The Crossing
Small Plane Flights Miami to Little Palm Island
Little Palm Island has no runway, so a small plane brings you down to the Lower Keys and the last stretch is done on the water. Five acres off Little Torch Key, no road onto it and no cars on it. It is reached from a shore station on the highway by a launch of about fifteen minutes, however you arrive in the Keys.
The two runways that matter are at Marathon and at Key West, both a short drive from that shore station at mile marker 28.5. Marathon is at mile marker 52 with an asphalt strip of 5,008 feet. Key West is at the bottom of the chain with 5,076 feet and the busier ramp. The island itself calls that a forty minute drive north.
Everything between the two ends is ours: the departure point in Miami, the aircraft, the crew and, if you want it, the car that meets the aircraft on the ramp. Your party brings a bag.
The day is shorter than the map suggests. It is one of several small plane routes out of the city, and what waits at the far end is on the island page. If you would rather be set down on the water beside the island than drive the last stretch, that is a seaplane, a different aircraft and a different page.
Plan Your Little Palm Island Charter
How It Works
How a Small Plane Charter Miami to Little Palm Island Actually Works
A day here has three legs and only the first one is flown: the aircraft down the chain, a car along the highway, a launch across the harbour. None of the three is yours to organise.
The short version: you leave a general aviation ramp in Miami, you land at Marathon or Key West, a car takes you to the shore station at mile marker 28.5 and the launch does the rest.
Plan Your Little Palm Island CharterThe Runway
The runway is in the Keys rather than on the island, and that shapes the day
There is nowhere to put wheels down on Little Palm Island itself. It is five acres with no road and no cars, so every arrival ends on the water. What a land plane buys you is the first hundred miles: a paved strip at the far end, an apron, and a car that is already there when the propeller stops.
Which Field
Marathon is the shorter drive and Key West is the larger ramp
Marathon sits at mile marker 52, which is about twenty-three miles up the highway from the shore station. Key West sits at the bottom of the chain and the island describes that drive as forty minutes north.
Marathon is the shorter road and the shorter flight, Key West has more handling on the ground. The crew picks between them for your date and tells you which at the quote.
Leaving Miami
Leaving Miami is a ramp and a boarding time rather than a terminal
You arrive at the departure point close to the boarding time, not two hours before it. There is no check-in desk, no security queue and no gate, because a charter departs from a general aviation ramp. Bags go from the car to the aircraft in front of you, which is the part most people notice first.
The Highway
The drive down the Overseas Highway is the middle leg and it is a short one
From either field the road is one road: US 1 across the bridges, with the water on both sides for most of it. The shore station is at 28500 Overseas Highway on Little Torch Key, and the mile markers make the distance easy to read off. Ground transport is arranged with the flight and sits on the same quote, or you can drive it yourself if you would rather.
The Launch
The launch from the shore station crosses to the island in about fifteen minutes
The island runs its own boat from the shore station on a published schedule through the day, and the crossing takes roughly a quarter of an hour over shallow, protected water. That is the same last step for every guest, whichever way they reached the Keys. We plan the landing so the drive meets a departure rather than waits for one.
The Block
The aircraft is held for your block, so a Little Palm Island day is not a timetable
On a charter the airframe is yours for the day, so the return is set by you rather than by a schedule. Guests who stay a night tell us at the enquiry and the aircraft is planned around it. Nothing about the day is shared with anybody else's plans, on the ground or in the air.
Departure Points
Departure Points for Small Plane Flights to Little Palm Island from Miami
A small plane uses short fields that a jet cannot, so the departure point is chosen for your ground time. These are the four we use around Miami. Select one to see exactly where it sits.
Miami Executive
Miami Executive Airport, TMB, Kendall
Kendall-Tamiami in the south west of the county and the field both small planes sit at, the land aircraft and the amphibian. A charter that starts here starts without a positioning leg, which is what decides an early morning on a same day return. It is also the shortest drive from the south and west of the county.
Opa-locka Executive
Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, OPF
The executive airport north west of the city, with private terminal handling and the point most Bahamas day trips are dispatched from. That makes it the default on a Bahamas day unless the drive is against you.
Miami International
Miami International Airport, MIA
A pickup rather than a base, for a party already at MIA that wants the onward leg to leave from the same airport. Arranged per flight and confirmed with the operator before it is quoted. It costs ground time, because a commercial field moves on its own schedule.
Fort Lauderdale Executive
Fort Lauderdale Executive, FXE
Fort Lauderdale Executive, the Broward departure, with its own federal inspection station for the return from the islands. The usual choice when the group is north of Miami and the drive south would cost more time than the flight saves. The return clears there as readily as it does at Opa-locka.
