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June 16, 2016Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau Spotting Guide
at - last modified on May 12, 2019
Montreal is the largest airport in the province of Quebec. Located 15km west of the city, the Pierre-Elliott Trudeau owes its name to a popular politician who was twice prime minister and who undertook significant changes in its terms. The complex, located in the small city of Dorval, has a large terminal located west oriented between 24L-06R and 24R-06L which it is intersected by a shorter 28-10 parallel tracks. In the center of the two parallel tracks maintenance center Air Canada.
Always between two parallel but to the east is the factory Bombardier aircraft manufacturing with assembly private planes like “Challenger” chain. Southeast is a small general aviation terminal and messaging, with some specific flights including air bridge to the northern city carrying labor mines. The runway use is determined by the wind, 24L-06R generally used for departures, 24R-06L for arrivals. The 28-10 are rarely used and demand for small regional aircraft if a strong wind dictates. Airlines Air Canada, Air Canada Express, Air Canada Rouge and Air Transat have established their base in Montreal, as the charters Sunwings and Westjet. Other companies Raglan, First Air, Air Inuit, Air Creebeq and Canadian North also operate regular flights from the ground. From the USA, American, United, Delta insure their rotations using models “short haul”.
Long distance flights mainly from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa are operated by Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, Qatar, Royal Jordanian, Royal Air Moroc, Air Algerie and Tunis Air. There are no pure cargo business, except occasionally flights transporting heavy equipment for the needs of the Bombardier plant. The freight operations are concentrated in Mirabel, the old airport. Perspective traffic, a rush of departures was observed in the morning between 7 and 9 with regional companies. Then from 11am these flights return to mingling with many long-haul and large aircraft. Between 15 and 18h are incessant departures as small as large appliances and the day ends with the return of the regional fleet until the nightfall. Throughout the day, business flights are added as test flights of new aircraft manufactured by Bombardier on the site and deliveries.
Written by Cédric Valence, Severin Hackenberger, Thomas Okaty, Marcus and Robert Haentschel (some pics provided). Last visit May 2019.
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| Airport Informations | Runways | 06L/24R | 06R/24L | 10/28 |
| 3.353 m (11,000 ft) | 2.926 m (9,600 ft) | 2.134 m (7,000 ft) | ||
| Terminals | Terminal A | Terminal C | ||
| Air Canada, Air Transat, Westjet, Sunwing, all carriers | Air Canada, Air Transat, Westjet, Sunwing, American, Delta, United | |||
| Spotting Informations | Ladder | Not necessery but better for locations 1, 2, 5 and 10 | ||
| Car | You need a car to go to 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10. If you don’t stay at the Holiday Inn Express you need a car to get to 1, 2 and 3. | |||
| Restrooms | Only available at airport for spot 7. | |||
| Drinks/Food | Only available at airport for spot 7. Some fast food restaurants can be found along Autoroute Cote de Liesse. | |||
| Hotels | Holiday Inn Express, Sheraton Montreal Airport and the Aloft Montreal Airport about 10-15 min walk from points 1, 2 and 3, free shuttle to/from airport | |||
| Season | Winters are very cold with snow, best from May to September. | |||
| Runway Usage | 06L/24R | Mainly for arrivals. Editor Note: During the last visit (May 2019, 2 consecutive days) this runway was only used when it got too crowded on 06R/24L. | ||
| 06R/24L | Mainly for departures and local (GAT) arrivals. Editor Note: During the last visit (May 2019, 2 consecutive days) it was the main runway in use for both arrivals and departures. | |||
| 10/28 | Light aviation and regional flights | |||
  | Spot #1 and #2 – End of Avenue Jenkins |
|---|---|
| WHERE | At the end of Avenue Jenkins, there is a large field. It’s possible to join the fence and take pictures of movements on 24L-06R at spot #1. It’s not absolutely necessary because you’re over the fence, but need a chair or a little ladder if you want to take pictures without the fence in the bottom of your shot. You may park your car along the street. |
| WHAT | It’s spossible to take pictures or arrivals and departures on runway 06R, there is a fantastic background with the airport and the Canadair hangars. You also may take pictures of the taxi to 24L but there are heat hases due to the runway at the front. For the departures 24L, prefer walking to point n°2, there is a stone mont and climb to take good pictures of departures with good degagement. Heavy airplanes are in a good angle but light are a little hight. park alont the street. |
| TIME | From sunrise till 13:00 |
| MISC. | There is no toilet and no shop, take your dispositions before going there. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | A320 @ 65mm at point 1 and 180mm at point 2. |
Examples @ point 1: Arrivals and departures runway 06R
Examples @ point 2: departures 24L from the large field close of the street
 | Spot #3 – Park Jacques-de-Lesseps |
|---|---|
| WHERE | This park is an official spotting location. It is located on Avenue Jenkins (Ave Jenkins and Ave Halpern intersection), which runs parallel to runway 06R/24L. There is no designated parking lot, but you can park your car roadside. In the northwestern corner of the park, you will find a dedicated spotting mound, which clears the airport fence. The park also offers a number of benches, however, there are none on the mound, so if you can, consider bringing a chair. If the mound is too crowded, which can easily happen on the weekend, or if you only carry a long telephoto lens, then you can also stand on the bleachers near the center of the park, which are farther back from the airport fence, however, you might have the airport fence in the bottom part of your frame now as they are not as high as the mound. |
| WHAT | All movements on runway 06R/24L and taxiway A. All aircrafts, which come from or go to the main terminal use this taxiway when either 06R is being used for arrivals or 24L is operative for departures. Aircrafts which are being towed to/from the Air Canada maintenance facility use taxiway A as well. Heat haze can be an issue on the taxiway. |
| TIME | From sunrise until early afternoon. |
| MISC. | Park along the street. No stores or restaurants in walking distance, so bring everything you need. Also, no restrooms, no shade and no shelter! |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 50-200 mm for runway, up to 400 mm for taxiway A. |
Examples of departures 24L, arrivals and departures 06R are in the fence.
