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<\/p>\nPorter\u2019s presence at both Montreal-area airports gives travellers more flexibility while improving connections between Quebec and the rest of the country, he said.<\/p>\n
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The airline expects the airport to become an increasingly important part of its network. By July, Deluce said, Montreal Metropolitan Airport will rank as Porter\u2019s fourth-largest airport in terms of seats and flights across Canada.<\/p>\n
Bookings for the new service have exceeded expectations, Porter says. <\/p>\n
Charles Roberge, chief executive of YHU Infrastructure Partners, the company that operates the new terminal, said the service was designed to complement the Trudeau airport, which offers both domestic and international flights, and helps accommodate future growth in passenger traffic across the Montreal region.<\/p>\n
Located about 20 kilometres from downtown Montreal and across from the Canadian Space Agency headquarters, the airport was founded in 1927 and has played an important role in the region\u2019s history for nearly a century, Longueuil Mayor Catherine Fournier said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is truly a project that will allow us to connect to the (rest) of Quebec and of Canada,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Fournier said the airport will also support the development of Longueuil\u2019s aerospace-focused innovation zone and increase the region\u2019s attractiveness for businesses looking to establish themselves on the South Shore.<\/p>\n
Quebec Tourism Minister Am\u00e9lie Dionne said the new flights could help bring more visitors to Quebec as domestic travel gains momentum, with some Canadians choosing destinations closer to home over trips to the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re super excited about this new airport,\u201d said Pierre Leclerc, travelling to Toronto with his wife and six-year-old daughter. \u201cWe said we wanted to discover more of Canada this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more options we offer visitors and tourists to come here, the more likely we are to attract them,\u201d said Dionne.<\/p>\n
Dionne noted that Ontario and Atlantic Canada are among Quebec\u2019s most important tourism markets and said the new service will help strengthen those connections.<\/p>\n
Transportation experts, however, say changing long-established travel habits may take time, even if the airport offers a more convenient option for some travellers. <\/p>\n
Porter says its research shows that roughly half of the Montreal area\u2019s population can reach St-Hubert faster than the Trudeau airport, located in Dorval, Que., a city on the Island of Montreal west of downtown.<\/p>\n
Jacques Roy, a professor of operations and logistics at business school HEC Montr\u00e9al, said the new airport could appeal to South Shore residents looking for an alternative to the congestion around the Trudeau airport \u2014 a challenge that has grown in recent years, particularly during peak travel periods. <\/p>\n
Roy added that the airport could provide another option for travellers while they wait for the REM rail link to reach Trudeau, a project expected to be completed by the end of 2027.<\/p>\n
Archie Huang, an assistant professor specializing in transportation planning at Concordia University, said shorter travel times can be appealing, but travellers also weigh factors such as ticket prices, flight frequency and reliability when deciding where to fly from.<\/p>\n
For some passengers, cost was already a deciding factor.<\/p>\n
Dev Lean, who was preparing to board Monday\u2019s inaugural flight to Vancouver, said she chose to fly from St-Hubert after finding a promotional fare that was about $500 cheaper than flying from Trudeau.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s cool to have other options,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2026.<\/p>\n
Charlotte Glorieux, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Porter\u2019s presence at both Montreal-area airports gives travellers more flexibility while improving connections between Quebec and the rest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":738749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-738748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=738748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/738749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=738748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=738748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=738748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}