Montrealers living near airport want longer ‘no-fly’ window at night
Posted December 22, 2025 3:19 pm.
Last Updated December 22, 2025 5:26 pm.
Montrealers who are tired of hearing planes fly overhead throughout the day – and parts of the night – are hoping to keep the volume up on their own objections.
Last summer, Montreal’s airport authority – Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) – proposed a new plan for aircrafts at Montreal-Trudeau airport.
Under the new scenario, no plane could land or take off during a five-hour window – from 1-6 a.m. For noisier aircrafts, those restrictions would be in place from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m.
“Five hours is their plan,” said Dorval resident Anna Campagna. “Citizens, residents of this area are asking the minimum, absolute minimum of seven hours. So obviously the rest period of the airport doesn’t match the rest period of the population.”
A request to amend the existing procedures was sent to Transport Canada in December 2024. It still needs to be approved by the federal government.
“It’s about time people, ordinary people, call their MP in Ottawa to complain,” said Pierre Lachapelle, the president of Les Pollués de Montréal-Trudeau.
“We don’t see any amelioration in this new plan. It’s another way to play with the sleeping hours of the people and that’s unacceptable.”
Opponents say all flights should be restricted for at least seven hours to allow residents below to get enough sleep.
“You just need one small plane landing in Dorval at two o’clock in the morning and your sleeping time is ruined,” said Lachapelle.
“A good sleep hours period, it’s eight hours. And we don’t get that right now and it’s worse since the closure of Mirabel.”
There are also concerns the new plan could lead to a higher frequency of flights just before 1 a.m. and just after 6 a.m., ultimately leading to even noisier late nights and early mornings.
“If that’s the case, whether you’re going to bed early or whether you’re waking up early, you might have the impact of excessive airplane noise. So I think that needs to be thought through,” said Saint-Laurent borough Mayor Alan DeSousa.
In a written response to CityNews, ADM says it cannot speculate on how airlines will adjust their schedules to accommodate the new operating hours, but that air carriers will have to comply with the new rules.
“If the minister of transport is listening, they should look at what the citizens of Dorval are actually saying,” Campagna said. “We actually wrote to them. They received our petition. We’re asking them to set protections for us for a normal night’s sleep.”
“It’s incumbent on Transport Canada and on the House of Commons Committee to make sure that they hold proper hearings,” said DeSousa. “They get the feedback and they take their residents’ wishes and well-being into consideration before any changes are approved.”
