Vancouver International celebrates 25 million annual passengers

YVR is operated by Vancouver Airport Authority, a financially-independent organisation that is governed by a non-political Board of Directors appointed from the community. Every dollar earned by the Airport Authority is reinvested into the operation and growth of the airport to improve facilities, enhance services, reduce costs and support community initiatives. YVR’s unique operating model allows for greater support and investment in the community, thereby creating jobs and driving economic and social benefits. 

YVR plays a significant role in the local, provincial and national economy—creating jobs and driving business activity. The airport supports 24,000 jobs on Sea Island and more than 100,000 jobs across the province. YVR’s operations—together with tourism and cargo—contribute more than $16 billion in total economic output, $8.4 billion in GDP and $1.4 billion in government revenue across B.C.

Growth projections show that YVR will serve 32 million passengers by 2022, with 29 million passengers targeted for 2020. YVR has also updated its targets to facilitate the movement of 327,000 tonnes of cargo and serve 144 destinations by 2020 — currently YVR connects people and businesses to 127 non-stop destinations worldwide. Each new flight through YVR creates hundreds of jobs and contributes millions of dollars in economic benefit to the province.

To accommodate this continued growth, YVR embarked on an ambitious 20-year, $9.1 billion expansion program earlier this year. These expansion projects have additional significant economic and employment benefits in the region. Construction activities at YVR have created nearly 2,500 full-time construction jobs on Sea Island in 2018 and hundreds more off-site, and they are expected to sustain thousands of jobs for the next two decades.

Craig Richmond, President and CEO, Vancouver Airport Authority said: “Growth at YVR is good for the region and the province of British Columbia.  Each new flight brings substantial impact, creating hundreds of jobs and providing millions of dollars in economic benefit across the province. We have been growing at an incredible pace and couldn’t have done this without help from our amazing airport community. We will continue to rely on our partners to deliver excellent customer experiences as we address this growth with our ambitious multi-billion-dollar construction program to build the airport of the future.” 

Chief Wayne Sparrow, Musqueam Indian Band said: “YVR is located on Musqueam traditional lands and we are pleased to help welcome the 25 millionth passenger. We all benefit from this growth—our community has seen this first hand with our members filling many job openings in the last year. We are excited to continue to work with YVR to grow a mutually beneficial and respectful friendship.”

Mark Galardo, Vice President, Network Planning at Air Canada commented: “We congratulate our partner YVR on their significant milestone of welcoming 25 million passengers!  Air Canada has strategically built YVR as its premier trans-Pacific hub, having grown our capacity here by more than 52 per cent over the past five years, translating to more than 700,000 seats departing YVR this past August alone. Seamless connections through in-transit preclearance facilities and competitive elapsed flying times have helped make Air Canada and YVR a preferred option for trans-Pacific travel by efficiently connecting our extensive international flights from Asia, Australia, India, Europe, Caribbean and Mexico to our broad Canadian and North American network.”

Marsha Walden, CEO, Destination British Columbia said: “This is an incredible milestone. As British Columbia’s primary gateway for air travellers, YVR plays an integral role in bringing visitors to all parts of our province. And, as the best airport in North America, we know YVR is a special starting place for the extraordinary experiences our province offers global visitors.”

Ty Speer, President and CEO, Tourism Vancouver said: “We congratulate YVR on reaching their goal of serving 25 million passengers two years ahead of plan. As an integral part of the tourism industry, YVR has demonstrated time and again their commitment to celebrating Vancouver’s global brand by growing and improving their facilities to be the preferred hub for global travellers to our region.”

Barrett Fisher, President and CEO, Tourism Whistler commented: “On behalf of Tourism Whistler, I would like to congratulate YVR for achieving this major milestone. The team at YVR is an integral part of the British Columbia experience. For guests travelling to and from Whistler through the Vancouver International Airport, we always know they will start and end their journey with a wonderful impression of our destination.”

ITS also celebrates a successful year

Adding to YVR’s successes, Innovative Travel Solutions (ITS), an independent business unit of Vancouver Airport Authority, has celebrated the end of 2018 with two industry-leading solutions in market to meet the passenger needs of tomorrow: BORDERXPRESS and CHECKITXPRESS.

ITS retained its position as the leading provider of border control kiosks with the expansion of BORDERXPRESS in Cyprus, marking the first kiosks to be implemented for Entry and Exit border control in the European Union. The year also saw the successful launch of CHECKITXPRESS, the world’s most accessible, efficient and intuitive self-service bag drop.

ITS takes a holistic approach that goes beyond technology to solve customer processing challenges and improve business performance. With more than a decade of experience in automating border control systems at airports and seaports around the world, ITS delivers better business results through cost efficiencies, time management, maximising resources and data insights.

“2018 was another successful year for Innovation Travel Solutions as momentum continued to build globally around our industry-leading solution BORDERXPRESS. It was also an exciting year for our team as we celebrated the launch of our new bag drop technology, CHECKITXPRESS,” said Steve Hankinson, Vice President, Planning and Innovation, Vancouver Airport Authority. “I’m proud to be leading this dedicated team of collaborative thinkers. As an airport operator, we have a unique understanding of what it takes to facilitate the movement of travellers efficiently and safely, while also ensuring the passenger experience is seamless.”