How to Charter
Charter a Small Plane from Miami to Little Palm Island
Chartering an aircraft is not booking a seat. There are four steps, and only the first one is yours.
Plan Your Little Palm Island Charter- 01
Contact Us
Write to us on WhatsApp or by email. Send your dates, how many guests, where you are coming from and where you want to travel. Tell us the hour you would like to leave.
A small plane runs airport to airport, so for Little Palm Island we land in the Keys and carry the last stretch by road and boat. With a seaplane we can put you on the water instead.
- 02
Get Aircraft and Prices Back
We check what is free on your date and send the small planes that fit. Seats, baggage and flight time for each one. Every aircraft costs a little differently, so we can find the best fit for you.
- 03
Confirm and Pay
You pick the aircraft, and we set the departure point and the field in the Keys. Then everything around the flight. Catering on board, a car waiting when you land, the drive down to the shore station timed to a launch. Flowers if the day is a special one. You approve it, you pay, and your boarding time, departure point and everything included come back to you.
- 04
Just Arrive 30 Minutes Early
You will have no terminal and no queue. Just make sure you are there 30 minutes before. Then you take off, land in the Keys, and the rest of the day is already arranged.
On the Island
Where a Miami to Little Palm Island Small Plane Puts You Down
The aircraft puts you on a paved runway in the Lower Keys, at Marathon or at Key West, and from there the day is a short drive and a shorter boat. The island has no strip of its own, so this is where a land plane hands over.
What follows is what parties actually do with the hours in between, in the order the day happens in.
Plan Your Little Palm Island CharterWhere a Small Plane From Miami Puts You Down in the Keys
Where You LandThe Florida Keys Marathon International Airport sits at mile marker 52 with a single asphalt runway of 5,008 feet running roughly east to west, water close on both sides. It is the nearest paved strip to Little Torch Key and the shortest drive at the end of the flight, about twenty-three miles down one road.
It is a small field with a general aviation ramp and a terminal you walk across rather than through, so a charter arrival here takes minutes. Nothing stands between the wheels stopping and the car pulling away.
From the apron a car takes the Overseas Highway south. That drive is the reason the departure hour in Miami matters: we plan the landing so it meets a launch rather than waits for one, and ground transport is arranged with the flight if you want it.
Key West as the Other Way In to Little Palm Island
The Bigger Ramp
Key West International sits at the bottom of the chain with a runway of 5,076 feet and considerably more happening on the ground: more handling, more aircraft and more cars waiting. The island itself points guests here and calls it a forty minute drive north. Which of the two fields is right depends on the date and on what else the day contains.
A party that wants a night in Key West on either side of the island is better off landing there. A party that wants the shortest possible road takes Marathon. The crew chooses between them for your date and you are told which at the quote rather than on the morning. Both are ordinary landings for this aircraft and neither is a compromise.
The Drive to Little Palm Island's Shore Station at Mile Marker 28.5
The Middle Leg
The island's welcome station is at 28500 Overseas Highway on Little Torch Key, and the mile marker in the address is also the distance: US 1 counts down from Miami to Key West and 28.5 is exactly where you stop.
It is one road across a run of bridges with shallow green water on the Gulf side and darker blue on the Atlantic side, so the middle leg of the day is not a chore. From Marathon it is a little over twenty minutes of driving, from Key West around forty.
You can drive it yourself from either field or have a car waiting on the ramp. Guests who would rather have no road in the day at all fly the same route by seaplane and come down on the water instead.
The Launch Across to Little Palm Island
Fifteen Minutes
From the shore station a boat runs across to the island in about fifteen minutes over shallow, protected water. It goes on a published schedule through the day, which makes it the only timetable anywhere in a day that is otherwise entirely yours.
That is the reason the landing is planned backwards from it. Arriving at the dock five minutes after a departure is the one avoidable way to lose half an hour, and it is our job rather than yours to make sure it does not happen.
The crossing itself is short enough to be a pleasure rather than a transfer: flats on both sides, birds on the banks and the island appearing as a line of palms that does not look like it belongs to the same country as the highway you just left.
Little Palm Island Itself
Five Acres
Five acres of sand and palms with no bridge to it, no road on it and no cars. Everything is walked. The resort that occupies the whole island is adults only and says so plainly, which is unusual enough in the Keys to be the reason a lot of people choose it.
What there is to do once you are across is the island's own subject rather than the flight's, and the Little Palm Island destination page covers it properly. Guests who want a table held before they land add a fly and dine day and anything outside the usual list goes to custom requests.
