A little history
The Montreal-Mirabel International Airport (YMX), located in Mirabel, 45 km north of Montreal, has been in a long decline since its opening and has been converted into a cargo airport since the last passenger flight in 2004. Nowadays, it is only used for air cargo, flight schools, regional airlines, aircraft manufacturers (Bombardier and Airbus) and companies related to aircraft maintenance located on the airport site.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Montreal Mirabel International Airport (YMX) hosted many large airshows attracting large crowds to its tarmac. The last one was held in May 1997 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first supersonic flight. It featured the Blue Angels of the US Navy and was attended by approximately 30,000 people. After a 25-year hiatus, Montreal Mirabel International Airport (YMX) hosted the Volaria Aeronautic Festival, a new major aviation event on September 24 and 25, 2022.
Initially scheduled for the year 2020, the festival had to be postponed due to the worldwide pandemic that greatly affected airshows. The year 2021 still had too many health uncertainties in Quebec and it was decided to postpone the event to 2022. This gave the organizing committee three years to continue developing the project and put in place all the elements of the festival that finally took place this year.
The challenge of creating a new event from scratch
The organizers had a large playground at their disposal to set up the site of their aeronautical festival for the first time and the logistical challenge was significant, as everything had to be done. The ICAR site is large, spectators could walk about 1 km from one end of the site to the other and it offered the advantage of easily accommodating all the elements of the festival.
A high calibre job fair
Among the themed areas we were able to visit, the festival included a first-of-its-kind Aerospace Job and Training Fair, which was clearly the largest of its kind we've ever seen at such an event, where visitors could meet leading companies in the sector and discover the incredible career opportunities they had to offer.
When we visited on Saturday, there were not as many visitors as one might have expected. Perhaps this was because the fair was not located on the main festival site, but rather inside the administration building of the ICAR complex, about 250 m outside the main festival area. Visitors arrived at the site through the entrance and explored exhibition areas, but to get to the job fair they had to turn around and go back through the entrance to the large building in the distance, which discouraged some.
Almost all of the major employers and educational institutions in the Canadian aerospace and technology sector present in Quebec were on hand. We were able to visit the booths of the following companies: Aéro Mag 2000, Montréal Airports (ADM), Air Transat, Airbus, Bell Textron Canada, Bombardier, CAE, ÉNA, Heroux-Devtek, L3Harris, Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Transports, NAV Canada, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce Canada and Swissport Canada, to name a few.
The list of the many career, employment, internship and training opportunities offered and currently available within the Canadian Aerospace Sector was truly impressive. Positions, training and internships were offered in mechanical and electrical engineering, design, systems, automation, continuous improvement, structural integration, artificial intelligence, assemblers, operators, mechanics, warehousemen, machinists, aircraft maintenance technicians, logistics, purchasing, finance, human resources, IT, communications and more.