 | Spot #4 – Approach 24R |
|---|---|
| WHERE | Drive to Boulevard Côte-Vertu and then turn right into the Rue Percival and you’ll arrive at the approach lights of runway 24R. Park on the road in construction. |
| WHAT | Approach 24R only |
| TIME | Morning until noon. You may walk in the other side of lights when the sun turned. |
| MISC. | There is no toilet and no shop, take your dispositions before going there. Spotters have been approached by Security to leave this spot. Easily move over to spot 9 and go on. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | Use 50mm for a 777 and 100mm for A320. |
 | Spot #5 – Chemin Saint-François |
|---|---|
| WHERE | This spot is located at the end of Chemin Saint-François, which is a dead end road and you can easily park along the road. This spot isn’t an exact positions, rather an area along the fence, depends on what moment you wanna take pictures of. |
| WHAT | Departures 06L and 24R are great from here. In case of arrivals on runway 24R; some airplanes leave the runway earlier, but bigger airplanes always ride on the runway in front of you – depends on the exact position you’re standing at, too. |
| TIME | From 3PM till sunset. |
| MISC. | There is no toilet and no shop, take your dispositions before going there. Ladder is quite useful, otherwise you can use things like a car to get higher, so over the fence, but it will still disturb the pictures! Security pass by but don´t care about us. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | B767-300 about 120mm |
 | Spot #6 – Park Westwood |
|---|---|
| WHERE | Starting at the airport drive right/westwards into the Avenue Cardinal and after you have passed a golf course turn right into the Avenue Thorncrest. Follow this road to its end and you stand directly infront of a hill and a garden community. There are some parking lots to your right. |
| WHAT | Best spot for 06L arrivals in the morning. Line up for 06L may possible too. |
| TIME | Morning until noon for the arrivals. |
| MISC. | There is no toilet and no shop, take your dispositions before going there. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | unknown |
 | Spot #7 – Airport’s Parking |
|---|---|
| WHERE | Across from the airport’s terminal, there is a parking garage. Take the lift to the highest floor or – if arriving by car – park your car right next to you on the deck. NOTE: During our last visit (May 2019), after about half an hour of spotting, we were approached by airport police, who informed us that photography is not permitted from the parking garage, and asked us to leave unless we had a reason to park the car! |
| WHAT | You’ll take good shots of landings 06R and taxi for departures 06R. If runway 24L is in use for arrivals, you may shoot some airplanes using the last taxiway but you’ll miss a lot because airplanes usually use a taxiway before. Departures on 24L may be shot there but airplanes are already fairly high in climb. Heat haze can be a problem if planes parked at the concourse have engines or APU running. |
| TIME | From 11AM till evening. |
| MISC. | There are shops, food and restrooms in the terminal (about 5 minute walk). |
| FOCAL LENGTH | B737-800 on the taxiway about 220mm Approach 06R : A320 about 75mm |
 | Spot #8 – Storage Halls – 24R arrivals |
|---|---|
| WHERE | Between the Route Transcanadienne and the Autoroute Comedey you will find the Chemin Saint-François Street. This road leads you through a industrial area and some storage halls. If you drive on this road into south-western direction you’ll cross the Autoroute Comedey. Just 250m after this you should see a high mast on your right (just in the curve). Park your car nearby and come back to the meadow. Choose your favourite position, this depends on the angle you like the most! |
| WHAT | Arrivals on runway 24R only. |
| TIME | This position is only usable from February to mid-November, due lighting. Otherwise you’ll be fine from 3.30 p.m. until sunset. |
| MISC. | If you drive back the Chemin Saint-François for about 600m you’ll find a gas station on your left. There you can get something to eat and there you’ll find restrooms, too. Ladder is not needed here. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 24-200mm |
 | Spot #9 – Blvd. Pitfield – 24R arrivals |
|---|---|
| WHERE | Close to spot 4 and an alternative for hassle-free spotting you can move to the dead-end road Boulevard Pitfield. It is just on the other side of the motorway 13. You can enter it from Boulevard de la Cote Vertu. Parking is easy, so just find your preferred position. If you stay close to company DHB you have the advantage to see the aircrafts quite early. |
