MET – Montreal Metropolitan Airport (), formerly known as Montréal Saint-Hubert - Longueuil Airport (Aéroport Montréal Saint-Hubert - Longueuil) or Montréal/Saint-Hubert Airport, and still commonly referred to as St-Hubert airport, is located in the Saint-Hubert borough of

Longueuil Longueuil () is a city in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of the Montérégie, Montérégie administrative region and the central city of the urban agglomeration of Longueuil. It sits on the South Shore (Montreal), south shore o ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. The airport is located east of

Downtown Montreal Downtown Montreal (French language, French: ''Centre-Ville de Montréal'') is the central business district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The district is situated on the southernmost slope of Mount Royal, and occupies the western portion of the ...

and east of downtown Longueuil. As of 2023, it is ranked as Canada's 12th busiest airport by aircraft movements. This airport mainly serves travelers to Quebec destinations. The airport is classified as an

airport of entry In general, a port of entry (POE) is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has border security staff and facilities to check passports and visas and to inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not imported. Internatio ...

Nav Canada Nav Canada (styled as NAV CANADA) is a privately run, non-profit corporation that owns and operates Canada's civil air navigation system (ANS). It was established by statute in accordance with the ''Civil Air Navigation Services Commercializati ...

and is staffed by the

Canada Border Services Agency The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA; , ''ASFC'') is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border guard, border control (i.e. protection and surveillance), immigration enforcement, and Customs, customs services in Canada. ...

(CBSA) on a call-out basis from

Montréal–Mirabel International Airport Montréal–Mirabel International Airport , originally called Montréal International Airport, widely known as Mirabel and branded as YMX International Aerocity of Mirabel, is a cargo and former international passenger airport in Mirabel, Queb ...

. CBSA officers at this airport can handle

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

aircraft only, with no more than 15 passengers.

History

Canada became involved in the

Imperial Airship Scheme The British Imperial Airship Scheme was a project conceived in 1924 to improve communication and provide transportation between Great Britain and distant countries of the vast British Empire by establishing regular air service using passenger ...

during the 1926 Imperial Conference, when Prime Minister

William Lyon Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who was the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A Liberal ...

pledged Canada’s assistance to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. Money was set aside for the construction of an airship base, airport and

mooring mast A mooring mast, or mooring tower, is a structure designed to allow for the docking of an airship outside of an airship hangar or similar structure. More specifically, a mooring mast is a mast or tower that contains a fitting on its top that allo ...

in eastern Canada. British experts came over in May 1927 to choose a site; they visited a number of locations in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Quebec and

Atlantic Canada Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (), is the list of regions of Canada, region of Eastern Canada comprising four provinces: New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. As of 2021, the landma ...

, finally settling on a piece of land on the south shore of Montreal, at Saint-Hubert, and officially announcing this decision in August 1927. Work on the airfield began almost immediately and Saint-Hubert’s first airmail delivery took place in November 1927. It was also during the summer of 1927 that the Air Ministry decided to send the

R100 His Majesty's Airship R100 was a privately designed and built British rigid airship made as part of a two-ship competition to develop a commercial airship service for use on British Empire routes as part of the Imperial Airship Scheme. The o ...

to Canada. On August 1, 1930, the R100 airship arrived after what was possibly the first non-stop passenger-carrying powered

flight Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...

across the

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...

to land in Canada. In the late 1930s the airport was used by

Canadian Associated Aircraft Canadian Associated Aircraft was a joint Canadian-United Kingdom project to build Handley Page Hampden aircraft in the late 1930s. History During the build-up to the Second World War, Fairchild Aircraft Ltd. had joined together with five other ...

to build the

Handley Page Hampden The Handley Page HP.52 Hampden is a British twin-engine medium bomber that was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was part of the trio of large twin-engine bombers procured for the RAF, joining the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley and Vickers ...

. Canada’s first

air traffic control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled ai ...

opened at the Saint-Hubert Airport on April 13, 1939. It was Montreal's first and only airport until the opening of Dorval Airport (now

Montréal–Trudeau International Airport Montréal–Trudeau International Airport () or Montréal–Trudeau, formerly known and still commonly referred to as Montréal–Dorval International Airport (''Aéroport international Montréal-Dorval''), is an international airport in Dor ...

