The Route
Charter Flights from Miami to Exuma
Exuma is not one island but a chain of about 365 cays, running some 130 miles down the Bahamas south east of Miami. That length is why every aircraft we fly has its own reason here. George Town at the southern end has a long runway and the border desk, the middle cays around Staniel Cay have short strips and calm water, and the choice is which end of the chain you want to wake up on. A family with bags, a couple going for the pigs and friends heading to a boat will not pick the same one, and that is fine.
Charter flights from Miami to Exuma are private: the whole aircraft is yours and nobody else is on board. You name the hour, we set the aircraft, the crew and the field it leaves from, and both border filings are ours. Your party brings passports and a bag, per the travel documents guidance.
Four aircraft fly this route and each has its own page: a seaplane to the middle cays, a small plane to George Town, a helicopter that needs no runway and a private jet. The choice right below this block shows you the difference in one look, and if you are still unsure, ask us: we quote them side by side for your date.
Plan Your Exuma Charter
Choose Your Aircraft
Flights to Exuma: Seaplane, Small Plane, Helicopter or Private Jet
Your island escape starts with the flight. You can choose between several aircraft for a private journey to Exuma with breathtaking ocean views. Tell us your travel dates, group size and what you’re bringing. We’ll help you find the perfect aircraft for your needs and preferences.
Seaplane
Fly privately to Exuma by seaplane with exclusive water landings and direct waterfront access.
Small Plane
Fly privately to Exuma on aircraft such as the Cessna Grand Caravan, Piper Aztec or Piper Navajo.
Helicopter
Fly privately to Exuma on helicopters such as the Bell 407, Agusta 109 or Sikorsky S-76.
Private Jet
Fly privately to Exuma on Light Jet, Mid Jet or Super Mid Jet aircraft.
How It Works
How Private Charter Flights from Miami to Exuma Work
Private charter flights from Miami follow the same six steps, whatever the aircraft. Here is what every one of them includes, from the first message to the moment you are on the island.
Plan Your Exuma CharterDistance and Aircraft
Two Hundred Seventy Six Nautical Miles and Four Ways to Fly Them
Miami to George Town is about 276 nautical miles and Staniel Cay about 226, almost all of it open water. How long it takes in the air depends on the aircraft: the small plane is roughly an hour and three quarters, the others come back with the quote. Either way the islands are most of the day.
The Whole Aircraft
One Party on Board and No Seats Sold
Every flight on this page is a charter, so the cabin is yours and the departure time is the one you give us. That is the difference to a scheduled seat, and it holds for all four aircraft. A larger party simply flies a larger aircraft or a second one, and the party still travels on one booking.
Where Each One Lands
Water Beside the Cays for Floats, a Runway for Wheels
A seaplane sets down on the water beside the cay you want in the middle of the Exumas. A small plane and a jet land on the runway at Exuma International outside George Town. A helicopter needs no runway, and where it sets down is agreed with the operator before the day.
Both Borders
Passports, the Manifest and Both Borders Filed for You
Exuma International is the port of entry for the chain and Staniel Cay is not, so a flight to the middle cays clears first and flies the last leg after. Passengers carry a passport, children included, and everything else sits on our side. What counts as valid is in the travel documents guidance.
On Board and Ashore
Catering, Transfers and Occasions Set Up With the Flight
Whatever the day is for is organised before you leave: catering on board, a car or a golf cart at the other end, flowers for a birthday. A proposal or an anniversary is planned into the flight as a custom experience rather than around it.
How Long the Day Runs
Same-Day Return or Several Nights in the Exumas
A day trip works with an early start and a return in the evening, and the aircraft waits while you are in the cays. Staying longer is the same booking with a later return. Weather and delays is the only thing that moves the plan.
Departure Points
Departure Points for Private Flights to Exuma from Miami
Where your flight leaves from follows the aircraft you pick and where your party is staying. These are the four fields we use around Miami for a flight to the islands. Select one to see exactly where it sits.
