Lien ferroviaire Centre ville - P.E.T. 500++ M$

[internationalx]

Today, Mirabel is an outdated airport from conception to design (though the architecture of the terminal is fabulous in its own right ).

 

ADM has done a remarkable job at Dorval and in fact, by re-using the existing terminal and renovating it for 21st century standards, has proven to be a "Green" project.

 

PET is quite pleasant to use given the hideous state of airports around the world - who wants all that congestion and traffic associated with airports that have 30 million + passengers and has lineups on the runway to take-off that last up to 40 minutes. It is a luxury to have an airport that has the kind of services Montreal for its size. Travellers are starting to by-pass major hubs instead preferring to transit at an airport like Montreal.

[yarabundi]

So you're telling us that the fact that Montréal is a less competitive city in the world is serving P.E.T. ?

When ADM decided to get international flight back to Dorval, the terminal was as out-of-date (probably more !!) as Mirabel. The kind of money they put in Dorval would have been as well spent in mirabel if not better.

I agree on the fabulous work ADM has done in Dorval but I still believe that coming back to the island was a mistake at the time.

[Habsfan]

Travellers are starting to by-pass major hubs instead preferring to transit at an airport like Montreal.

 

Really? Cause it doesn't really show in the numbers!?!?

 

When ADM decided to get international flight back to Dorval, the terminal was as out-of-date (probably more !!) as Mirabel. The kind of money they put in Dorval would have been as well spent in mirabel if not better.

I agree on the fabulous work ADM has done in Dorval but I still believe that coming back to the island was a mistake at the time.

 

I agree with Yara! Had they spent the kind of money they spent on Dorval over the past 30 years on Mirabel, Mirabel would be doing a much better job than Dorval. Let's not forget that originally, Mirabel was supposed to have 5 terminals like the one they have right now(to accomodate 50-60 million passengers per year). Obviously, 5 would have been too much for Montreal, but they could have easily built a second one to accomodate up to 20-22 million passengers per year.

 

Had they finished some kind of rapid rail link to downtown(downtown under 30 minutes), and had they finished highway 13, we would not even be discussing this today as Mirabel would be doing a fine job of serving not only Montreal, but the Gatineau/Ottawa region.

[GDS]

What the hell are you guys talking about??? Mirabel was retarded and if they had invested the way you guys are talking about it ie finish the 13, building a rail link, build a terminal, it would have cost 5 times the price they have invested in Dorval and it still wouldn't be close to being finished today. This would have changed absolutely nothing for passenger traffic in Montreal today - we would still hover around 12-13 million, maybe even less because they would still have had to maintain two airports since there is no way they would have been able to build a terminal in this amount of time. On top of that, there would be even more companies and people moving off island. If it wasn't for Mirabel, Blainville would barely be on the map. Already all those suburbs north of Laval have atrocious density and had Mirabel been kept open, you would have twice as many along two highways with no density and less density in the west island and Ville St. Laurent.

[yarabundi]

What the hell are you guys talking about??? Mirabel was retarded and if they had invested the way you guys are talking about it ie finish the 13, building a rail link, build a terminal, it would have cost 5 times the price they have invested in Dorval and it still wouldn't be close to being finished today.

Well I guess we'll never know !! since it is closed now. As far as I'm concerned going that far from Montréal made no sense at the time and in my own humble opinion it should never have been built. But since it was, the federal government should have done everything in its power to make it work. We all know that part of it failure has to do with the eternal fight between the provincial government and the federal. The 13 never was built because the provincial government (any of them -whatever the political tendencies) more than likely didn't want the airport to work !!

 

This would have changed absolutely nothing for passenger traffic in Montreal today - we would still hover around 12-13 million, maybe even less because they would still have had to maintain two airports since there is no way they would have been able to build a terminal in this amount of time.

I completely disagree. First, nothing you're saying is supported by any proven facts. However I deeply believe that part (what percentage ? impossible to define !!) of Montréal's decline has to do with Mirabel's failure. As said by Habsfan :

Had they finished some kind of rapid rail link to downtown(downtown under 30 minutes), and had they finished highway 13, we would not even be discussing this today as Mirabel would be doing a fine job of serving not only Montreal, but the Gatineau/Ottawa region.

 

On top of that, there would be even more companies and people moving off island. If it wasn't for Mirabel, Blainville would barely be on the map. Already all those suburbs north of Laval have atrocious density and had Mirabel been kept open, you would have twice as many along two highways with no density and less density in the west island and Ville St. Laurent.

Had Mirabel been built as planned and its growth gone as planned, many citizens from the "couronne nord" would work north of Laval and would not come on Montréal's island. We might have witnessed a development similar to Mississauga's !!

Had Mirabel been built and developped as planned, Montréal would certainly be in a much better position in this country and its downtown would have retain much more business and head offices that it did and would certainly would have attracted new ones !!

[Malek]

Ok vous oubliez que les autorouts sont de compétence provinciale et que Québec n'en voulait pas de Mirabel à cet endroit... et donc pas d'autoroutes, ni hier et ni maintenant...

 

un autre imbroglio fédéral-provincial ou le fédéral essai d'imposer son véto.

[internationalx]

Sophisticated, well-travelled fliers prefer using smaller airports like PET. It's a luxury.

[internationalx]

Mirabel needed a lot more work that Dorval did way back in 1997. Highways and access roads, parking structures, completely re-configured terminal that doesn't use people movers.... bottom line, in 1969 it was still the first generation of the jet age... the industry has changed and evolved so much that an airport so far from the city center is just not feasible. Airlines - in particular, scheduled carriers (BA, AC, LH, AF etc..) make their money in the premium cabins not by leisure travel, therefore, business travellers and people with money. That means the main market for the airport is within the city limits. Simple as that. In 1969 governments and airlines themselves were clueless as to how the industry would grow and evolve what it's needs would be. I mean, the 747 wasn't even in service when YMX was planned.

[internationalx]

Ok vous oubliez que les autorouts sont de compétence provinciale et que Québec n'en voulait pas de Mirabel à cet endroit... et donc pas d'autoroutes, ni hier et ni maintenant...

 

un autre imbroglio fédéral-provincial ou le fédéral essai d'imposer son véto.

 

Yes. You're right. But instead of doing what was best for the people and business, making the best out of the situation, the Quebec Government decided to make a political statement and use Mirabel as a pawn. It's not Toronto that got the billion dollar airport in 1969. It was Montreal and Quebec.

[Malek]

Yes. You're right. But instead of doing what was best for the people and business, making the best out of the situation, the Quebec Government decided to make a political statement and use Mirabel as a pawn. It's not Toronto that got the billion dollar airport in 1969. It was Montreal and Quebec.

 

Let's not debate this Quebec-Federal thing... but if this airport was made to serve Montreal and Quebec in General it would have been better situated where the Quebec govt wanted it to be... instead the federal wanted it to be closer to ottawa to serve its interest... anyways... billions ill-spent.