Boeing 747-200 at Montréal–Mirabel International Airport in 1983 Montréal–Mirabel International Airport opened for business on October 4, 1975, in time for the
1976 Summer Olympics. In the rush to get the airport open in time for the Olympics, it was decided to transfer flights to Mirabel in two stages. International flights were transferred immediately, while domestic and US flights would continue to be served by Dorval airport until 1982. To ensure Mirabel's survival, all international flights for Montreal were banned from Dorval from 1975 to 1997. The federal government originally predicted that Dorval would be completely saturated by 1985 as part of its justification for building Mirabel. They also projected that 20 million passengers would be passing through Montreal's airports annually, with 17 million of those through Mirabel. However, several factors dramatically reduced the amount of projected
air traffic into Dorval. Montreal began to decline in importance as an aviation hub after 1974 because of the increasing use of longer-range jets that did not need to refuel in Montreal before crossing the
Atlantic from the major
Western North American cities. The use of longer-range aircraft was made more attractive by national energy policies that provided Montreal refineries with feedstock at prices substantially below world prices, starting in 1975 and ending in the 1980s with the drop in world oil prices. Montreal was also overtaken by Toronto as Canada's main business centre around this time, due to the Quebec nationalism and
French-only language laws that caused numerous companies and non-French residents to move to Toronto. More importantly, the simultaneous operation of Mirabel solely for international flights and Dorval only for continental flights made Montreal less attractive to airlines and travelers alike, in contrast to other cities with multi-airport systems (New York City, Tokyo) where each airport operates independently in allowing international flights to connect to domestic flights. The planned but unbuilt highways and incomplete train routes connecting Mirabel to Montreal compounded the problem. Montrealers grew to resent Mirabel as they were forced to travel far out of town for international flights, as while Dorval was only 20 minutes away from the city core, it took 50 minutes to get to Mirabel even in ideal traffic conditions. International passengers who used Montreal in transit to another destination in Canada or to the United States had to take hour-long bus rides for connections from their international flights at Mirabel to their domestic flights at Dorval, unnecessarily complicating their journeys. Many international airlines, faced with the stark economic reality of operating two eastern Canadian points of entry, opted to bypass Montreal altogether and shifted their routes to
Toronto Pearson with its straightforward domestic and US connections. By 1991, Mirabel and Dorval were handling only a total of 8 million passengers and 112,000 tons of cargo annually, while Toronto Pearson was handling 18.5 million passengers and 312,000 tons of cargo. Mirabel alone never managed to exceed 3 million passengers per year in its existence as a passenger airport. It soon became apparent that the additional capacity from the opening of Mirabel became redundant. Although this redundancy would have been resolved if Dorval was decommissioned as originally intended, public pressure in support of Dorval prevented its planned closure. Another obstacle of the planned transfer from Dorval to Mirabel was Air Canada's desire to keep flights in Dorval, with its proximity to
AVEOS workshops, and the connections in Pearson Airport. Over time, the decreasing passenger flights began to take a toll on businesses within Mirabel. Particularly notable was the 354-room
Chateau Aeroport-Mirabel hotel adjacent to the terminal, which was forced to shut down in 2002 after 25 years of operation.
Debate 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.
21st century 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 had 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. Today, Montréal–Mirabel International Airport is used almost exclusively for cargo flights, with passenger operations having ceased on October 31, 2004, 29 years after the airport's opening and many years of limited, primarily charter service. Bombardier Aerospace launches newly constructed units from its factory at Mirabel. 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. By August 2008, negotiations, market research, and technical assessments were continuously delayed, and construction not started. 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. 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. They operate three different types of
helicopters;
Bell 222,
Robinson R22 and
Aérospatiale Gazelle. A total of 15 people can be processed from
general aviation aircraft. 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 from the airport. In July 2010, the ADM confirmed that I-Parks Creative Industries's long-delayed AeroDream project was dead, officially cancelling it. 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.
Demolition of terminal building 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. Aéroports de Montréal had spent $30 million in maintenance over a decade, while renovations to keep it operational were estimated at $25 million. Several reports suggested that it would simply be less expensive to rebuild a new smaller
budget terminal to attract the interests of
ultra low cost carriers, such as
Flair Airlines,
Lynx Air or
Swoop, however no plans for a return to commercial air services at Mirabel ever materialized. Mirabel Mayor Jean Bouchard was disappointed as the demolition would result in a significant loss of tax revenues for his municipality. A demolition contract was awarded to Delsan on September 16, 2014, which proceeded with the demolition of the terminal building and surrounding parking structures. Demolition costs had been estimated up to $15 million and were expected to take less than a year to complete. Demolition of the terminal building began in mid-November 2014 and was completed in August 2016. The adjacent abandoned Chateau Aeroport hotel, and its connecting terminal
skyway, were left standing, albeit in a deteriorating state.
Renewal of airport activity 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. On May 9, 2019, Aéroports de Montréal announced that the airport would be renamed as 'YMX International Aerocity of Mirabel' as part of ADM's new branding. Under this brand, business will be the main focus of Mirabel while Montréal-Trudeau will be branded as a travel destination. On January 30, 2020, Mirabel airport became a
Class C airspace twelve years after becoming a
flight service station due to a resurgence in air traffic volume. More than 69,000 movements were reported in 2017, and 72,000 in 2018. The
air traffic control service is in service 16 hours a day, from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM local time. The Class C control zone becomes an advisory Class E — Mirabel was a Class E airspace since 2008 — when the tower is not in operation. ==Architecture and layout==