Location: Ottawa [AC SE through 2/10 (still no Alliance loyalty), HH Diamond]
Posts: 8,389
Yes, it's going to become a 24hr cargo operation.
According to the report on CTV, it hasn't seen scheduled passengers flights for a couple of years, but traffic has been "strictly charters". OTOH, JF on rec.travel.air (I think) stated once that Mirabel had a greater increase in passengers than Dorval.
from the ADM site:
...
Established in 1975 and located in a rapidly expanding industrial zone 40 minutes from Downtown Montréal, the Montréal-Mirabel Airport covers 6,556 hectares. This land includes both the airport itself as well as a development zone.
The headquarters of Bell-Helicopter and Messier Dowty are nearby. Bombardier-Canadair has a facility on the site, which is also home to Air Transat's maintenance centre and corporate headquarters.(Will AT fly YMX-YUL? now)
In 2001, the airport employed 4,000 and hosted 36,207 aircraft movements and 1,372,598 passengers.
The Montréal-Mirabel Airport is recognized for its specialized services and excellent rates for cargo activities.
[This message has been edited by AlmostThere (edited 05-09-2002).]
I used YMX many times to fly to Europe when the scheduled carriers still flew from there. I liked this airport but it was quite inconvenient to get there or transfer to YUL for a domestic flight. The decision to consolidate was a good one. It was a white elephant. If they had built rail service to downtown and to Dorval...who knows...
My only flight from YMX was to ORY on TS in 1989. Have had to do the drive from YOW several times however to drop off or pick up people there. Can't say I'll miss that location. Not counting the rail link, if they'd had four lanes of blacktop all the way from here, maybe it would have been better used.
MC
__________________
"You don't know who I am, but I know where you live." - Dale Gribble
The problem with YMX was the same as all new airports When they leave the old airport open .
In Denver there was an iron-clad agreement to rip up the old Stapleton runways the day after the new field opened.
Edmontonians still squabble about EG versus XD and thus it has hurt the city and it's economy over the years.
Shanghai is having the same problems since the new airport opened and operations have been split. The government has just decreed that ALL international flights must move to PVG.
Miraballs would have made a lovely airport for Montreal if they had insisted on moving all the traffic there years ago.
Programs: AC*SE; UA 1K; PCPlat/RoyalAmbassador; HyattGPDiamond; SPGGold;AirMilesGold
Posts: 26,074
"If they had built rail service to downtown and to Dorval...who knows..."
We [the Canadian taxpayer] would be in hock for even more billions from this Liberal boondoggle, though as a Bombardier shareholder I'd have made a few of those bucks supplying the rolling stock.
I still have my doubts about such links to airports in all but the largest cities, and where airports are very far from their major city. There is no way the costs can be covered by fares, nor the breakeven volumes of passengers actually achieved. As someone who always takes the airport bus, or even TTC, to YYZ, I have doubts about such a link to that airport, though I know it would be a more comfortable way to make the trip, and certainly take the stress off those late afternoon trips where one gets tied up in traffic city-centre and on the Gardiner...
The irony of this whole fiasco is that Dorval/YUL was Canada's primary eastern gateway to Europe and SAmerica since the beginning of commercial aviation. [Only a limited number of flights were permitted by AC and CP [and BA in those days] from YHZ and YYT, mainly as refueling stops.] Liberal government policy kept most non-stop European traffic away from Malton/YYZ so Montreal could establish itself as the centre aviation in Canada, and to attract the ICAO, IATA and other international aviation agencies looking for new post-WWII headquarters, and the aircraft production industry [Canadair, precursor to Bombardier, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce et al].
However, faced with booming immigration to Toronto in the 50s and 60s, and great pressure for non-stop air links to Italy, Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands from these communities [always strong Liberal voters], the single gateway policy was changed. This led to a rush by European carriers to service YYZ, and a subsequent fall off -- particularly after Expo67 -- of flights to YUL. SAmerican routes were also dropped, or shifted to YYZ.
But the Liberals were intent on building Mirabel, even though traffic numbers into YUL were not growing, and those into YYZ were soaring. [Pickering was the Toronto political plumb, but to the Liberal's surprise, nobody was particularly eager to see that airport go up, and so it was long ago moth balled, albeit still a part of the Toronto Airpors Authority long term plan.] So the sad saga of YMX continues...
Mirabel is a great airport to me. Far more friendly than Dorval. Can support 24hrs operation (which is not the case at Dorval) and have unlimited space for expansion. Just needed gates instead of the infamous transborder units. Distance is not that bad if you have a good access.
The only problem is they should have close Dorval as soon Mirabel opened. The situation who lasted for years contributed in part to the loss of Montreal as a major hub.
As mentioned by ExAc the situation between PVG and SHA ia very similar to Dorval and Mirabel at the time. I had to transit there 2 weeks ago and it took 1 hour between the 2 airport to catch a domestic flight... Certainly not a good solution...
Pudong have space to accomodate the total number of flights but for the moment they want to keep it the way it is. The big terminal looks almost deserted because it has been built to accomodate a far larger number of passengers that it handle actually (had the same feeling than in Mirabel when the International flights were there)
The actual decision make sense. I heard a ADM representative yesterday who said that there was only 50-60 passengers flights a week in YMX compared to over 1600 in YUL. Maintaining such a large terminal for such a small number of pax is not logical.
It will just add to the road and terminal congestion at Dorval and will contribute to fill up a little bit more the parking space who are already full sometimes.
Location: Ottawa [AC SE through 2/10 (still no Alliance loyalty), HH Diamond]
Posts: 8,389
The suggestions that Dorval should have been closed surprise me, I always thought of Mirabel as more like Dulles than like Denver or Edmonton. How could Mirabel possibly have supported commuter routes like Montreal-Toronto!?
I also thought Mirabel was a victim of the contraction of Montreal (the city) as much as anything. Mirabel opened in 1975, the PQ were first elected in 1976, and for various reasons (including those Shareholder notes), more traffic moved to Toronto. I thought the plan to have mostly long-distance and especially international routes at the more distant airport, and mostly mid-range and shorter routes, at the closer airport, was good, and at Pearson, would have been much more practical than what they've done now. Not to mention 24hr access, certainly no curfew, and cheaper expansion.
"Pickering" might have worked better if they'd put it to the NW of Toronto instead of NE. It would have been on the same side as Pearson, and they could have built a dedicated road (like the Dulles toll road) connecting it both to Toronto and even to Pearson.
Of course that might not have prevented the local opposition, but I try to picture the connection between Pearson and Pickering (had it been built) and I shudder to think of the traffic.
andrew
[This message has been edited by Andrew Webber (edited 05-10-2002).]
I'm not that sad to see YMX, for the last couple of years it did feel like a "terminally ill" (no pun intended) airport. Besides it gave a new meaning to "being in the middle of nowhere" and you always had to watch for traffic on highway 15.
The only problem with YUL is that between 5-7pm, the terminal is like a madhouse and the international gates are not worthy of an international airport. Still, the airport autority (ADM) dismissed fears that YUL would be "too small", because the airport site occupies the same surface than LHR! Still they better finish the long-promised terminals ASAP, or the only flights that will remain in Dorval will be to YYZ!
