Log in & Sign up
You are not logged in.
Most Commented
Noise complaint is called premature
Airport looks to shift flight paths. Borough mayor accused of being 'political'
IRWIN BLOCK
The Gazette
Friday, April 4, 2008
Dorval resident watches plane land at airport. (GAZETTE file photo)
A threat by Lachine borough mayor Claude Dauphin to do everything he can to prevent new flight paths that might disturb the area's residents is premature and exaggerated, Aéroports de Montréal president James Cherry says.
"I'm sorry he chose to be so political about it," Cherry told members of The Gazette editorial board yesterday, rejecting suggestions airport planners are not being transparent.
"Everything we do is being done openly."
Plans to shift some flights over the industrial area of Lachine are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce noise for residents north of the airport, mainly in Saraguay and Île Paton in Laval.
The project, to be tested in a simulator, would send flights taking off from Dorval between 5:30 and 7 a.m. south over the industrial zone at more than 2,500 feet and head south over the Mercier Bridge.
General plans for the shift were presented to Dauphin and his council at the end of last summer and their comments were taken into account, said Normand Boivin, an Aéroports de Montréal vice-president.
"We told them noise complaints will start before we fly an aircraft over it, and the first one who did it was Mr. Dauphin himself," Boivin said.
"He is complaining about something that doesn't exist."
There are no committed dates to start and then the project will be done on an experimental basis, with microphones on the ground to monitor noise levels.
"We haven't finalized the exact path," Boivin insisted.
Once it is final, the path will be presented to Lachine borough council, airports spokesperson Christiane Beaulieu said.