Miami Executive
Miami Executive Airport, TMB, Kendall
Kendall-Tamiami, a general aviation field in the south west of the county, and the easy start for a small plane or a helicopter. Parking sits close to the ramp, so the walk to the aircraft is short. Pick it when your party is staying south or west of downtown.
Opa-locka Executive
Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, OPF
Opa-locka Executive in the north west, with private terminal handling for every aircraft on this page. Most flights to the islands are dispatched from here, and a return from the Bahamas can clear US customs in the same place. If nothing else decides it, this is where the day begins.
Miami International
Miami International Airport, MIA
Miami International as a pickup, for a party arriving on an airline that wants to go straight on to the island. Set up flight by flight and confirmed with the operator before the quote. Allow extra ground time, because a big commercial airport keeps its own pace.
Fort Lauderdale Executive
Fort Lauderdale Executive, FXE
Fort Lauderdale Executive, for a party staying in Broward or further north. It has its own federal inspection station, so a return from the islands can clear there too. The aircraft comes to you rather than you driving south to it.
How to Book
Book Miami to Exuma Flights
Booking a flight takes four steps, and only the first one is yours.
Plan Your Exuma Charter- 01
Contact Us
Write to us on WhatsApp or by email. Send your dates, how many guests, where you are coming from and which aircraft you have in mind, or tell us you are not sure yet. Tell us the hour you would like to leave and whether you come back the same day. That is all we need to start.
- 02
Get the Options Back
We check what is free on your date and send the aircraft that fit your party, side by side: seats, bags, time in the air and the price of each. That is usually where the choice between water and runway makes itself: calm water and a stay in the middle cays point one way, a load of gear or a windy forecast the other.
- 03
Confirm and Pay
You pick the aircraft, and we fix the departure point and the landing site. Then everything around the flight: catering on board, a golf cart or ground transport on the island, flowers if the day is a special one. You approve it, you pay, and the boarding time comes back to you.
- 04
Be There 30 Minutes Before
There is no terminal queue on a charter. Arrive half an hour before the time we sent, walk to the aircraft with your bags and take off.
On the Island
Where Charter Flights Miami to Exuma Put You Down
Where your flight puts you down in the Exumas depends on the aircraft. Floats end on the water in the middle cays, wheels end on the runway at George Town, and from either one a boat or a cart covers the rest. Below is what waits at each end, and what a day out there can look like.
Plan Your Exuma CharterExuma International for Runway Aircraft
Wheels Down
The small plane and the jet arrive at Exuma International outside George Town on Great Exuma, an asphalt runway of 7,051 feet a few minutes from town, with the border desk in the terminal building. Because the airport is a port of entry, the formalities happen where you step out, usually in minutes, since the crew filed everything before departure. Tell us at the enquiry if anyone travels on a passport other than a United States one. From the apron a car is waiting if you booked ground transport, and the aircraft stays parked there for your return. On a day trip that means the same walk back in the evening and no check-in at all.
The Water Beside the Middle Cays for the Seaplane
On the Water
A seaplane goes where the strips do not. It sets down on the water beside the cay you actually want in the middle of the chain, the stretch where Staniel Cay, the pigs and the grotto all are. Staniel Cay is not a port of entry, so the flight clears into the Bahamas first and flies the short last leg after, and that stop is planned in before you leave. The details are on the seaplane from Miami to Exuma page. The trade is the water and the light. A seaplane needs a calm enough surface to land and water landings only run in daylight, so on a rough morning the runway is the safer plan, and we tell you that before you book rather than on the day.
The Strip at Staniel Cay
Into the Middle CaysStaniel Cay sits in the middle of the chain, roughly fifty miles north of George Town, with an asphalt runway of 3,031 feet of its own. That is short by airport standards and enough for a small plane. It has no customs desk. Once you have cleared at George Town every leg after it is domestic, so the hop up the chain is a short flight on the same aircraft rather than a second international arrival. Almost everything the middle Exumas are known for is a short boat run from that strip, and a cart or a boat can wait at the end of it. The Staniel Cay page covers the island itself.
