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Montreal
Airport
Montreal
Pierre-Elliott Trudeau Internation Airport (Dorval) - Official Site
Montréal-Pierre
Elliott Trudeau International Airport (IATA: YUL, ICAO: CYUL) (French: Aéroport
international Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau de Montréal) or Montréal-Trudeau
for short, is an international airport serving Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
It is the busiest airport in the province of Quebec and the third
busiest airport in Canada by passenger traffic (after Toronto Pearson
and Vancouver) serving 10,335,768 million passengers in 2004, and also
the fourth busiest airport by aircraft movements, handling 205,441
aircraft in 2004 according to NavCanada. However, the operators, Aéroports
de Montréal, claim the total movements for 2004 were 235,209. Currently
the airport is completing a C$700 million expansion plan that will
double the capacity of the terminal to be able to handle upwards of 25
million passengers. Montreal-Trudeau is one of the only airports in the
world that is prepared to handle the new Airbus A380, which is expected
to begin service in early 2007. Montreal-Trudeau is expecting to see a
few A380s due to the fact that Air France and Lufthansa are planning to
fly them to Montreal. As of October 31, 2005, Trudeau airport handled
9,316,991 million passengers and 195,519 aircrafts. They are expected to
handle 11 million by the end of 2005, and that number should grow once
again in 2006 with the addition of new destinations including Denver,
Madrid, Mexico City (14 flights a week) Moscow and Tampa.
History
Montréal-Trudeau was formerly known as Montréal-Dorval International
Airport. It is located in Dorval, Quebec on the Island of Montreal, now
part of the borough of Dorval—L'Île-Dorval in Montreal. The airport
was renamed by the federal government in honour of former Canadian Prime
Minister, the late Right Honourable Pierre Elliott Trudeau, on January
1, 2004, the renaming having been announced in September the previous
year. This move provoked opposition from some Quebeckers, especially
Quebec sovereigntists opposed to some of the policies of the former
Prime Minister, as well as less vocal opposition from many aviation
historians and enthusiasts who note Trudeau's historical role as an
opponent of the airport. Trudeau was heavily involved in the
construction of Mirabel International Airport, originally planned to
replace Montréal-Dorval airport.
Dorval played an important role in the development of trans-Atlantic
aviation. It was primarily chosen as an airport because of good weather
and few foggy days. During WWII it was the major transit point for
departures to Europe. Thousands of Allied aircraft passed through Dorval
on the way to England. Women - the WAC's (Women's Air Corps) - played a
major role in transiting aircraft to the war theatres by way of Dorval.
At one time Dorval was the major transatlantic hub for commercial
aviation and the busiest airport in Canada with airlines such as British
Overseas Airways Corporation (B.O.A.C) landing at Dorval en route to New
York.
Montreal's economic decline in the late 1970's and 1980's had a
significant effect on the airport's traffic, as international flights
shifted away from Dorval to Toronto Pearson in more prosperous Toronto.
Ironically, the Trudeau government had recently developed Mirabel
Airport north of Montreal to handle an expected growth in international
traffic, and, eventually, to replace Dorval. That extra traffic never
materialized, and due to its closer proximity to downtown Montreal, all
scheduled air services has now returned to Dorval/Trudeau, while Mirabel
has nearly ceased operation. With Montreal's economic recovery during
the late 1990s, traffic at the airport may once again pick up. Mirabel
is home to the world's second largest airport in terms of land area. It
is larger than America's two largest cities, New York and Los Angeles.
In 2005, North America signed an aviation deal that stated the
"free skies" act is now possible. This means that an Air
Canada flight flying from Montreal to Dallas can land, pick up more
passengers and continue to a third destination like Rio de Janeiro, for
example. This act will begin to take place in either 2006 or 2007 and
when it does become available, Trudeau airport will definitely see an
increase in the number of destinations served worldwide.
On September 11, 2001, Dorval was part of Operation Yellow Ribbon as it
took in 10 of the diverted flights that were bound for the United
States. Pilots were asked to avoid Dorval by both Transport Canada and
NAV CANADA as a security measure because it is one of the busiest
airports in Central Canada. The airport was Montréal-Dorval
International Airport when 9/11 happened.
Airlines
International Terminal
Trudeau Airport serves 113 destinations worldwide, making it one of the
most connected airports in Canada and North America.
(Some airlines such as Austrian Airlines (Vienna) and Lufthansa
(Frankfurt and Munich) offer only seasonal flights to YUL during the
summer.)
