Overseas Flights Move To Dorval

<I>Montreal</I> - A proposal to transfer international flights from Mirabel Airport to Dorval Airport later this year will go ahead as planned despite an unsuccessful attempt to keep the former as Montreal's primary international airport.

Michel Frechette, a spokesman for Aeroports de Montreal, the local not-for-profit authority that operates both airports, said the transfer is expected to take place in September. About 80 percent of the international carriers now located at Mirabel, located about 35 miles northwest of the city, have agreed to transfer to Dorval, which handles Montreal's domestic and transborder flights.

Initially, international flights will use a temporary facility at Dorval while a new permanent wing, set to open in 1999, is built.

In February, a Quebec court halted the airport authority's efforts to transfer international flights to Dorval after Mirabel officials opposed the move. A higher court overturned that ruling.

Frechette said ADM is anxious to move all flights to Dorval--which is only 20 minutes from downtown Montreal--because it wants to be able to attract more international travelers from the United States. While Mirabel has been Montreal's primary international airport and a Canadian gateway to Europe, the facility's driving distance from the city has been an inconvenience to transborder travelers who arrive at Dorval, which is closer to the downtown area anyway.

"The market is changing very fast, and we want to benefit from the open skies situation between Canada and the U.S.," he said.

Because open skies has increased dramatically the number of flights between various U.S. cities and Montreal, the local authority hopes that passengers originating from the United States will use Montreal as a gateway to Europe, Frechette said. But if U.S. passengers have to transfer from Dorval to Mirabel, using Montreal would not be viable, he said.