Montréal–Mirabel International Airport

In the 1960s, Montreal experienced a tremendous economic boom. Massive construction projects, including the Montreal Metro and those linked with the hosting of Expo 67, brought the city international status. More and more visitors were arriving to the city, especially by airplane but not always by choice. The federal government required European airlines to make Montreal their only Canadian destination. That resulted in 15–20% annual growth in passenger traffic at the city's Dorval Airport. Optimistic about the city's future and its continuing ability to attract more and more visitors, government officials decided to build a new airport that would be more than able to absorb increased passenger traffic well into the 21st century.

The Canadian Department of Transport studied five possible sites for Montreal's new airport: Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (50 km (31 mi) to the southeast), Vaudreuil-Dorion (40 km (25 mi) to the west), Joliette (70 km (43 mi) to the north), St-Amable (30 km (19 mi) to the southeast), and Ste-Scholastique (60 km (37 mi) to the northwest).

The federal government proposed that the airport should be located at Vaudreuil-Dorion. Not only was it well served by existing road and rail routes, but it was close enough to both Ottawa and Montreal to serve as the gateway for both cities. However, Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa, who had a frosty relationship with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, reportedly did not want such an important project to be placed so close to the Ontario border. The Bourassa government preferred that the new airport be situated in Drummondville (100 km (62 mi) to the east).

Diagram of planned transport links serving Mirabel Airport

In March 1969 the federal and provincial governments reached a compromise to locate at the St. Scholastique site, and proposals were drawn up to expropriate 39,250 hectares (97,000 acres), an area larger than the entire city of Montreal. This area is served only by a long road link via Autoroute 15 and Autoroute 50. An additional link via Autoroute 13 was planned but never completed. Also planned was the connection of Autoroute 50 to the Ottawa/Gatineau area, a goal which would not be achieved until decades later, in 2012.

The federal government expropriation resulted in making Mirabel the world's largest airport by property area. (King Fahd International Airport near Dammam in Saudi Arabia later surpassed Mirabel as the world's largest airport by property area, a record it still retains). The airport's operations zone, which encompassed what was eventually built plus expansion room, amounted to only 6,880 hectares (17,000 acres), about 19% of the total area of the airport. The federal government planned to use the excess land as a noise buffer and as an industrial development zone (which was never started). This attracted the ire of the people of St. Scholastique who protested vehemently against the expropriation of their land. Nevertheless, construction started in June 1970 under the auspices of BANAIM, a government organization formed to build the airport. The architects charged with the design were Papineau, Gérin-Lajoie, LeBlanc, Edwards.[11]

High-speed rail transit (the system was to be capable of speeds from 100 to 120 kilometres per hour (62 to 75 mph) for the Montréal–Mirabel run), initially to be called TRRAMM (Transport Rapide Régional Aéroportuaire Montréal–Mirabel), was intended to be completed at a later date. However, it never got beyond the drawing board. The TRRAMM system was also intended to eventually be expanded to other parts of the Montreal region. The major stumbling block for the TRRAMM project was funding. The federal, provincial, and municipal governments never managed to find enough cash to fund the highly ambitious and expensive rapid transit project. Thus, Mirabel was forced to cope with an inadequate road system and non-existent rail transit, supplemented only by express buses.

In the late 1990s, Maclean's magazine interviewed one resident, whose farm was expropriated, who said that his land was sacrificed to save the city. He was particularly critical of the Trudeau government for not closing Dorval as well as failing to recognize Mirabel's potential, as no legislation similar to the Wright Amendment in the United States was enacted that would force airlines to use Mirabel instead of Dorval.

Supporters of making Mirabel the sole international airport of Montreal pointed out that it had the capacity to be expanded significantly to meeting growing future demand, unlike Dorval. They also noted that Dorval could be closed and its land be developed for prime real estate, and some of the profits could go towards improving access routes to Mirabel and/or the airport itself.

The initial location of Mirabel was supposed to be a major justification for the project not only because of its expansion room but also the afforded buffer, which would significantly reduce noise pollution in urban areas.

The C$716 million expansion of Dorval from 2000 to 2005 gave it the ability to serve 20 million passengers a year, accomplishing one of the goals that was to be met with the construction of Mirabel. (In the 1970s, the federal government projected that 20 million passengers would be passing through Montreal's airports annually by 1985, with 17 million through Mirabel). Aéroports de Montréal financed all of these improvements itself, with no government grants.[16]

The passenger operations ceased on October 31, 2004, 29 years after the airport's opening and many years of limited, primarily charter service.

With very little and then no airline service, and with many empty spaces inside its terminal, Mirabel was the setting of several movies, TV series, and commercials for many years. The 2004 film The Terminal features the mezzanine overlooking the immigration desks and the baggage carousels directly behind them, the tarmac and the main terminal entrance (with a digitally added New York skyline reflection). All other terminal scenes were shot on a soundstage.

In 2006, I-Parks Creative Industries, a French firm that specializes in the creation of urban tourist attractions, and Oger International SA, the global engineering company owned by the family of slain former Lebanese prime minister and entrepreneur Rafik Hariri, entered into an agreement to turn Mirabel into a theme park. The proposed concept of the park is based on the theme of water and outer space.[17][18] By August 2008, negotiations, market research, and technical assessments were continuously delayed, and construction not started.[19]

In December 2006, in a move he called "correcting a historical injustice", Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the return of 4,450 ha of farmland expropriated to build Mirabel airport. About 125 farmers, who rent their land from the federal government, were permitted to buy it back. Harper said he was pleased to finish the work started by former prime minister, Brian Mulroney, who unlocked a major parcel of expropriated land during his first term in office in 1985.