Looe Key, Minutes From Little Palm Island
Snorkel Depth
Looe Key sits about four nautical miles south of the island, marked by a light you can see from the water. It is part of the reef tract that runs the length of the Keys and it is shallow enough that snorkellers and divers are looking at the same coral heads from different depths.
From the air on the way in it reads as a darker line in clear water, which is one of the things worth having a window seat for. Boats run out to it from Little Torch Key and the neighbouring keys through the day.
What a Small Plane Carries That Floats Will Not
What Wheels Carry
This is the part of the day a paved runway changes most. Load on a small aircraft is a weight question rather than a bag count, and a wheeled airframe has more of it to give than floats do. Dive gear, rods, a cooler, a case of something for the table: all of it travels, within the payload for the aircraft on the day.
Say what is coming at the enquiry rather than at the ramp, and see the baggage guidance for how the trade between passengers and weight actually works. Anything larger than luggage is a different service on the same runway and that is island logistics rather than a charter with extra bags.
Onward Down the Keys by Small Plane
Same Aircraft
Little Palm Island works as one stop in a longer run rather than the whole day, and adding a leg to it costs nothing but flying time. The same airframe carries on to Key West at the end of the chain, back up to Islamorada and Key Largo, or west across open water to the Dry Tortugas.
That is what turns one island into island hopping rather than a there and back. The packaged version of a single day is the Little Palm Island getaway and the rest of the chain is on the Florida Keys destinations page.
Ready When You Are
Ready to Book a Small Plane Charter from Miami to Little Palm Island?
Send the departure point, the number of guests and from when to when. You get back what is free on your dates, the boarding time and what the day costs, before anything is booked.
Add-Ons
Small Plane Flights to Little Palm Island Add-Ons
Tell us which of these you want when you send your dates and they go on the same quote as the flight.
In Detail
Small Plane Miami to Little Palm Island: The Runway, the Highway and the Launch
Everything above is the day. What follows is the detail: the strip at the far end, the road, the fifteen minutes on the launch and what charter changes about a flight down the Keys.
Miami to Little Palm Island by Small Plane: Flying Low Over the Reef and the Flats
A window each on a Miami to Little Palm Island small plane
The crossing is not dead time between two airports. A small plane crosses low enough to see what is under it, so the water is part of the day rather than something to sit through. The island lies about 109 statute miles from downtown Miami, 95 nautical and nearly all of that is open water and low green keys. The Keys unroll under the wing as a thin line of bridges with Florida Bay pale and shallow on one side and the deeper blue of the Straits on the other, and the colour changes are the whole point of sitting by the window. Three of the four sit well inside the county, which is the part that decides how early the morning starts: a field twenty minutes from the house is worth more than five minutes of flight time saved in the air. Every seat is a window seat on an aircraft this size, and the same is true of scenic flights of this size, so nobody watches the crossing over someone's shoulder. Other small plane routes from Miami fly the same way.
Small Plane to Little Palm Island from Miami: You Decide the Departure Time
Your hour, your names and a small plane to Little Palm Island
Nobody hands you a timetable on a charter. The day is built around the hour you name. You name the hour you want to lift off, the hour you want to be standing on Little Palm Island and which water in the city suits your morning. The aircraft belongs to your party for the day, so all three are your decision rather than a departure somebody else set, and a change the week before is a message to us. If the drive is shorter the other way, the same day runs out of Fort Lauderdale. Half an hour before the lift-off is the whole of the check-in. Your party walks from the car to the aircraft, the bags go on in front of you, and the list for that flight carries your names and nobody else's. Nothing about the morning waits on a stranger. And the crossing is a reason in itself. The windows are deep and the aircraft crosses low, so there is room for everybody to sit and watch the water change instead of taking turns at one of them.
Small Plane Charter to Little Palm Island from Miami: Nothing to File, Nothing to Carry
No customs and no check-in desk on a Little Palm Island charter
A small plane from Miami to Little Palm Island stays inside Florida, so there is no border to clear and no paperwork anybody has to file. The flight never leaves the country, so there is no declaration, no port of entry and no passport check at either end. Your party needs photo identification and nothing more. Everything around the flight is settled from our side before your party arrives, from the slot at both ends to the handling on the ramp. Chartered whole, no shared cabin, no seat allocation and no other names on the manifest. What may travel sits in the baggage guidance. A departure moved by weather runs under the weather and delays policy, and a name added or dropped before the flight is a message to us rather than a problem for you.
