Originally Posted by Shareholder
Given the island of Montreal remained a Liberal stronghold in the election, with the PQ dominating the east side, I would expect the Conservatives to announce they are moving the official Quebec international gateway to YQC...and AF will start flying their A380s into the capital! Seriously, I am not sure what a revamped terminal will do. It is unlikely to increase passenger loads so really cannot foresee any new routes or carriers unless there was a shortage of gates in the current terminal. YQC is really much like YWG and YQR, too close to major gateway airports to sustain loads for its own non-stops, so it will pretty much be a feeder as a spoke on a hub, with some regional DASH and smaller aircraft services.
I think you're right on the money SH. I don't see this market generating much in the way of increased numbers of pax for sustained development of many regular direct routes either in Canada or in the US.
Not having US PFI is not very conducive to increasing the number of transborder flights. Right now it's not much of a problem as we only have a few daily EWR (CO) and DTW (NW) flights with a BOS (DL) service coming in June. That being said, returning to YQB from abroad is often an adventure as the CBSA gang here are great fans of secondary inspection
I wouldn't say that we're necessarily short of gates either as YQB is now an all-Jazz station; DH8s and CRJs don't require bridges so no changes needed there. Domestic Gate 7 still has a bridge which used to be used when AC mainline served YYZ with a 319. The international section has 2 (maybe 3 bridges) that are OK for widebodies (i.e. charters such as TS or CAF flights for overseas missions out of CFB Valcartier) and the US carriers use RJs so "tarmac-to-tarmac" is the norm.
That being said, the building could use some sprucing up as things are a now little worn. Maybe we could put our 20 seat MLL airside ?
