Flights Moved To Other Terminals

This holiday season, things are going to be a little different at Miami International Airport. Despite a swell of passengers returning to Latin America for the holidays, the Airport will make do without Concourse A.

The concourse is closed for construction, according to the South Florida Business Journal. The closure is meant expedite the airport's $2.7 billion North Terminal Development (NTD) program.

The concourse's main tenants -- including American Airlines, which usually flies to South America from A -- have been moved to the Central and South terminals.

Airline officials say the shift is worth it, to get the NTD program off the ground -- after waiting for 10 years to get started.

Two years ago, American Airlines handed over control of the NTD construction contract and canned its general contractor, Turner-Austin Airport Team, stalling progress on the undertaking. Parsons-Odebrecht Joint Venture (POJV) has assumed the 3.2 million-square-foot project and reports 600 workers are inside the North Terminal.

"We have more than 100 contractors mobilized, and we're ramping up in the field," Odebrecht Construction CEO Gilberto Neves said. "This is a very fast-paced project, so by the middle of next year, we should be close to our peak [of 1,500 workers] and, from there, we'll stay stable all the way to the end."

A similar refurbishing program was just completed at MIA's South Terminal. The NTD project is due to wrap up in 2011.

FMI: www.miami-airport.com/