Upon arrival in Montréal, one of the first things visitors experience is one of the best airports in North America, with direct access to almost 150 destinations around the globe. But Montréal’s place in the world of aviation goes much further — the aerospace industry is in fact one of the city’s leading sectors, home to some of the most prestigious names in the field. Place your bags in the overhead cabins, because this flight is ready for take-off.
Working together to lead the way
Bringing together industries across the metropolitan landscape, Montréal’s key economic sectors give the city its competitive edge. From clean technology to fashion, film and television, financial services, information and communications technology, life sciences and obviously aviation, they all work together to foster municipal growth, investment and collaboration in their respective sectors.
Ensuring clear skies ahead
Aéro Montréal, the aerospace cluster of the province of Québec, pulls together major companies, educational institutions, unions and associations in a creative think tank. They mobilize Montréal’s aerospace industry around six common goals, keeping the city at the forefront of international aerospace development and success. Here’s a quick fly-over of their primary functions:
- Branding and promotion: grabbing visibility for the Québec aerospace industries around the world, the Image, Influence and Marketing Working Group creates a unified message and strategy for the sector as a whole.
- Innovation: working with university and public research teams, designers and other innovators, the Moderating and Innovation Strategies Working Group fosters development and seeks out projects deserving of further support.
- Human resources: boasting the industry’s highest density of employment in the world, one in 190 people work in the aerospace sector in Québec. The Human Resources Working Group focuses on succession and manpower within the sector.
- Sustainable supply chain development: overseeing the implementation of action plans to turn up Québec’s competitive edge as an aerospace supplier, the Green and Intelligent Supply Chain Working Group works close with the MACH initiative to foster long-term growth.
- Defense and security: responding to issues of national security and defense, this working group also aims to procure major contracts for the Québec aerospace industry in this field.
- Growth: promoting overall business development and the global presence of the Québec aerospace industry, the Partnership and Growth Working Group also works on creating synergies within the sector as a whole.
Few cities in the world can claim the ability to build an aircraft from nose to tail within a 30-kilometre radius. Not only is Air Canada headquartered here, it was also recently named the top air carrier in the country at the prestigious Skytrax World Airline Awards. Mirabel, Montréal's commercial airport, was also recently in the news: Avianor announced the construction of a $70 million centre of excellence for A220 aircraft.
With world-leading companies like Bombardier Aerospace, Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney and CAE calling Québec home as well, for Montréal’s aerospace industry, the sky’s the limit.
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