Saint-Hubert Airport | Changing of the guard under tension

Another dispute broke out at the Saint-Hubert airport, where the tenants united against the operator of the facilities, accusing him of wanting at all costs to hire a general manager with an engineering background rather than a seasoned airline industry manager.

Julien Arsenault
The Press

Airmedic, Cargair/Max Aviation, Chrono Aviation, Nolinor and Air Richelieu College are among the ten signatories of a letter sent to the board of directors of Développement Aéroport Saint-Hubert de Longueuil (DASH-L), which The Press was able to consult, in which they express their incomprehension with regard to the turn of events.

“It appears that the will of the selection committee is to target more an engineer profile rather than an individual with a strong experience of aviation in Canada, which is very worrying”, is it written in the missive dated from April 13th.

Managing director for about four years, Jane Foyle, a seasoned airline industry manager, will step down as the nonprofit’s chief executive at the end of the month. The circumstances of his departure were not specified. DASH-L has retained the services of a headhunting firm to replace her.

This litigation is in addition to the disagreement between DASH-L and the National Aerotechnical School surrounding the renewal of the lease of the technical training center and which ended up in court.

It also comes against the backdrop of consultations on the future of the airport’s development announced by the Mayor of Longueuil, Catherine Fournier, and Bloc Québécois MP Denis Trudel (Longueuil–Saint-Hubert).

By email, Mr.^me Fournier said he was following “closely” the files concerning the airport located in the southern suburbs of Montreal, but did not comment on the discord between DASH-L and its tenants.

Bridges to rebuild

After “years of bad relations”, the tenants of the Saint-Hubert airport believe that the next person appointed to general management must have good knowledge of the industry and good contacts with the levels of government in order to “rebuild several bridges.

“We understand that DASH-L wants to build a terminal on the airport site and we are for that,” says Chrono Aviation vice-president Dany Gagnon.

Tenant of a hangar at the airport, Nolinor deplores a very “opaque” process.

“We signed the letter to ask for more transparency,” says the president of the air carrier, Marco Prud’homme. “It’s nice to see that the letter has been signed by several people. »

DASH-L is the operator and owner of the Saint-Hubert airport. The organization cherishes the ambition to establish its development by attracting low-cost companies to offer regional and national flights and to sun destinations.

The signatories of the letter wonder how the profile sought by the airport manager will be able to bring together the “stakeholders” around such a project to obtain social acceptability. On many occasions over the past few years, the issue of noise has been a source of irritation for the neighbourhood. The next general manager of DASH-L will therefore have his work cut out for him in this regard.

“We invite you to reassess your selection criteria so that the next incumbent can enable [l’aéroport] to take its big leap forward”, ask the signatories.

Confidential

Reached by phone by The Press, the chairman of the board of directors of DASH-L, Charles Vaillancourt, did not want to go into the details of the dispute. He limited himself to saying that “several information in the letter is false” and that the process in progress was “confidential”.

“There was a breach of confidentiality, and we find that extremely deplorable,” he said. People who were aware of the process had an obligation to respect this confidentiality. I regret that it is made public in this way. I will not go into the details of the letter. »

The circumstances surrounding the departure of Mr.^me Foyle were not specified. Mr. Vaillancourt indicated that the “relations” between certain tenants and the “current DG” were tense. In his opinion, “things are currently going well” with the companies based in Saint-Hubert.

There are 11 directors at DASH-L. Three positions are unfilled.