George Town and Elizabeth Harbour
The Southern End
George Town is the working town of the southern chain and a short drive from the apron, with a harbour that fills with cruising boats and one road that does most of the work. Elizabeth Harbour runs along the front of it, with Stocking Island lying across the water. The ferry over takes minutes, and the beaches on the ocean side are why most people make the trip. What else there is to do is on the Exuma destination page. If you want a table waiting when you land, add a fly and dine day, and anything unusual goes to custom requests. The harbour is a port of entry by water as well, so a boat can meet you here on the same paperwork the aircraft cleared on, which is how a lot of parties start a week on the water.
Flying Over the Cays
Seen From Above
The last part of the flight is the best part. The deep blue of the open water breaks into the pale bank, and from a low flying aircraft the cays, the sandbars and the channels between them lie in a line under the wing. The sunken aircraft off Norman's Cay, lying in about ten feet of clear water at the top of the chain, is one of the sights on the way in. It is one of the reasons people ask for scenic flights on the approach. Ask the crew to come in low over the cays if the day allows, and have a camera ready on the side facing the bank.
Swimming Pigs, Thunderball Grotto and Nurse Sharks
Exuma's Signature SwimSwimming with the pigs is the experience most guests fly to Exuma for. They live on Big Major Cay, an uninhabited island a few minutes by boat from Staniel Cay, and they swim out to meet the boats in the shallows. Thunderball Grotto is a hollow cay just off Staniel with light coming through the roof, swum at slack water, and at Compass Cay a little further north the nurse sharks come in around the dock in knee deep water. A beach picnic on a sandbar fits into the same afternoon. None of the three has a strip, so they are boat stops from Staniel Cay rather than places an aircraft goes. A day that wants all three is a full one, so say so at the enquiry and the flight is timed around it.
Bags, Gear and Payload by Aircraft
What Each One Carries
What you can bring is a question of weight, and every aircraft answers it differently. Floats carry less than wheels, a helicopter less again, and a jet the most. Golf clubs, dive tanks, rods, a cooler for the boat: tell us at the enquiry and the right aircraft comes back with the quote. The baggage guidance explains the trade between passengers and weight. Anything bigger than luggage travels as island logistics instead. The simple rule: the more you carry, the more the runway at George Town makes sense, and the lighter you travel, the more the water landing in the middle cays becomes the easy choice.
Onward Through the Bahamas From Exuma
Domestic After Exuma
Exuma also works as part of a longer trip. Once you have cleared in at George Town, every leg after it stays inside the Bahamas. The same charter can carry on to Staniel Cay, Nassau, Harbour Island, Andros or Grand Bahama. That is how one island becomes island hopping or a Bahamas day. The ready-made version of a single day is the Exuma getaway day trip, and the rest of the islands are on the Bahamas destinations page.
Ready When You Are
Ready to Book Charter Flights to Exuma from Miami?
Send your date, the number of guests and the aircraft you are leaning towards. You get back what is free, what each option costs and when it can leave, and nothing is booked until you say so.
Add-Ons
Charter Flight to Exuma Add-Ons
Name the ones you want when you send your dates and they are priced together with the flight.
In Detail
Flights from Miami to Exuma: What to Know Before You Fly
Everything above is the day. What follows is the detail behind flights from Miami to Exuma: what the crossing looks like, who sets the hour, who files the border and what people fly over to mark. Other flights to the Bahamas work the same way, only further.
Miami to Exuma Charter Flights: Four Ways Over the Gulf Stream
The same water down to the chain seen from four different aircraft
The crossing is not dead time between two airports, whichever aircraft you take. Leaving the coast, the water turns from harbour green to the deep blue of the Gulf Stream, and on the far side the bank comes up turquoise in a single line. How you see it depends on the aircraft. A seaplane and a helicopter stay low enough to read the water, and the helicopter has glass on every side. A small plane gives everybody a window. A private jet climbs over the weather and turns the crossing into a short hop. On a clear morning the sunken aircraft off Norman's Cay shows up in the shallows at the top of the chain, wings and all. That is why charter flights to Exuma from Miami double as scenic flights for anybody sitting by a window. The flats and the sandbars on the bank side are just as clear, and so is the dark line where the reef starts. Nobody on board has to lean over a stranger to see it, because the whole cabin belongs to your party. An afternoon return shows the same water in a lower light, so the way home is a second view, not a repeat, with the cays turning gold one after another under the wing.