Small Plane Miami Little Palm Island: Milestone Days and Florida Weekends
A day trip, a weekend or a celebration on Little Palm Island
A private small plane from Miami to Little Palm Island is booked when the day is worth marking: a birthday, a proposal, a graduation, a weekend away with the people who matter. The flight is short enough that the occasion, not the travelling, is what the day is about. That is what a small plane Miami Little Palm Island charter is for. Three of the four sit well inside the county, which is the part that decides how early the morning starts: a field twenty minutes from the house is worth more than five minutes of flight time saved in the air. Some parties fly over for the day and are home the same evening. Others stay on and book the return for the day they want. Both are the same charter, and the whole group travels together on one booking. If there is something to celebrate, say so when you book: catering, a private chef, premium beverages and flowers travel with you. Everything is in place before you board in Miami.
Questions
Small Plane Charter Miami to Little Palm Island: Questions Answered
Can a plane land on Little Palm Island?
No. The island is five acres off Little Torch Key with no runway, no bridge and no cars, and the resort on it states that the only ways in are by boat or on the water.
A small plane lands in the Lower Keys instead, at Marathon or Key West, and a car and the island launch cover the last stretch. A seaplane is the only aircraft that reaches the island itself.
How do you get from Miami to Little Palm Island?
Three legs and one booking. The aircraft flies you down the chain to Marathon or Key West, a car runs along the Overseas Highway to the shore station at mile marker 28.5, and the island's launch crosses in about fifteen minutes. The three legs are quoted and timed together rather than as separate bookings. The alternative is a seaplane straight onto the water.
Where does the small plane actually land?
At one of two fields. Marathon is at mile marker 52 with an asphalt runway of 5,008 feet, which is the shorter drive at about twenty-three miles.
Key West is at the bottom of the chain with 5,076 feet and the larger general aviation ramp, and the island itself describes that as a forty minute drive north. The crew picks between them for your date and you are told which at the quote.
How long is the flight from Miami to the Lower Keys?
Short enough that the drive at the far end is a real part of the day. Marathon is under eighty nautical miles from Miami in a straight line and Key West is a little over a hundred, which on this type is well inside an hour either way.
The block time depends on the aircraft and which field you leave from, and it comes back with the boarding time before you book.
What is the best way to get to Little Palm Island?
It depends on whether you want the drive. A seaplane comes down on the water beside the island and skips the road entirely.
A small plane lands on a paved strip, which is dependable when the water is rough and carries far more luggage and freight, and costs you a short drive and a launch. Driving the whole way from Miami takes most of the day. We quote the first two against each other.
Can you do Little Palm Island as a day trip from Miami?
Yes, and it is a common way to fly this route. On a charter the aircraft is held for your block, so the return is set by you rather than by a timetable.
Out in the morning, lunch on the island, back in the evening. Tell us at the enquiry if you would rather stay a night and the aircraft is planned around that instead, at no extra step for you.
How much baggage can we take on a small plane?
It is a weight question rather than a bag count. A small aircraft trades payload against passengers and fuel, so four guests with dive gear and four with overnight bags are different aircraft. Say what is coming at the enquiry, including rods, coolers and anything with a battery in it, and the answer comes back with the quote rather than at the ramp. Wheels carry more than floats do.
Can children come to Little Palm Island?
Not to the island. It states its own rule plainly: no guests under eighteen are permitted, and check-in requires twenty-one. That is the island's policy rather than ours and it is worth knowing before you plan a family day around it. The aircraft itself has no age limit, and other Keys destinations we fly are open to everybody, so tell us who is travelling at the enquiry.
Is there a car waiting when we land in the Keys?
If you want one. Ground transport is arranged with the flight and sits on the same quote, and it is timed so the drive down the highway meets a launch rather than waits on the dock for one. You can also drive yourself from either field. Either way the road is a single road, US 1 across the bridges, and the mile markers make the distance easy to read.
What happens if the weather is bad on the day?
A paved runway tolerates a great deal that a water landing does not, which is the main practical argument for this aircraft in winter. If conditions are genuinely below minimums the crew moves or stands down the flight, and the weather and delays policy says what that means for your booking. That call is the crew's, made against published limits, never a preference.
Is it cheaper than driving down from Miami?
No, and it is not trying to be. The drive is roughly three and a half hours each way on one road with no way around traffic, which on a two night stay costs you the best part of a day.
Charter buys that day back, along with your departure time, your return and your party only on board. That is the comparison worth making rather than fare against fuel.
What do we do once we are there?
That is the island's own question rather than the flight's, and the destination page covers it properly. In short: an adults-only island of five acres, the reef at Looe Key a few miles south, the flats and the backcountry around Big Pine Key, and a boat schedule that is the only clock on the place. Anything you want arranged before you land is set up with the flight.
Can I bring a pet on a small plane charter?
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 a Small Plane Charter Miami to Little Palm Island?
Send the departure point, the number of guests and from when to when. You get back the aircraft, the boarding time and what the whole day costs, before anything is booked.
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