Renée Lebel
Deputy Director, Product and Service Development
Aéroports de Montréal
Date of Birth: 3/9/1980
Years in Aviation: 7
“I realized at a very early age that airports were an exciting place to be, little did I know that one day I would get to work for an airport authority, » says Renée Lebel, who has played a key role in Aéroports de Montréal’s (ADM) program to lift customer service and enhance the passenger experience at Montréal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL).
A graduate in political science from McGill University, Lebel joined ADM in 2006 as a product development advisor after working for seven years at a Montréal-based management consulting firm specializing in market research and strategy.
Lebel was involved in various self-service initiatives in her first years at ADM, including the deployment of common-use CUTE and CUSS platforms. She was also instrumental in launching several mobile projects, such as Montréal-Trudeau’s SMS flight information system and Air Canada’s mobile boarding pass pilot project.
In 2009, Lebel was part of the team that helped test and deliver Montréal-Trudeau’s state-of-the-art trans-border departures facility. The sector features an innovative automated outbound baggage system that significantly increases handling capacity and speed and was also one of the first to offer common-use bag-drops.
In 2011, Lebel was promoted to deputy director, Product and Service Development, in ADM’s Passenger Experience department. In her new position, she worked closely with the Canada Border Services Agency to deploy advanced Automated Border Clearance (ABC) kiosks at Montréal-Trudeau’s Arrivals Hall.
Lebel has also played a major role in the roll-out of real-time wait time displays for YUL security checkpoints and U.S. Customs; in implementing a passenger wait time and queue management system at Canadian Customs; in setting up self-service bag-drops in collaboration with WestJet, a first in North America; and in establishing an off-site check-in operation at the Cruise Terminal in Montréal’s Old Port.
Of her contributions, Lebel says, “I have a huge sense of pride when I walk through our airport and see the various improvements I have contributed in deploying in the last 7 years.”