Private Flights to Exuma from Miami: You Decide the Departure Time
Your hour, your names and a charter flight to Exuma
Private flights to Exuma from Miami have no timetable. The day is built around the hour you name, not around a departure board. You pick the hour you want to lift off, the hour you want to be on the island and the one you want to be home, and the whole plan is built backwards from those three times. The aircraft is held for your party, so a change a few days before is a message to us. Half an hour before departure is the whole check-in. Your party walks from the car to the aircraft, the bags go on in front of you and the only names on the list are yours. The same freedom holds on the way back. If lunch runs long or the water is too good to leave, the aircraft waits, and the hour home moves with you instead of a gate closing on you. A day trip and a long weekend on the island are planned the same way: three times from you, one aircraft held for your party and nobody else's schedule anywhere in the day. A morning departure puts you on the sand before the heat builds, and an evening return has you back in Miami for dinner. Every hour in between belongs to your party and to nobody else.
Miami to Exuma Flights: The Crew Handles Both Borders
Passports are all your party carries on an Exuma crossing
Miami to Exuma flights cross an international border twice in one day, and that is the part that goes wrong when nobody prepares it. The Bahamas asks for a declaration filed from Florida, clearance at a port of entry on arrival and a US return filed before you head home. Exuma International at George Town is the port of entry for the chain, so a flight to the middle cays clears there first and flies the last leg after. The crew files all of it. Your party carries a valid passport and nothing else, children included, per the travel documents guidance. What may travel is in the baggage guidance. A name added or dropped before the day is a message to us, and a departure moved by weather runs under the weather and delays policy. Coming home works the same way in reverse. The return is filed before you leave the island, and the aircraft lands where the United States can clear you, which is part of the plan we send with the quote. None of this is paperwork your party fills in at a counter. The passport list is all we need from you, and we send it on with the filings before the day, so nothing waits for you at the desk. If a detail changes on the day, the crew updates the filing.
Charter Flights Miami to Exuma: Milestone Days and Bahamas Weekends
A day trip, a long weekend or something to celebrate in the Exumas
Most people who fly over mark something. Charter flights Miami to Exuma are booked for a birthday, a proposal, an anniversary or a weekend away with the people who matter, and the islands are worth the flight, so the occasion stays the point of the day. Some parties fly over for the day and are home for dinner, others stay a few nights and book the return for the day they want. The whole party travels together on one booking. If there is something to celebrate, say so when you book: catering, a private chef and flowers travel with you, set up before you board. The date comes first and the aircraft is planned around it, so a dinner booking or a boat leaving at a set hour decides when you fly, not the other way round. Tell us the occasion and the number of guests with your date, and the quote comes back with the aircraft, the hours and whatever you asked to have on board, ready for you to confirm with one reply.
Questions
Charter Flights to Exuma from Miami: Questions Answered
How long is the flight from Miami to Exuma?
George Town at the southern end of Exuma is about 276 nautical miles from Miami and Staniel Cay in the middle about 226. A small plane covers the way to George Town in roughly an hour and three quarters in the air.
For a seaplane, a helicopter or a jet the time depends on the aircraft and the field you leave from, and it comes back with the quote. What really sets the length of the day is the border on both sides and which cay you are going to.
What is the best way to get to Exuma?
It depends on where in the chain you want to end up and what you carry. A seaplane sets down on the water beside the middle cays, close to Staniel Cay and the pigs.
A small plane or a jet lands on the runway at George Town and handles more weight and rougher water. A helicopter needs no runway at all. We quote the options side by side so you can compare. A seat on a scheduled flight is the other way in, on somebody else's timetable.
