The authority that manages the Montreal international airport is asking the courts to prevent the Saint-Hubert airport from being called “Montreal Metropolitan Airport”, because this new name could sow confusion among travelers.
But the Saint-Hubert airport accuses the Montreal-Trudeau International Airport of trying to protect a “monopoly”.
Aéroports de Montréal (ADM), which operates Montréal-Trudeau, is seeking a permanent injunction from the Superior Court to force this new Montréal Metropolitan Airport to change its name.
Formerly known as “Montreal Saint-Hubert Airport,” this airport changed its name earlier this year after announcing a partnership with Porter Airlines for a new $200 million terminal that could accommodate up to four million travelers. nationals per year.
Eric Forest, spokesperson for ADM, maintains that the name “Montreal Metropolitan Airport” on the South Shore of Montreal is too similar to that of the international airport, located in Dorval and in the Saint-Laurent borough of Montreal . The international airport transported more than 21 million passengers in 2023.
The ADM refused to share its request for an injunction, but Mr. Forest indicated in an email that it was “first and foremost concerned by the confusion that this change could cause for passengers, from Montreal and from ‘elsewhere, considering the very great similarities between the appellations’.
He adds that the ADM had expressed its opposition to the name change “as soon as it was announced”. After failing to reach a negotiated agreement, the ADM decided to take the matter to court. Furthermore, the ADM is also opposed to this name because the Montreal Metropolitan Airport is located on the South Shore of Montreal and not on the island of Montreal.
But Simon-Pierre Diamond, vice-president of Montreal Metropolitan Airport, counters that the facility, also known as “MET,” claims the right to bear the name Montreal because it is in fact closer than Montréal-Trudeau in the city center of the metropolis.
Mr. Diamond argues that many large cities have more than one airport and that the “MET” – which previously catered more to flight schools and local pilots of small planes – will also serve commercial passengers transiting through the region. Montreal.
“ADM does not have a monopoly on airports for Montrealers and we believe that it is our right to bear this name,” he declared in an interview. There’s a new player in town, and fighting in court over a name to protect a monopoly is not a good way to play. »
The new “MET” terminal, which will be located about fifteen kilometers from downtown Montreal, should open its doors in the summer of 2025.