Stories - My Own Airport

My Own Airport

Waiting for my plane to arrive, Marie told me the story of Mirabel. It had been built 15 years ago to replace an older airport. But, businesspeople traveling to and from the U.S. did not like Mirabel – it was too far out of the city. So, for several years the main traffic was only international flights in the afternoon. She told me I probably had seen Mirabel in a movie. I could not recall ever seeing it. She said that’s because they make it look like another airport. Mirabel had several hangers filled with movie props that transformed Mirabel into JFK, LAX, Logan, O’Hare, etc. Often large groups of movie people – actors, stagehands, directors – and crowds of people looking like crowds of people – worked from

midnight to noon at Mirabel shooting airport scenes. Where else could they get a real, large, airport with no one in it for 12 hours at a time?

My plane came in. Six businessmen departed. I said goodbye to my new best friend Marie . I was the only passenger on the flight back to Logan. The co-pilot told me to sit at the very back of the plane. He said it was to “ balance the plane .”