Night flights prohibited in Saint-Hubert | Pursued by Chrono, the airport retaliates

A commitment that never existed and the exaggerated announcement of a death warrant: sued for 146 million by Chrono Aviation after its decision to ban night flights from April 2024, Saint-Hubert airport responds by trying to unbolt the attacks of the Quebec company.

The arguments of the owner and operator of the facilities, Développement Aéroport Saint-Hubert de Longueuil (DASH-L), appear in a sworn statement by its general manager, Yanic Roy.

“I have checked the records and confirm that there is no resolution or settlement by which DASH-L would have undertaken to the plaintiffs not to impose flight restrictions at night,” reads a document. of several hundred pages.

This is how Mr. Roy responds to Chrono Aviation, which alleges, in its legal proceedings, that it chose Saint-Hubert, in the southern suburbs of Montreal, to settle there after having obtained the assurance that it would not there would “never be a curfew or limitation” governing night flights.

According to the Quebec company, the ban on night flights between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. from April 2024 violates the terms of the 30-year lease entered into with DASH-L in 2018. Chrono Aviation claims that this change jeopardizes a contract of approximately 100 million and investments of several tens of millions, in addition to signing his death warrant.

These allegations have yet to be proven in court.

The affidavit of the general manager of DASH-L points to a contradiction in Chrono Aviation’s arguments. If the company anticipates that its “survival” is in “danger”, Mr. Roy points out that LUX Air Services, which is within the perimeter of the complainants, “still has the desire to expand its facilities” in Saint-Hubert.

This refers to an email dated February 7, which was sent to him and signed by the general manager of LUX, François-Luc Jutras. The content of the exchange appears in his affidavit. Mr. Jutras writes that it is necessary to “dissociate” LUX and Chrono, before adding that he wishes to discuss with DASH-L “issues” which “stifle its growth” and which are not related “to a cover -fire “.

An old plane

Since 2019, Chrono has been operating overnight services to Baffin Island twice a week, to take workers from an iron mine there. This is a five-year contract with revenues estimated at 100 million. The problem: she uses a Boeing 737-200. 45 years old, this aircraft is very noisy, but is the only one able to land on a gravel runway. This prompted several hundred complaints from area residents.

Saint-Hubert airport says it warned the complainants, in a letter dated May 12, 2022, of the possibility of restricting commercial night flights in order to give “sufficient time”, i.e. two years, “to Chrono in order to to come up with alternative solutions.

“Since this letter, Chrono has not informed me of any steps or timetables for finding a solution to the inconvenience caused to the population due to their nocturnal activities, preferring the path of confrontation if noise reduction measures were to be taken. come into force,” said Mr. Roy’s statement.

For Saint-Hubert Airport, this legal dispute comes as its growth ambitions become clearer with Porter Airlines planning to build a terminal as part of a $200 million expansion that also includes the furnishing a hotel.

This project, of which The Press revealed the details, was presented on February 28. Towards the end of 2024, Porter, based in Toronto, wants to offer flights from the South Shore to Vancouver, Calgary and Halifax. Ultimately, its terminal should be able to accommodate more than four million passengers annually.