) in 1941. Pascan Aviation FBO

The airport was divided into two sides, a

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

side along with the

Pratt & Whitney Canada Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC or P&WC) is a Canada-based aircraft engine manufacturer. PWC's headquarters are in Longueuil, Quebec, south of Montreal. It is a division of the larger US-based Pratt & Whitney (P&W), itself a business unit of RTX ...

facility (facing runway 06L/24R) and a civilian side (facing runway 06R/24L). Today the military base, the former RCAF Station St Hubert, has ceased operations, but the

Armed Forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a ...

still use the base as a garrison comprising the tactical helicopter unit, 438 Squadron, 34

Service Battalion A service battalion (Svc Bn; or ) is a unit of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) that provides combat service support to a brigade group and its elements. It is able to fight in a defensive role as well as provide the vital logistical support to s ...

and 34 Canadian Brigade Group Headquarters. The ex-Pratt & Whitney hangar is owned and operated since 2012 as the largest FBO on the airport by an AvJet branded dealer: CYHU H-18 Services Inc. Their hangar is the newest addition to the FBO network: HUB FBO. Following the new National Airports Policy announced by

Transport Canada Transport Canada () is the Ministry (government department), department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, Policy, policies and Public services, services of road, rail, marine and air Transport in Canada, tra ...

in 1994, ownership of the airport was transferred to a private corporation, ''Développement de l'aéroport Saint-Hubert de Longueuil'' (DASH-L), on September 1, 2004. It was here that the body of Quebec

Minister of Labour Minister of labour (in British English) or labor (in American English) is typically a cabinet-level position with portfolio responsibility for setting national labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, traini ...

and Deputy Premier,

Pierre Laporte Pierre Laporte (; 25 February 1921 – 17 October 1970) was a Canadian lawyer, journalist and politician. He was deputy premier of the province of Quebec when he was kidnapped and murdered by members of the Front de libération du Québec (FL ...

, was found during the

October Crisis The October Crisis () was a chain of political events in Canada that started in October 1970 when members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped the provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte and British diplomat James Cross f ...

of 1970.

Recent upgrades

In 2018, the runway was upgraded to accommodate larger aircraft and attract low cost carriers. It was announced on February 27, 2023 that

Porter Airlines Porter Airlines (stylized in Letter case#All lowercase, all lowercase as porter) is a Canadian airline headquartered at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport in Toronto. It is the third largest airline in Canada, behind Air Canada and WestJet. Owned ...

will develop a new passenger terminal at the airport that is due to be completed in late 2025 and provide domestic flights throughout Canada. In 2024, it was unveiled that Saint-Hubert Airport would be rebranded to the Metropolitan Airport of Montreal (Aéroport métropolitain de Montréal) and use the abbreviation "MET".

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Accidents

* On March 17, 2017, about 13:00 EDT (17:00

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

), a midair collision occurred on the southeastern side of the airport, over the city of

Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville () is an off-island suburb of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada, on the south bank of the Saint Lawrence River just east of Montreal. It lies on the west flank of Mont Saint-Bruno, one of the Monteregian Hill ...

. The two planes collided at an approximate altitude of over the

Promenades Saint-Bruno Promenades St-Bruno (corporately known as CF Promenades St-Bruno) is a two-level shopping mall located in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Quebec, Canada. It has been the largest mall in the Montérégie ever since its opening in 1978 and was expanded ...

, both aircraft being

Cessna 152 The Cessna 152 is an American two-seat, fixed- tricycle-gear, general aviation airplane, used primarily for flight training and personal use. It was based on the earlier Cessna 150 incorporating a number of minor design changes and a slightl ...

owned by Cargair flight training school. One plane crashed on the rooftop of the shopping mall, injuring the pilot. The other crashed in the parking lot, killing the pilot. The owner of Cargair indicated that both pilots involved in the crash were from China.

References

Bibliography

* Jesse, William. "Breaking New Ground: The Canadian Government's First Civil Aerodrome". ''Air Enthusiast'', No. 55, Autumn 1994, pp. 14–15.

External links

Official site (English)Page about this airport
on COPA's ''Places to Fly'' airport directory {{DEFAULTSORT:Montreal St Hubert Airport Airports of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan Transport in Longueuil Buildings and structures in Longueuil Certified airports in Montérégie 1928 establishments in Quebec Airports established in 1928