Montreal Mirabel Airport
Aéroport International Montréal-Mirabel |
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| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | CYMX |
| IATA code | YMX |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 82 m (269 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 55 km northwest of Montréal |
| Local transport | bus |
| Basic data | |
| opening | 4th October 1975 |
| operator | Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) |
| surface | 6900 ha |
| Passengers | approx. 200,000 |
| Air freight | 86,957 t (2015) |
| Flight movements |
33,906 (2016) |
| Runways | |
| 06/24 | 3658 m × 60 m concrete |
| 11/29 | 3658 m × 60 m concrete |
The Montréal-Mirabel International Airport ( French Aéroport International Montreal-Mirabel , IATA : YMX , ICAO : CYMX , English Montreal-Mirabel International Airport , short name: "Mirabel") is named after the Aéroport international Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau de Montréal (Brief description: " Dorval ”) Montréal's second major airport . It is located about 55 km northwest of the city center. In terms of area, it was planned to be the largest airport in the world at the time. With almost 200,000 passengers per year, however, it is one of the insignificant international airports in passenger traffic. Today it is mainly used for freight traffic. The history of the airport is an example of poor infrastructure planning and a waste of taxpayers' money.
The construction phase
In the 1960s, Montréal experienced a strong economic boom. The 1967 World Exhibition and the 1976 Summer Olympics were signs of this optimistic development. The previous Dorval Airport, which was close to the city , appeared too small and no longer expandable in view of the prospects at the time. It was therefore decided to build a new airport with sufficient reserves for the future.
Among various alternatives, a decision was made in 1969 for a location in the northwest of Montréal in the municipality of Sainte-Scholastique . In total, the planning was based on a huge area of 392 km², which is more than the entire area of the city of Montreal.
Several motorways and a high-speed train called TRRAMM ( Transport Rapide Régional Aéroportuaire Montréal-Mirabel , French for: "Regional Airport Express Montréal-Mirabel") were to provide the connection to the city and the surrounding area. In the final stage, six runways and six terminal buildings were planned; In comparison, Atlanta Airport , currently the world leader in terms of passenger volume, only has five runways to date. Construction work on the first expansion phase began in June 1970. The airport was opened on November 29, 1975, a few months before the start of the Summer Olympics. At that time, all 23 international airlines had to relocate their flights to Mirabel after it had been determined that all international flights would be handled in Mirabel and the old Dorval Airport could only be used for national and border US flights. It was intended to close Dorval Airport entirely in the mid-1980s. The construction and usage regulations of this airport were largely enforced by Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau , as was the planned closure of Dorval Airport. Ironically, in 2004, it was named after Trudeau, of all people, after whose will the airport should no longer have existed.
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The decline
The reality was different, however. There were several reasons for this:
- From the 1980s, the Toronto region, previously seen as a rival, developed into the dominant economic center in eastern Canada. The time of the economic prosperity of the city of Montreal was over. Many international airlines removed Montreal from their flight schedules and focused on Toronto as the sole destination in eastern Canada.
- The remote location of the airport made the airport unpopular with travelers and especially in the case of transfer flights via Dorval. The originally planned fast train connection was never realized and the motorway connections were only partially built.
- The range of modern long-haul aircraft increased, so that transatlantic flights without stopping for refueling were possible from almost every major city in North America to the important centers in Europe.
- The noise emissions from the aircraft decreased, so that the population around Dorval Airport no longer pushed so hard for the old airport to be closed.
In 1982 the government officially abandoned the original plan. The airport was never expanded beyond the first expansion stage. In 2000 it was decided to modernize and expand the old Dorval Airport.
Mirabel today
The obligation to only fly to Mirabel in international traffic was lifted in 1997. In 2004 , Air Transat was the last airline to stop passenger traffic in Mirabel. The terminal building for passengers has been empty since then and has served as a spectacular backdrop in several films such as Terminal and Warm Bodies . Plans to turn the terminal into an amusement theme park under the name Rêveport de Mirabel (or Mirabel AeroDream in English) did not materialize.
A car racing track ( Circuit ICAR ) was built on the unused apron of the terminal .
In May 2014, the airport company announced the demolition of the vacant terminal, as maintenance no longer made economic sense.
A part of the huge plot of land is being sold or leased to traders and as agricultural land. The runways are often used for training and test flights. The unfavorable trend continues, the number of flight movements in 2007 was 25,403, while in 2003 it was 39,052.
Today Mirabel is only of economic importance for cargo flights. DHL , UPS Airlines , FedEx and others use the airport as a freight hub or destination. However, there are also local voices who point out that Dorval's expansion options are limited and that Mirabel needs to be reactivated.
Mirabel is also a production site of the aircraft manufacturer Airbus Canada , which manufactures the Airbus A220 (originally developed by Bombardier Aerospace as CSeries), and the engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney Canada , which produces various engines for aircraft.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ North America Airport Rankings. (No longer available online.) ACI-NA.org , archived from the original on September 6, 2018 ; accessed on September 2, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Table 401-0014 Aircraft movements, by class of operation and peak hour and peak day of movements, airports with NAV CANADA flight service stations. StatCan.gc.ca , accessed September 2, 2017 .
- ^ IMDb: Most Popular Titles With Location Matching "Montréal-Mirabel International Airport, Mirabel, Québec, Canada". In: imdb.com. IMDb , accessed on November 12, 2013 .
- ↑ Terminal (2004). Filming locations. In: imdb.com. IMDb , accessed on November 12, 2013 .
- ^ Warm Bodies (2013). Filming locations. In: imdb.com. IMDb , accessed on November 12, 2013 .
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated August 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. French notices on the airport operator's website
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. English information on the airport operator's website
- ↑ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/mirabel-airport-terminal-trudeau-s-white-elephant-to-be-torn-down-1.2628421
- ↑ Aircraft Movement Statistics: NAV CANADA Towers and Flight Service Stations: Annual Report 2007 (PDF; 538 kB)
- ^ Pratt & Whitney Canada - Mirabel Aerospace Center , accessed April 16, 2014
