Miami International Airport had a special arrival on Father’s Day.
A mother gave birth to a baby girl inside a restroom near Gate D43. She had just arrived on an American Airlines flight from Chicago with her aunt when she went into labor, airport spokesman Greg Chin said.
The baby was born around 10:30 a.m. Sunday and was named for the airport she took her first breaths at. Welcome to the world, Mia.
The little girl was named Mia, fitting since she was welcomed to the world at MIA. Miami International Airport
“We were honored to help the mom have a safe delivery at MIA and we are proud to hear that the baby has been named Mia because of her successful ‘arrival’ at our airport,” Chin said.
The special delivery even got a shout-out from Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
“Welcome to the world, baby MIA!” Levine Cava posted on Twitter. “Grateful that mom and her new baby are doing well — and kudos to the amazing @iflyMIA terminal team, @MiamiDadePD, and @MiamiDadeFire for this special arrival.”
Michelle Marchante covers the pulse of healthcare in South Florida and also the City of Coral Gables. Before that, she covered the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, crime, education, entertainment and other topics in South Florida for the Herald as a breaking news reporter. She recently won first place in the health reporting category in the 2025 Sunshine State Awards for her coverage of Steward Health’s bankruptcy. An investigative series about the abrupt closure of a Miami heart transplant program led Michelle and her colleagues to be recognized as finalists in two 2024 Florida Sunshine State Award categories. She also won second place in the 73rd annual Green Eyeshade Awards for her consumer-focused healthcare stories and was part of the team of reporters who won a 2022 Pulitzer Prize for the Miami Herald’s breaking news coverage of the Surfside building collapse. Michelle graduated with honors from Florida International University and was a 2025 National Press Foundation Covering Workplace Mental Health fellow and a 2020-2021 Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism fellow. Support my work with a digital subscription