In May 2007, it was reported that the International Center of Advanced Racing had signed a 25-year lease with Aéroports de Montréal to use part of the airport as a race track.[6][20] At the same time, fixed-base operator Hélibellule opened a facility at the site to cater for the private jets that were expected. The company also provides a passenger service from Mirabel to destinations in Canada and the United States.[21][22] They operate three different types of helicopters; Bell 222, Robinson R22 and Aérospatiale Gazelle.[21] As of 2019, international passengers and crew can be processed at the Hélibellule FBO.[23] A total of 15 people can be processed from general aviation aircraft.[2] In August 2007, AirMédic moved from its base at Montréal/Saint-Hubert Airport to Mirabel. AirMédic is a non-profit humane foundation serving the population of Quebec and its visitors with the service of air ambulances. It offers MEDEVAC flights using a Eurocopter Dauphin.[5][24]

In August 2008, the former Agence métropolitaine de transport said it was willing to extend its commuter rail service to the airport if passenger traffic were to return. The Deux-Montagnes station is only some 12 km (7.5 mi) from the airport.

In July 2010, the ADM confirmed that I-Parks Creative Industries's long-delayed AeroDream project was dead, officially cancelling it.[25] At present there are no plans for any alternative development at the site.

From 2011, the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, drag racing, and other forms of motorsport began running on the airport's runways and surrounding areas, on what is known as Circuit ICAR.

On September 16, 2013, the Bombardier CS100 took its maiden flight for the first time, making the inaugural flight of the CSeries, from Mirabel Airport, accompanied by a Global 5000 chase plane.[26]

Terminal demolition in progress

On May 1, 2014, Aeroports de Montréal confirmed that Mirabel Airport's terminal building would be demolished, citing its high maintenance cost as a reason, as well as its facilities being unfit for commercial aviation needs and lacking any economic viability. Several reports suggested that it would simply be less expensive to rebuild a new terminal if passenger service ever returned to Mirabel. Hypothetically, this could make sense if a smaller budget terminal were to be built, which could attract the interests of ultra low cost carriers like Flair Airlines, Swoop, and others, though there are currently no plans for reinstating passenger service at this time. [27][28][29][30]

A demolition contract was awarded to Delsan on September 16, 2014, beginning the process of demolition of the terminal building and surrounding parking structures (the fate of the adjacent derelict Chateau Aeroport hotel remains unknown).[31] Demolition costs were estimated up to $15 million and to take approximately one year to complete.[32] Demolition of the terminal building began in mid-November 2014 and was completed in August 2016.

Between 2008 and 2018, Mirabel airport's air traffic more than tripled. The trend rose sharply as of 2016 with the increase of use of the terminal by private passenger flights, helicopter flights and a rise in nearby flight schools. Nolinor offers daily flights abroad for employees of various companies, and many medical airplanes now use Mirabel airport as well. Consequently, the airport's air traffic control tower was refurbished and reopened with air traffic controllers specifically trained for it, following a decision in early 2019.[33]

On July 11, 2016, Aéroports de Montréal announced that Pama Manufacturing planned to build a medical supply plant on a part of the 400,000 square metre site of the former passenger terminal complex, and that Mirajet was building an airpark at the foot of the air traffic control tower with 20 hangars available for lease to civil and business aviation clients. Other tenants at the time included Bombardier Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney Canada's Mirabel Aerospace Centre, Stelia Aerospace (formerly Aerolia), L3 Communication Mas, Avianor and Nolinor, as well as specialized services, creating a total of 3,700 direct jobs at the airport. The Bombardier CSeries continues to be assembled at Mirabel.[34]

On May 9, 2019, Aéroports de Montréal announced that the airport would be renamed as 'International Aerocity of Mirabel' as part of ADM's new branding.[35] Under this brand, business will be the main focus of Mirabel while Montréal-Trudeau will be branded as a travel destination.

As of 2019, Mirabel does have a passenger terminal for private flights as well as helicopter flights. In addition, Mirabel airport is now used for daily flights transporting employees abroad for various companies by the Nolinor airline company.[39]

Air India Boeing 747-200 at Montréal–Mirabel International Airport in 1983

Mirabel opened with service from local airlines Air Canada, Canadian Pacific Airlines and Nordair, as well as airlines from more than fifteen countries, including Aer Lingus, Aeroflot, Air France, Alitalia, British Airways, Continental Airlines, Czech Airlines, El Al, Iberia, KLM, Lufthansa, Northwest Airlines, Olympic Airways, Pan Am, Sabena, Scandinavian Airlines, Swissair and TAP Air Portugal. These airlines had their national country flags posted in front of the terminal on the inauguration of Mirabel.

Other airlines that served Mirabel at some point included Aerolíneas Argentinas, Aeroméxico, Air India, Air Liberté, Business Express Airlines (operating as Northwest Airlink), Corsairfly, Cubana de Aviación, Finnair, Jaro International, Jat Airways, LATAM Chile, LOT Polish Airlines, People Express Airlines, Presidential Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian, TAROM, and Varig. Most gradually lost faith in Mirabel and either transferred to Dorval in 1997 or pulled out of Montreal altogether.

Several charter airlines also served Mirabel, such as Wardair, Nolisair, Canada 3000 and Royal Aviation. All four have either merged or gone bankrupt. Air Transat is the only charter airline that started operations at Mirabel and stayed until the end of passenger service in 2004.