page_title: Montréal–Mirabel International Airport
section_title: Architecture and layout
hierarchical_section_title: Montréal–Mirabel International Airport / Architecture and layout
caption_attribution_description: English: Diagram of Montréal-Mirabel International Airport Installations, built and unbuilt (the A-50 extension to Gatineau was completed in 2012)
context_page_description: Montréal–Mirabel International Airport, originally called Montréal International Airport, widely known as Mirabel and branded as YMX International Aerocity of Mirabel, is a cargo and former international passenger airport in Mirabel, Quebec, Canada, 21 nautical miles northwest of Montreal. It opened on October 4, 1975, and the last commercial passenger flight took off on October 31, 2004.
  The main role of the airport today is cargo flights, but it is also home to MEDEVAC and general aviation flights, and is a manufacturing base for Bombardier Aerospace and Airbus Canada, where final assembly of regional jet aircraft and the Airbus A220 is conducted. The former passenger terminal apron is now a racing course, and the terminal building was demolished in 2016.
  Prior to the demolition of the terminal, Montréal–Mirabel International Airport was classified as an airport of entry by Nav Canada and was staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency. A smaller AOE is still available at the Hélibellule FBO It was one of two airports in Canada with sufficient right-of-way that can be expanded to accommodate 50 million passengers per year, the other being Toronto Pearson International Airport.
context_section_description: Mirabel was designed to be eventually expanded to six runways and six terminal buildings, with a separate STOLport also planned. The expansion was supposed to occur in a number of phases and be completed by 2025. However, the airport never got beyond the first phase of construction, and by October 2005 runway 11/29 was closed leaving only runway 06/24 operational. In December 2009 runway 11/29 reopened with a length of 2,700 m (8,800 ft) and in April 2012 was restored to its 3,700 m (12,000 ft) length.
  From the furthest reach of the parking lot to the airplane seat, one can walk as little as 200 m (656 ft). A train station was also built in the basement for the planned TRRAMM Commuter rail service by Société de transport de Montréal (CTCUM), right below the main passenger concourse (and more recently Agence métropolitaine de transport, successor to CTCUM, had planned to extend the Saint-Jérôme line to the airport.)
  The airport was designed by architects Papineau Gérin-Lajoie Le Blanc, who met at McGill's School of Architecture in the 1950s (under the tutelage of John Bland), founded their company in 1960, and parted ways in 1973 before the airport opened its doors after Papineau and another architect, Gordon Buchanan Edwards, left the firm. Mirabel's terminal carried over the bureau's award-winning Expo 67 Quebec pavilion design. A minimalist dark glass box sitting on top of a concrete bunker housing maintenance services, the terminal was hailed as an architectural triumph when it first opened.
  Passengers walked as little as 100 m (328 ft) going from the curb to the gate. Once there, passengers would be transported to their aircraft by Passenger Transfer Vehicles (PTVs), rather than walking through jetways. The PTVs, similar to those at Washington Dulles International Airport, ran from the terminal to the aircraft parking spot on the ramp. It was reported by Radio-Canada/Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that each of these vehicles had cost up to C$ 400,000 at the time. To eventually make connections between flights easier, the terminal also included a few jetways, in a smaller concourse called the Aeroquay, accessible via a tunnel and later connected directly to the main concourse.
caption: Plan of Mirabel Airport showing built and unbuilt facilities
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