MK Studios has recently released their rendition of Montréal-Trudeau International Airport (CYUL) for Microsoft Flight Simulator, serving greater Montreal and eastern Ontario with a yearly average of 16 million passengers.

It opened in 1941, replacing Saint-Hubert Airport - Montreal’s former airport - considered inadequate for the city’s needs into the 40s and beyond. It was constructed on land that once was a race track, chosen for its size and generally good weather conditions throughout the year. It also doubled as a military airport for almost twenty years.

In the 70s, the government planned on replacing it with a new, much larger airport - Montreal Mirabel -, then the largest in the world, repurposing YUL as a domestic airport. The whole project was centered around traffic growth that never happened for many reasons, which consequently caused the decline of both Montreal airports over the following decades.

The inconvenience of Mirabel grew larger and larger, to the point they decided to resume international operations in Montreal-Trudeau again in 1997 and charter flights in 2004 (and Mirabel ceased passenger operations entirely in 2004). 

It’s a hub for Air Canada (Barcelona, Bogotá, Brussels, Calgary, Casablanca, Delhi, Denver, Edmonton, Fort-de-France, Frankfurt, Geneva, Halifax, Houston–Intercontinental, Lisbon, London–Heathrow, Los Angeles, Lyon, Mexico City, Miami, Milan–Malpensa, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Pointe-à-Pitre, Providenciales, Rome–Fiumicino, San Francisco, San José de Costa Rica–Juan Santamaría, São Paulo–Guarulhos, Tampa, Tokyo–Narita, Toronto–Pearson, Toulouse, Vancouver, Winnipeg), Air Transat (Cancún, Cayo Coco, Fort Lauderdale, Holguín, Lisbon, London–Gatwick, Lyon, Málaga, Marseille, Miami, Montego Bay, Orlando, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Port-au-Prince, Puerto Plata, Puerto Vallarta, Punta Cana, Samaná, Santa Clara, Toronto–Pearson, Varadero), and OWG (Cayo Coco, Holguín, Santa Clara, Varadero), flying passengers all over the globe. 

The scenery features an accurate rendition of the airport, with LiDAR airport elevation data, custom satellite imagery covering the airport and its surroundings, custom ground polygons, handcrafted 3D models of buildings, jetways, and facilities, realistic night lighting, and more.

It’s available on OrbxDirect for roughly $18.70, requiring at least 5.09 GB of free hard disk space to install.

Stay tuned to Threshold for more flight simulation news!

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