Fly Private to Miami: Your Private Jet Travel Guide

A good Miami trip begins long before you see the shoreline. The aircraft you choose, the airport you land at, and the way your crew sequences customs and ground transport will decide whether your first hour feels like vacation or logistics. This guide distills what matters for private flyers headed to South Florida, with a special focus on winter and early‑spring peak weeks like Art Basel Miami Beach and the boat show, plus a clear read on which airports make the most sense when you care about both schedule and comfort.

Private jets to Miami: choosing the right airport

Opa‑locka Executive is the workhorse for most private arrivals. It sits north of the city with easy runs to Miami Beach, Wynwood, Bal Harbour, and the stadium district. OPF’s main runway measures 8,002 feet, long enough for large‑cabin jets, and the tower operates from early morning into late evening. U.S. Customs and Border Protection processes international arrivals daily, typically from 9 a.m. to midnight, with landing‑rights procedures and extended hours available by arrangement. That combination of runway, hours, and on‑field CBP is why OPF is the default choice for many Miami trips.

Miami International is open around the clock and has a dedicated General Aviation Center for private flights. If you are arriving from overseas on a long‑range cabin, or if your plans are tied to meetings on airport‑adjacent campuses, MIA’s 24/7 posture can be compelling. The tradeoff is airline congestion and longer taxi flows, so it pays to time arrivals and departures outside the busiest banked periods when possible.

Fort Lauderdale Executive sits north of the county line and serves as a fast, GA‑only field with its own CBP facility. FXE often shines when Art Basel, a major concert weekend, or a race day compresses capacity closer to the beach. Customs typically operates seven days a week until midnight, which keeps late‑evening overseas returns realistic without detouring through a commercial terminal.

Fort Lauderdale‑Hollywood International is a commercial airport that also supports private traffic through FBOs and a general aviation terminal. It is a strong play for Broward meetings or yacht itineraries out of Port Everglades, and it can act as a pressure valve when Miami ramps are saturated. Coordination with your handler is essential, since airline peaks drive ramp posture and roadway access.

Miami Executive, south of downtown, is useful for travelers based in Pinecrest, Coral Gables, or the Upper Keys. CBP clears international general aviation by permission to land, with published windows most days. That makes KTMB a smart choice for Caribbean or Latin American hops when you prefer to base south of the city and still keep customs on field.

Palm Beach International sits farther north but offers long runways, multiple FBOs, and a full‑time port of entry. On peak Miami weeks, some clients stage at PBI for predictable parking and then drive or helicopter into the city. If a storm or a capacity crunch complicates the plan, PBI is often the most stable fallback.

Peak weeks in Miami: Art Basel, boat show, and a year that never sleeps

Art Basel Miami Beach is the city’s signature early winter moment. The 2025 edition runs December 5 to 7 at the Miami Beach Convention Center, with Miami Art Week programming across the city that same week. Hotels book out, traffic patterns change, and airport ramps fill with visiting aircraft. If Basel is on your calendar, reserve parking and handlers early and pair OPF with a second plan at FXE or PBI so your schedule cannot be held hostage by a last‑minute surge.

A few weeks later, boats take over. The Discover Boating Miami International Boat Show returns February 11 to 15, 2026, with venues split between Miami Beach and downtown. For marina‑centric agendas, combining OPF or MIA with a car service that knows the show zones is usually smoother than chasing last‑minute dock passes.

Looking ahead, the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix is scheduled for May 1 to 3, 2026 at the Miami International Autodrome in Miami Gardens. That is OPF’s backyard. Expect special event procedures, peak evening movements, and road closures near Hard Rock Stadium. The best strategy is to lock ramp reservations and car staging early, then keep a light buffer on race‑day departures.

Miami private jet airport cheat sheet

• OPF Opa‑locka Executive: 8,002‑foot main runway, daily CBP, ideal access to Miami Beach, Wynwood, and stadium district.

• MIA Miami International: 24/7 General Aviation Center, best for long‑haul and round‑the‑clock entries.

• FXE Fort Lauderdale Executive: GA‑only efficiency with CBP on field, useful relief during Basel and other peaks.

• FLL Fort Lauderdale‑Hollywood International: Commercial hub with FBO access, convenient for Port Everglades.

• KTMB Miami Executive: South‑county base with landing‑rights customs by prior permission.

• PBI Palm Beach International: Long‑runway alternate with full CBP and multiple FBOs when you need predictability.

Customs, paperwork, and ground timing in Miami

International arrivals are simplest when you clear at an airport that aligns with your ground plan. OPF offers daily CBP hours with extended arrangements possible. MIA’s General Aviation Center operates round the clock, which is valuable for overnight entries from Europe or South America. FXE’s published hours run to midnight most days, and KTMB handles arrivals under permission‑to‑land procedures within its CBP window. Your advisor should tie the permit request to your wheels‑down time and confirm officer availability before you leave the departure country. That one call is the difference between a quiet ramp walk and an unexpected detour.

On the ground, event weeks reward precise sequencing. Basel and Miami Art Week add traffic to both sides of the bay, and the city has leaned on shuttles and water taxis in recent years to ease congestion. Even with those efforts, curb‑to‑curb can slow at predictable choke points, so a driver who knows back routes around the convention center and the causeways will save more time than any last‑minute shortcut.

A winter and spring Miami arc that flows

A clean sequence looks like this. Basel in early December with OPF as the primary and FXE on warm standby. A quieter January beach weekend that leans on TMB for Gables‑area stays or OPF for the Beach. Boat Show in mid‑February with a MIA or OPF base depending on where your docks sit. A May F1 weekend with OPF locked early and your driver briefed on road closures. Each leg pairs an airport, a customs plan, and a curb strategy that respects how Miami actually moves during peak weeks.

How Just Landed Jets plans a Miami arrival that feels easy

Our team maps your dates against airport hours, CBP windows, and forecasted event traffic. We place you at OPF, MIA, FXE, or KTMB based on your venues, not a generic radius on a map. We hold alternates at PBI or FLL for Basel and boat show weeks, reserve parking and tow positions early, and align drivers to the ramp door with routes that avoid predictable choke points.

The result is a Miami trip that reads like leisure even when it is threaded through packed evenings and full days. Tell us your cities, your headcount, and the rooms you want to be in. We will turn that into a flight plan that makes the first hour in Miami feel like it should.