September 6, 2011 - Asiana Airlines, South Korea's second-leading airline, began thrice-weekly cargo service from Seoul, South Korea to Miami International Airport (MIA) with its inaugural arrival at MIA just after midnight on September 2. 

With the addition of Asiana, MIA now has four Asian airlines operating freighter flights to the major international cargo hubs of Taipei, Seoul and Hong Kong. These hubs offer connecting cargo services to 21 destinations throughout China, MIA's leading Asian trade partner both in volume and value of goods.  

Cargo service between Asia and MIA grew from nine weekly flights in 2009 to 19 weekly flights in 2010, and cargo tonnage between MIA and Asia is up nine percent so far this year. During 2010, cargo volumes between all of Asia and MIA rose 16 percent, while trade values escalated 36 percent for a total of $3.4 billion.

Asiana Airlines Inc. is one of South Korea's two major airlines, along with Korean Air. Asiana has its headquarters in Asiana Town in Osoe-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul. The airline has its domestic hub at Gimpo International Airport and its international hub at Incheon International Airport (70 kilometres (43 mi) from central Seoul). Asiana is a member of the Star Alliance and offers 516 daily departures throughout Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania, operating 14 domestic and 85 international passenger routes and 20 cargo routes.  

In 2010, Asiana was named the airline with the best in-flight service in the world by Global Travelers magazine, which was the sixth honor for Asiana in as many years. Asiana is also rated the best airline in Northern Asia of 2010. Its MAGIC shows, food created by chefs and other unique services helped it score well with 31,500 experts, passengers and other voters. Asiana also won the prestigious Airline of the Year Award by Skytrax for 2010. Asiana Airlines is one of the seven airlines to be ranked as a 5-star airline by the independent research consultancy firm Skytrax. 

Asiana was established on 17 February 1988 and started operations in December 1988 with flights to Busan. It was formed by the Kumho Asiana Group (formerly Kumho Group) as part of the South Korean government's policy to create a second flag carrier and was originally known as Seoul Air International.

The South Korean government has given its approval for foreign ownership of the airline to increase from 20% to 50%. The airline is owned by private investors (30.53%), Kumho Industrial (29.51%), Kumho Petrochemical (15.05%), foreign investors (11.9%), Korea Development Bank (7.18%), and others (5.83%). It employs 7,799 staff (at March 2007).  

Asiana Airlines has rapidly expanded since its establishment in 1988 to become a midsized, global carrier with a fleet of 69 aircraft providing international services to 66 cities in 21 countries on 82 routes, and domestic services to 12 cities on 15 routes. In 2007, the airline had net sales of some US$3 billion.