Do I need a passport to fly to Exuma?
Yes, every passenger needs one, children included. The Bahamas is another country, and a private aircraft does not change that. We take the passport details once when you enquire and file the manifest for both sides before departure.
The travel documents page lists what each passenger sends and by when, including the cases that need more notice. Nothing else has to be printed or carried.
Can a plane land in Exuma?
Yes, in more than one place. Exuma International outside George Town has an asphalt runway of 7,051 feet and the border desk, so a small plane or a jet lands and clears in the same building.
Staniel Cay in the middle of the chain has a shorter strip of its own, and a seaplane can land on the water beside the cays. Staniel Cay has no customs, so a flight there clears first and flies the last leg after. Which suits your day is the first thing we answer.
Where does the flight land in Exuma?
That depends on the aircraft. Runway aircraft land at Exuma International, a few minutes from George Town, Elizabeth Harbour and the ferry to Stocking Island. A seaplane sets down on the water in the middle cays, near Staniel Cay, Big Major Cay and Thunderball Grotto. Where a helicopter sets down is agreed with the operator before the day.
Can you take a day trip to Exuma?
Yes, with an early start. On a charter the aircraft waits for you, so the return is set by you and not by a timetable. Out in the morning, back in the evening, with both borders handled.
Water landings only run in daylight, which is part of how the day is planned. If you would rather stay a night or two, tell us when you enquire and the return is planned for that day. Many guests try a day trip first and come back later for a longer stay.
How much baggage can we take?
It is a question of weight, not of the number of bags, and it differs by aircraft. Floats carry less than wheels, and a jet carries the most. Say what is coming when you enquire, including golf clubs, dive gear, rods and anything with a battery, and the answer comes back with the quote rather than at the aircraft.
On a crossing this long the fuel takes a larger share of the payload, so it pays to tell us early. If the load decides it, the aircraft is chosen around what you bring, not the other way round.
Is Exuma good for families?
It suits families well: the water in the cays is shallow and clear, and the swimming pigs at Big Major Cay are the stop children talk about for years. Children need passports like everybody else.
On a charter there is no terminal and no queue, which is usually what makes the difference with small children. The boat runs from Staniel Cay to the pigs, the grotto and the sharks at Compass Cay are short, so one afternoon covers all three.
Can we fly on to another island from Exuma afterwards?
Yes. Once you have cleared into the Bahamas at Exuma International, every leg after it is domestic. The same aircraft can carry on up the chain to Staniel Cay, or on to Nassau and Eleuthera, as long as the next island has a place for it to land.
Tell us the shape of the whole trip when you enquire and it is quoted as one booking. Where the next stop only has water to land on, that leg switches to a seaplane.
What happens if the weather is bad on the day?
Every aircraft handles weather differently. A seaplane needs calm enough water to land, a small plane and a jet use the runway and a jet can climb above much of it.
If conditions are below what is safe, the crew moves or cancels the flight and the weather and delays policy says what that means for your booking. That call is always the crew's, and on a crossing this long a later hour the same day often solves it.
Is a charter cheaper than a scheduled flight?
No, and it is not meant to be. A scheduled seat is cheaper because someone else picked the time and you share the aircraft. A charter buys you the aircraft: your departure, your return, your party only.
On a day trip that usually means several more hours in the cays, and no waiting in a terminal on either side of the water, which is the comparison worth making.
We send the price for the whole aircraft, so you can split it across your party and compare fairly. Tell us what matters most, the time in the islands, the landing point or the budget, and we suggest the aircraft that fits it best.
Can I bring a pet on a charter flight?
Yes, pets travel in the cabin with you. The one thing we ask is that you tell us at the enquiry, with the type of animal and its weight, so the seating and the load plan are right from the start.
Next Step
Ready to Book Miami to Exuma Charter Flights?
Send your date, the number of guests and where you are leaving from. You get back the aircraft that fit, the boarding time and what the whole day costs, before anything is booked.
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