During the 2000s, Dorval was renovated and expanded, which enabled it to handle the passenger levels that the Trudeau government initially claimed would require two airports.

Massive construction projects, including the Montreal Metro and those linked with the hosting of Expo 67, brought the city international status.

[12][13] Optimistic about the city's future and its continuing ability to attract more and more visitors, government officials decided to build a new airport that would be more than able to absorb increased passenger traffic well into the 21st century.

However, Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa, who had a frosty relationship with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, reportedly did not want such an important project to be placed so close to the provincial border fearing the exodus of airport workers to Ontario.

The Bourassa government preferred that the new airport be situated in Drummondville (100 km (62 mi) to the east where it could be a gateway to Quebec City as well as Montreal.

[12][13] In March 1969, the federal and provincial governments reached a compromise to locate at the St. Scholastique site, and proposals were drawn up to expropriate 39,250 hectares (97,000 acres), an area larger than the entire city of Montreal.

[14] Urban rail transit – the system was to be capable of speeds from 100 to 120 kilometres per hour (62 to 75 mph) for the Montréal–Mirabel run – initially to be called TRRAMM (Transport Rapide Régional Aéroportuaire Montréal–Mirabel), was intended to be completed at a later date.

The federal, provincial, and municipal governments never managed to find enough cash to fund the highly ambitious and expensive rapid transit project.

Thus, Mirabel was forced to cope with an inadequate road system and non-existent rail transit, supplemented only by express buses.

Many international airlines, faced with the stark economic reality of operating two eastern Canadian points of entry, opted to bypass Montreal altogether and shifted their routes to Toronto Pearson with its straightforward domestic and US connections.

Supporters of making Mirabel the sole international airport of Montreal pointed out that it had the capacity to be expanded significantly to meeting growing future demand, unlike Dorval.

They also noted that Dorval could be closed and its land be developed for prime real estate, and some of the profits could go towards improving access routes to Mirabel and/or the airport itself.

The initial location of Mirabel was supposed to be a major justification for the project not only because of its expansion room but also the afforded buffer, which would significantly reduce noise pollution in urban areas.

With very little and then no airline service, and with many empty spaces inside its terminal, Mirabel was the setting of several movies, TV series, and commercials for many years.

In 2006, I-Parks Creative Industries, a French firm that specializes in the creation of urban tourist attractions, and Oger International SA, the global engineering company owned by the family of slain former Lebanese prime minister and entrepreneur Rafik Hariri, entered into an agreement to turn Mirabel into a theme park.

[23] In December 2006, in a move he called "correcting a historical injustice", Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the return of 4,450 ha of farmland expropriated to build Mirabel airport.

Harper said he was pleased to finish the work started by former prime minister, Brian Mulroney, who unlocked a major parcel of expropriated land during his first term in office in 1985.

[5][28] In August 2008, the former Agence métropolitaine de transport said it was willing to extend its commuter rail service to the airport if passenger traffic were to return.

In July 2010, the ADM confirmed that I-Parks Creative Industries's long-delayed AeroDream project was dead, officially cancelling it.

From 2011, the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, drag racing, and other forms of motorsport began running on the airport's runways and surrounding areas, on what is known as Circuit ICAR.

[30] On May 1, 2014, Aeroports de Montréal confirmed that Mirabel Airport's terminal building would be demolished, citing its high maintenance cost as a reason, as well as its facilities being unfit for commercial aviation needs and lacking any economic viability.

[31][32][33] Mirabel Mayor Jean Bouchard was disappointed as the demolition would result in a significant loss of tax revenues for his municipality.

The adjacent abandoned Chateau Aeroport hotel, and its connecting terminal skyway, were left standing, albeit in a deteriorating state.

[37] On July 11, 2016, Aéroports de Montréal announced that Pama Manufacturing planned to build a medical supply plant on a part of the 400,000 m2 (4,300,000 sq ft) site of the former passenger terminal complex, and that Mirajet was building an airpark at the foot of the air traffic control tower with 20 hangars available for lease to civil and business aviation clients.

[38] On May 9, 2019, Aéroports de Montréal announced that the airport would be renamed as 'YMX International Aerocity of Mirabel' as part of ADM's new branding.

On January 30, 2020, Mirabel airport became a Class C airspace twelve years after becoming a flight service station due to a resurgence in air traffic volume.

The airport was designed by architects Papineau Gérin-Lajoie Le Blanc, who met at McGill's School of Architecture in the 1950s (under the tutelage of John Bland), founded their company in 1960, and parted ways in 1973 before the airport opened its doors after Papineau and another architect, Gordon Buchanan Edwards, left the firm.

A minimalist dark glass box sitting on top of a concrete bunker housing maintenance services, the terminal was hailed as an architectural triumph when it first opened.

The PTVs, similar to those at Washington Dulles International Airport, ran from the terminal to the aircraft parking spot on the ramp.

[41] TRRAMM (Transport Rapide Régional Aéroportuaire Montréal-Mirabel) was a planned airport rail link between Mirabel and downtown Montreal.