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COMMENT: Mirabel Airport Montreal – The ultimate white elephant

Whilst the Mayor of London pontificates with his grandiose scheme for an international airport somewhere in the Thames Estuary (see also AND FINALLY)) he should take a look at a not dissimilar scheme that went disastrously wrong in Montreal (Canada).  Perhaps at Eton they do not take in modern history.  Certainly the Australians recognised the absurdity of the project, quickly scrapping a proposed new Sydney Airport, 40 miles from the largest city in that southern continent.

Mr Johnson should take a flight from Heathrow to Montreal Dorval, once planned to be the largest airport in the world.  Now named officially Montreal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport after the Canadian Prime Minister who promoted Mirabel – crazy.  (Will they rename Heathrow 'Boris International' following the same logic?).  What Mr Johnson will find at Mirabel is a totally underused air cargo operation and a massive semi-derelict industrial complex.

In the 1960s the Government of Canada decided that Montreal required a brand new international airport to relieve the existing Dorval just 12 miles from the city centre.  In 1968 Montreal won the 1976 Olympics.  The two projects came together and on 4 October 1975 Montreal–Mirabel International Airport was opened, 34 miles from town.  The cost at current terms was put at Canadian $2bn.  All long haul flights were transferred to the new airport.

The Olympics came and went.  Mirabel's distant location and lack of transport links made it unpopular with airlines and travellers.  Montreal's economic decline, relative to Toronto, kept passenger volumes from rising to the levels originally anticipated.  The international airlines were allowed to return to Dorval.

In 1997 Montreal Mirabel closed for scheduled airline traffic.

Today it is recognised as one of the world’s largest white elephants, rather like the New South China Mall in the city of Donnguan in the Pearl River Delta, the largest on earth but 99% empty.

Boris needs a rethink.

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787 for the UK

Thomson Airways, whose £5m promotion campaign for the Boeing 787 had to be embarrassingly withdrawn early in the New Year, is finally expected to receive its first Dreamliner at Manchester on Friday 31 May.  The 291-seat 787-8 will fly in direct from Everett, Seattle, with Managing Director Chris Browne on board. 

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Aegean Airlines to Manchester

Star Alliance member Aegean Airlines is to introduce a Saturday and Monday service between Manchester and Athens on 25 May.  It will compete with an existing easyJet operation that flies on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.  With airlines, for the most part, selling tickets per single flight this means that Manchester will now be connected to the Greek capital with non-stop services every day except Tuesday.

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bmi regional route launches

Monday 13 May was an important day for rapidly expanding bmi regional, once Aberdeen-based but now with East Midlands Airport as the centre of its operations.  As its name implies it is truly regional and operates 18 Embraer jets with a one class set-up cabin.  All flights include complimentary food and drink on-board, free 20kg hold baggage allowance and 30-minute check-in.

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Delta at Kennedy

Kennedy Airport New York will later this week see the official opening of Delta Air Lines new main home in Terminal 4.  Sadly this means the demolishing of its former quarters at the futuristic old Pan Am Terminal 3.  For the future all international services will use the brand new US$1.4bn facility whilst domestic flights, and that includes Honolulu, are housed in Terminal 2.  A major feature will be an open air rooftop executive lounge, a first for the airport in the modern era.

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Financials for easyJet and Virgin

Last week was mixed in term of financial results for easyJet and Virgin Atlantic.  Both announced losses but for the Luton-based carrier they were positive in that they were less than the same period last year with a fine 12-month forecast.  Virgin, under new management, stated that things were bad but forecasted good times in 2015.

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King's Cross soft opening

The Great Northern Hotel, sited at the crossover between King’s Cross and St Pancras stations, has had a ‘soft’ opening, following a comprehensive £40m rebuilding programme.  Rooms are currently available from £160.

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Passport Office changes

A new name has been given to the agency which produces all UK passports – Her Majesty’s Passport Office.  Formerly the Identity and Passport Service, the new name is designed to make the service more easily recognisable to British citizens at home and abroad.  It marks a watershed moment in the agency’s departure from its association with the National Identity Service and ID cards.

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THE BIGGEST ROUTES EUROPE YET – IN BUDAPEST

Alison Chambers of Emerald Media has been over to Hungary.

Over 4,000 face to face meetings, 1,100 aviation delegates, 115 airlines, 350 airports, 50 international exhibitors – last week’s annual Routes Europe gathering looked and felt more like a mini World Routes.  There was an eagerness to do business in the halls of the capacious SYMA sports centre which had been converted into a Excel look alike for the three-day networking event. The vodka bar, popular in Tallinn last year, had given way to a snazzy red cappuccino and expresso bar – centrepiece of host Budapest Airport’s stand and the place to head to in the meeting breaks.

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AND FINALLY:

Flight International has been on the ‘Davies’ trail too

From a recent ‘Straight and Level'

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