Lewis From Greece, joined Jul 1999, 3441 posts, RR: 5 Posted (12 years 2 months 1 week 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 1086 times:
I have been in Montreal 7 times. In 1990 we used Dorval. It looked old and at that time used the 'raising buses' instead of jetways. Back in 1994-95 we used mirabel, which also didn't have jetways but looked more modern. Why did they finally decide to move all scheduled flights to Dorval? Were there any inprovements to the airport?(I noticed jetways the last time i was there.)
AC_B777 From Canada, joined Aug 2000, 784 posts, RR: 14 Reply 1, posted (12 years 2 months 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 1033 times:
Hey,
I believe that part of the reason for the move to Dorval may have been that Air Canada's main base is Dorval.
I would say that there are other reasons as well, but this was probably a factor.
AC_B777
In life, some days you are the bug..... some days you are the windshield!
Transat1011 From Canada, joined Nov 1999, 113 posts, RR: 2 Reply 2, posted (12 years 2 months 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 1031 times:
Air Canada definatly has a very "loud" opinion in Montreal. The fact is that it wasn't good to have 2 airports to start with. Idea of having international flights into YMX and transborder/domestic into YUL was simply bad. So, we had to concentrate flights to one airport. Although YMX would be probably more appropriate (modern, noise, expansion possibilities, etc), Air Canada decided that with their headquarters and maintenance base in YUL, it was better for them.
And regarding the use of buses in YUL, I haven't recalled seeing those for boarding/deplaning for quite a while. They are currently used at the request of the airline for people using wheelchairs or for crew transport.
Regards,
F. Meunier
AC320 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (12 years 2 months 1 week 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 1011 times:
Dorval has always had jetways, however I believe they use those "raising buses" (PTVs) to transport passengers from international flights to the customs facilities in the main terminal for security reasons.
Tristar2000 From Canada, joined Dec 2000, 274 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (12 years 2 months 1 week 5 days 10 hours ago) and read 1003 times:
Likewise, Mirabel has always had jetways... 6 to be precise (gates 145 to 150)... They are now mainly used by Air Transat, Royal and Canada 3000, although C3 often uses the PTVs (passenger transport. vehicules), I've never seen their 330 at the jetways.
Now that international scheduled service has left YMX, the remaining flights can mostly use the jetways, and that's why we don't see the PTVs really that much.
I've always been a fan of Mirabel, and I truly believe that flights will head back there sooner than many people think, because it's never going to shut down. But I just don't want to launch the everlasting debate once more.
AF777 From Canada, joined Jun 1999, 223 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (12 years 2 months 1 week 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 988 times:
I would think a huge factor for primarily using Dorval is its proximity to downtown. Mirabel is really inconvienent if you live in downtown (especially with the Montreal road infrastructure as it is). Dorval is a quick 20 minute drive from downtown which Mirabel can be more than an hour. I really like Dorval, I just hope some expansion in the future happens!
Ikarus From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2001, 3524 posts, RR: 2 Reply 8, posted (12 years 2 months 1 week 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 977 times:
Are those "raising buses" the same as in Washington Dulles? I have recently noticed something like that in the background of a F-28 photo shot in Montreal, and have been wondering about that ever since - I thought they had been custom built for Dulles....
Thomacf From United States of America, joined Sep 2000, 540 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (12 years 2 months 1 week 5 days 1 hour ago) and read 950 times:
I read that the original plans in Montreal were to use Dorval and Mirabel the way Dulles and National are used in the D.C. Dorval was supposed to handle the bulk of domestic traffic and Mirabel would be the main international airport. During the time Mirabel was built, Montreal had a much better economy and growth rate. It was Canada's premier city, largest and was becoming a global metropolis. It was at that time when the Olympics took place in Montreal and the city was at its peak. Today however Toronto is in the spotlight as Canada's number one city in terms of size and economy. Montreal is still very large and a very great city, but its economy and political stability is still uncertain according to what I read. Air Canada has put alot more time and investment in Toronto. As I said, this is what I read and understood. I am not a native of Canada and would like to hear what someone from Canada and mainly Montreal would say to this.
In my opinion from what I have read and heard things won't really change in Montreal. Dorval will still be number one, but as air traffic grows Mirabel will be used more again in the future. Toronto continues to grow and geographically it makes more sense for passengers to connect in Toronto. Montreal is more O&D for its citizens.
Anzff From Australia, joined May 2000, 138 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (12 years 2 months 1 week 5 days ago) and read 951 times:
The scheduled flights were all moved to Dorval as part of Aeroports d'Montreal (French speakers please excuse me if I've misspelt something!) 'strategic plan.' Dorval was to take all scheduled passenger flights, and Mirabel all charter and cargo operations. The hope is/was that by doing that Dorval could be developed as a hub with pax transfering from long-haul to short-haul (and v.v.) flights - something that was never going to work with traffic split at two airports. Mirabel already had an expensive fright facility so that made sense. Mirabels outlying location was felt to be a hindrance for scheduled ops but not for charter flights. There was an article about it in Airways magazine, and a whole lot of advertising in Air Transport World by AdM to publicise the changes (including a cardboard 'punch out and assemble' 747 model that included instructions like "put the big wings in the centre of the plane and the little wings at the back" (in ATW!!)).
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