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Airfare to Montreal

Find and book cheap flights to Montreal, Quebec (YUL)

Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, formerly known as Dorval, is Canada’s third busiest airport.

Named for one of the nation’s most colourful Prime Ministers, YUL is located 20 km (12 miles) from downtown Montreal and welcomes approximately 13 million passengers annually.

>>More than 30 carriers fly in and out of YUL. See the complete list of airlines.

YUL is one of the main gateways into Canada: in 2010, more than 60 per cent of passengers travelled on non-domestic flights, the highest proportion of any of Canada’s airports.

As one of the country’s four Air Canada hubs,  YUL routes flights to Quebec, Atlantic Canada, and eastern Ontario. (Indeed, the flight path between YUL and YYZ–Toronto’s Pearson International Airport–is among the world’s top 20 busiest air routes in terms of flights per week.)

Perhaps not surprisingly given Quebec’s predominantly French culture, air traffic between Montreal and France is busy: the route between YUL and Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport is the eighth busiest in the world when it comes to the number of passengers carried between Europe and a non-European destination.

To increase your odds of finding a cheap flight to Montreal:

  • Start by reviewing this list of airlines that fly to Montreal to identify a carrier with a hub near you. Then register with your targeted airlines to receive seat sale alerts. (If you’re coming from Europe, watch Air France and KLM in particular.)
  • When you see a rock-bottom price, be sure to compare it against the fares you find by using the booking tool at the top of this page. Often you can do even better through the consolidators.
  • Don’t overlook budget carriers such as Air Transat (to and from Europe and specific cities in Canada and the U.S.) and Thomas Cook.
  • Travel in the off-season if you can. It will cost significantly more to fly at Christmas (December), Canadian Thanksgiving (October), Spring Break (March-April)  and during summer (July-August).
  • If you’re coming to Montreal from the U.S., you might find it cheaper to break your trip into legs: find a deeply discounted fare to New York or Boston and a cheap shuttle flight to Montreal. The nearest American city with air service to Montreal is currently Manchester, New Hampshire.
  • Keep in mind Montreal is also easily accessed by train, car and bus from the eastern U.S. states.

>> What to do in Montreal
>> Ready to book your flight to Montreal? Use the search tool below to find great fares!