Locka was also the seventh busiest private jet airport in the United States in 2025.

Where you are staying often settles the question. Opa Locka works well for Miami Beach, Bal Harbour and Fisher Island. For addresses farther south, Miami Executive can be worth the extra look.

Where Miami’s private flights come from

More private flights arrive in Miami from New York than from any other city. They leave from Teterboro, a private airport just across the river from Manhattan, and the flight from New York to Miami takes around 2 hours 40 minutes.

The Caribbean outweighs all of them. Nassau, in the Bahamas, is under an hour away by air and sent more flights into Miami than Teterboro did. Providenciales, in the Turks and Caicos, is about two hours out and close behind. St Maarten is there because it is the airport for St Barths, whose own runway is too short for most jets.

Nassau means Albany and Lyford Cay, two private residential communities on the island. Providenciales means Grace Bay and the resorts around it. In both cases Miami is a stop rather than the destination, a few days in the city before the islands or a night on the way back to New York or London, and the reason that routing works is customs. Opa Locka has a US Customs and Border Protection office on the airport, so anyone arriving from the islands clears back into the country in a few minutes beside the aircraft, rather than in a commercial arrivals hall.

When to fly private to Miami

The season runs from November to April. February and March are the busiest months in the arrivals data, once winter residents are settled and traffic between the Northeast, Miami and the islands is at its steadiest.

Art Basel Miami Beach, in the first week of December, draws collectors, galleries and visitors from around the world. Hotels become harder to secure, restaurant reservations tighten and the causeways slow as the week builds. For private aircraft, parking becomes the bigger problem. A jet may be able to drop passengers at the preferred airport but have nowhere to stay until the return flight, and when that happens it has to reposition to another airport with space.

Formula 1 brings another rush in May. The Miami International Autodrome sits at the Hard Rock Stadium complex in Miami Gardens, particularly close to Opa Locka.

Then summer arrives. Miami slows down without emptying, and for anyone flying privately into the city, the same three airports simply change roles with the season.

Disclaimer: Written in partnership with APG.