* Air Canada (Barbados, Cancun, Cayo Coco, Cayo Largo, Frankfurt,
Havana, Holguin, Pointe-à-Pitre, London/Heathrow, Mexico City - starts
June 2006, Montego Bay, Nassau, Paris/CDG, Port-au-Prince, Puerto Plata,
Punta Cana, San Juan, Varadero)
* Air France (Paris/CDG)
* Air Saint Pierre (Saint-Pierre and Miquelon)
* Air Transat (Acapulco, Athens, Brussels, Camaguey, Cancun, Cayo Coco,
Cayo Largo Fort-de-France, Holguin, Ixtapa, La Ceiba, La Romana, Lisbon,
London/Gatwick, Lyon, Managua, Manzanillo (Cuba), Manzanillo (Mexico),
Marseilles, Montego Bay, Nantes, Nice, Panama City, Paris/CDG, Porlamar,
Port-au-Prince, Puerto Plata, Puerto Vallarta, Punta Cana, Rome, San
Andres Island, San Jose, San Salvador, Santa Clara, Santiago, Santo
Domingo, St. Maarten, Toulouse, Varadero)
* Austrian Airlines (Vienna - seasonal)
* British Airways (London/Heathrow)
* Corsair (Paris/Orly-summer)
* CSA Czech Airlines (Prague)
* Cubana Airlines (Camaguey, Cayo Largo, Cayo Coco, Havana, Holguin,
Varadero)
* Egypt Air (Cairo-seasonal)
* Iberworld (Madrid-seasonal)
* KLM (Amsterdam)
* Lufthansa (Frankfurt and Munich - seasonal)
* Mexicana Airlines (Mexico City)
* Olympic Airlines (Athens)
* Royal Air Maroc (Casablanca)
* Sata International (Ponta Delgada-summer)
* Skyservice (Agadir, Bahias de Huatulco, Camaguey, Cancun, Cayo Coco,
Fort Lauderdale, Holguin, Huatulco, La Romana, Liberia, Manzanillo,
Mazatlan, Montego Bay, Puerto Plata, Puerto Vallarta, Punta Cana, Santa
Maria, Varadero)
* Swiss International Airlines (Zurich)
* TAROM Romanian Airlines (Bucharest)
* Thomas Cook Airlines (London/Gatwick and Manchester(UK))
* Transaero (Moscow Domodedovo)
* Zoom Airlines (Camaguey, Cartagena, Cancun, La Romana, London/Gatwick,
Paris/CDG, Porlamar, Puerto Plata, Varadero)
Transborder Terminal (US)
Trudeau is one of 7 Canadian Airports that has US Border Pre-clearance
facilities.
* Air Canada / Air Canada Jazz (Boston, Chicago/O'Hare, Denver - begins
June 16, 2006, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Hartford, Las Vegas, Los
Angeles, Miami, New York/LaGuardia, Newark, Orlando, Philadelphia, San
Francisco, Tampa, Washington/Dulles, Washington/Reagan, West Palm Beach)
* Air Georgian (Hartford)
* Air Transat (Fort Lauderdale)
* American Airlines/American Eagle (Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami,
New York/JFK)
* CanJet (Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach)
* Comair (New York/LaGuardia and Cincinnati)
* Continental Airlines/Continental Express (Cleveland and Newark)
* Delta Air Lines/Delta Connection (Atlanta, Cincinnati, New
York/LaGuardia)
* Northwest Airlines (Detroit and Minneapolis/St. Paul)
* United Airlines/United Express (Chicago/O'Hare and Washington/Dulles)
* US Airways (Philadelphia)
o US Airways Express operated by Air Wisconsin (Philadelphia)
* Westjet (Fort Lauderdale)
Domestic Terminal
* Air Canada (Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver)
* Air Canada Jazz (Bagotville, Baie-Comeau, Bathurst, Charlottetown,
Deer Lake, Fredericton, Hamilton, Moncton, Mont-Joli, Ottawa, Quebec
City, Rouyn-Noranda, Saint John, St. John's, Sydney (NS), Val-d'Or,
Winnipeg)
* Air Creebec (Chibougamau, Roberval, Val-d'Or)
* Air Inuit (Kuujjuarapik and La Grande)
* Air Labrador (St. John's and Goose Bay)
* CanJet (Halifax)
* First Air (Kuujjuaq)
* Westjet (Calgary, Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver)
Facts of Interest
Pierre Elliott-Trudeau International airport is the main hub for both
Air Canada and Air Transat. It's also used as a southern base of
operations for First Air, which bases its maintenance at Ottawa/Carp
Airport.
Montreal-Trudeau is the world's second busiest French airport after
Charles-de-Gaulle International in Paris.
At one point, it was the busiest airport in Canada and the third busiest
in North America after Chicago's O'Hare airport and New York's JFK.
Today, it ranks 31st in terms of passenger traffic in North America.
On December 13, 2005, Trudeau airport was featured on the reality TV
series The Amazing Race. Teams arrived at the airport from Toronto on
Air Canada and Minneapolis on Northwest Airlines, before heading to
tourist attractions downtown.
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