| WHAT | Arrivals on runway 24R only. |
| TIME | Morning until noon. |
| MISC. | There is nothing around, so take whatever you need with you. Be aware of light poles. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | Depending on your position between 100-300mm |
 | Spot #10 – Dead end road – 24L arrivals |
|---|---|
| WHERE | Coming from Avenue Cote de Liesse turn right into Avenue Renaud and take the next right into Avenue Ryan. It is just a 100 meters long dead end road. Park your car here and wait for aircrafts. Sometimes taxi drivers take a nap in their car here, so please be silent… |
| WHAT | Arrivals on runway 24L only. 24L landing might be used by special airlines like Raglan or Nolinor as their hangars are closeby. Also from time to time 24R is closed during the day. |
| TIME | Morning until noon. |
| MISC. | No food, no restrooms. There is a 1,80 meter fence which might disturb. A small ladder could be helpful. Or just use your car as an elevation. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | 200 – 300mm |
10 Comments
Hey,
great guide!
can anyone advise how these amazing photos of de-icing you see online are made from?
thank you!
Hi Bjoern, I have never been there but I guess it was around that corner 45.467277, -73.744187. It is directly infront of the deicing platform. Access should be possible from Boulevard Cote-Vertu Ouest.
-Julian
There’s another spot we call Bombardier (as it’s behind the assembly plant). You go on Côte Vertu Ouest, pass pitfield and over highway 13, turn left into a small gravel road and it’ll lead you to a dead end. Park your car and experience VERY close taxiing on Alpha for RWY 24L.
Hi Giulio,
Apologies for missing your comment back in November – better late than never, we would like to add this location to the guide.
Would you be able to provide us with some sample shots and an overview shot from the location you have mentioned? Is the location still good (accessible)? I have seen a lot of construction all over the place around the airport while I was there a few days ago …
Thanks,
Thomas
Hi all,
some small updates concerning YUL:
Runway Use: In case 06 is in use, flights for the GAT will use 06R for their arrivals (exceptions may exist of course).
Hotels: alternative hotels in the airport area are the Sheraton Montreal Airport and the Aloft Montreal Airport. Both have free shuttle from the Terminal (Departure Level). Both are in walking distance from spots #1, 2 and 3 (about 15min walk).
Some rooms at the Sheraton even allow spotting from the room; photographing is difficult due to double-glassed, coloured windows.
Spot #3: As mentioned in a previous comment; a small hill is provided now, what is ideal for photographers (and I would give preference over spots #1 and 2). You are over the fence; just at wide body aircraft, a very small line of the fence might be visible on bottom of the picture.
Light is good from early morning till 15:00 absolutely latest. The hill is visible when you zoom into the google earth photo on top of this guide.
Heat haze can be an issue for aircrafts using the rear taxiway (e.g. to/from RWY24).
Spot #4: I have been told by a locals that it does not exist any longer, but have not checked it myself.
Spot #7: Heat haze can be a problem if planes parked at the concourse have engines or APU running.
All above noted early September 2018.
Regards,
Andreas
Hi Andreas, thanks for your feedback which I have included into the guide.
-Julian
[…] not sure how good they are. Before you go spotting to the airport, though, I recommend checking out this guide which has some information about many of the other spots around the airport as […]
Hello all, I have a quick question. Anyone interested in photographing my A-330 (Air canada) on return from Rome (AC893 on April 27 th estimated landing time 14:30 hres)?
Regards
Marc Arsenault
I went yesterday on location 4. I met some spotter there, and 1 was particularly nice and gave me a few info worth sharing. Due to WIP on the taxiway, the 06R will be used for arrival, and 24L for the departure until June.
Location is great for and even I had good light until 3-15pm
[…] YUL is located on Montreal Island, 20 km from Montreal Downtown in Quebec province. With its three runways it handles about 15.5 million passengers per year with total of 232K+ aircraft movements. Popular airlines there are Air Canada, Air Transat, Sunwing Airlines and Air Canada Rouge. But, certainly, there are many more airlines you can spot in YUL. Montreal Trudeau is a nice place for planespotting. Besides using our spotter-friendly timetables we recommend also review detailed planespotter guide at SpotterGuide.net. […]