Montréal has opened a new secondary airport called Montréal Metropolitan Airport, and Porter Airlines is betting big that travelers will embrace convenience over Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.
Porter Airlines Bets Big On New Montréal Airport With 12 Routes
Porter Airlines has launched service from the new Montréal Metropolitan Airport (YHU), giving the Greater Montréal region something it has long lacked: a serious secondary commercial airport option.
The new terminal at Montréal Metropolitan Airport, formerly Montréal Saint-Hubert Airport, opened on June 15, 2026, on the city’s South Shore in Longueuil. Porter is the launch carrier, operating 12 domestic routes within the first week of service. The airport is referred to as MET airport, though like all Canadian airports the IATA code starts with a Y (here, YHU).
The routes include Calgary, Charlottetown, Edmonton, Halifax, Hamilton, Moncton, Quebec City, St. John’s, Toronto City, Toronto Pearson, Vancouver, and Winnipeg. Most routes operate daily, though Toronto gets the highest frequency, with flights to both Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and Toronto Pearson.
| MET routes | Start date | Frequency |
| St. John’s (YYT) | June 15 | 7x weekly |
| Toronto City (YTZ) | June 15 | 27x weekly |
| Toronto Pearson (YYZ) | June 15 | 20x weekly |
| Vancouver (YVR) | June 15 | 14x weekly |
| Edmonton (YEG) | June 16 | 7x weekly |
| Calgary (YYC) | June 17 | 7x weekly |
| Halifax (YHZ) | June 17 | 14x weekly |
| Charlottetown (YYG) | June 18 | 7x weekly |
| Winnipeg (YWG) | June 18 | 7x weekly |
| Moncton (YQM) | June 19 | 7x weekly |
| Hamilton (YHM) | June 22 | 14x weekly |
Hardly a conservative launch for Porter!
The new terminal is about 21,000 square meters (about 226,000 square feet) and includes nine boarding bridges, 28 check-in counters, and capacity for up to four million passengers annually. Porter will use a mix of Embraer E195-E2 jets and De Havilland Dash 8-400 turboprops, which makes sense for a network combining short regional hops and longer coast-to-coast flying.
Porter built its brand at Toronto Billy Bishop by offering a more pleasant airport experience. Beyond the smaller airport and calmer terminal, there was civility to the service, with lounges in the gate and service onboard that included real glassware for all passengers (my favorite part of flying Porter). Now it is trying a version of that formula in Montréal.
Of course, the comparison is not perfect. Billy Bishop is uniquely located near downtown Toronto. MET is not downtown Montréal, but it is close enough to be useful for much of the region and more convenient to many Montreal residents than Montréal-Trudeau.
If Porter can make MET feel fast, easy, and pleasant, this could work.
CONCLUSION
Porter Airlines is launching 12 domestic routes from the new MET – Montréal Metropolitan Airport terminal, creating a new secondary airport option in Montréal.
I love this. Porter has shown in Toronto that a smaller airport can become a competitive advantage when paired with thoughtful service and the right aircraft.
Montréal-Trudeau is not going anywhere. It remains the main international gateway and the obvious airport for longhaul flights, Air Canada connections, and most international service. The question is whether Montréal travelers will embrace MET as a true alternative to Trudeau. If the airport is easy, efficient, and reliable, I suspect many will.
Porter is excellent. No middle seats. YTZ is awesome. E2s are excellent. Mr. Porter (racoon mascot) is so cool. I signed up for their emails, just so I can get the clip-art with him doing cool things with his friends (a moose, duck, etc.)
They just sent one this morning: “Add Austin to your playlist” and it’s got Mr. Porter dressed up playin’ a guitar with his little armadillo friend.. aww…
I flew Porter IAD-Billy Bishop recently and was underwhelmed. Yes, real glassware in premium economy, but the white wine was room temperature. Billy Bishop is a great airport to navigate, but it come at the cost of listening to a turboprop whilst one gets there.
We’ll see about YHU – as long as it has few flights, I expect it will be more manageable than YUL. Given that I plan to return to Newfoundland, I will give it a try using AS points.
How was your snack/meal, or was the flight too short?
Well, IAD-Billy Bishop was too short for a meal.
Ottawa – St. Johns, NL, a couple of days later was mediocre. Indeed, proper glassware in premium economy (a few more miles with AS redemptions, but did not have to pay for luggage). But bamboo cutlery and cold food in supermarket style waxed cardboard containers was not premium. My aircraft likely did not have food heating capacity in the galley.
On balance it was merely adequate.
And they are a strong AS redemption partner.
I think the proper glassware is still in economy too, no?
I think so, but did not see for myself.
Premium Economy on the Bombadiers is maybe 8 or 12 seats – catering glassware for it but not for regular economy would seem silly. The products are not, after all, so different. Indeed, I paid a few more AS miles(IIRC 1500) to get free baggage.
Would you like some cheese with your whine? Bah! At least you found the AS points are a good use with Porter!
They’re really growing well, especially with their E2s. They’ve built a sizeable secondary operation at YOW (Ottawa) and are providing some healthy competition to AC on some point-to-point routes. Hopefully they can keep it going.
Hopefully they do not overdo it – I know AC was very angry about the fuel bailout and is praying that Porter is growing to fast and will run into huge finaical issues. I’m rooting for Porter to succeed (and also Air Canada).
Agreed on the E2s. (And, they lucked out by not going with a220s, because the P&W debacle may stretch on for years. Poor B6, DL, Swiss, etc.)
They need to open up St. Hubert for U.S. service as well. The Canadian Competition Bureau recommend ending YUL’s monopoly last year.
Interesting point. I didn’t even know that St. Hubert was domestic-only.
Well, I expect they will open up transborder only if there is customs preclearance.
It is true that St-Hubert Airport (now officially rebranded as Montréal Metropolitan Airport) is currently operating as a domestic-only airport. Because it bypasses the mandatory customs, border control checkpoints, and security architecture required for transborder travel, it cannot handle scheduled U.S. or international flights. For the time being, YHU executives and its primary anchor tenant, PD, designed the terminal’s strategy to focus exclusively on domestic Canadian routes to avoid the immediate costs and layout complexities of international processing.
Not all Canadian airports start with Y, though most do. ZBF, AKV, ZWL are certainly out there getting regional flights.
Of course this is not the first time Montréal has had a second airport. Montréal–Mirabel International Airport was intended to eventually replace Dorval Airport (now Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport) as the international gateway to eastern Canada. From 1975 to 1997, all (non-U.S.) international flights to and from Montréal were required to use Mirabel. If Mirabel had ever grown to occupy all of the land that was originally expropriated for it, it would have been the largest airport in the world by surface area.
True… Montréal–Mirabel International Airport opened in 1975 to replace Montreal’s older airport [the existing Dorval Airport (now Montréal–Trudeau International Airport)], but the grand vision ultimately failed due to a remote location, a lack of transport links, and airline industry shifts. Passenger operations permanently ceased in 2004, leaving it as a billion-dollar white elephant. Following the end of passenger flights, the abandoned terminal became famously known as a “ghost town,” serving as a backdrop for movies like The Terminal (2004). Today, the facility operates primarily as a cargo airport.
For aviation enthusiasts → The PD aircraft featured in the article’s photo is an E195-E2 (age: 3.4 years). It is currently en route from YVR to YUH.
*Corrected Comment*
For aviation enthusiasts → The PD aircraft featured in the article’s photo is an E195-E2 (age: 3.8 years). It is currently parked at YEG.
Greetings to PD from Toronto, Montréal and YHU!
Rename this airport after Justin Trudeau?
Then OAK can learn a thing a or two.