Vancouver Airport Departures

Vancouver International Airport

PO Box 23750, Airport Postal Outlet
Richmond, British Columbia V7B 1Y7, Canada

Phone: 604-207-7077
Web: yvr.ca
Elevation: 14 ft
Province: British Columbia
Opened: 1931

Airport codes
IATA airport code: YVR
ICAO airport code: CYVR

YVR Departures today

Discover Vancouver international airport departures

Vancouver International Airport is located in the west of Canada. The airport is located 8 miles from the center of the city. It is often referred to as a hub to China as it has one of the most YVR departures to the Asian country. It’s a popular airport in the country and with the many YVR airport departures it has grown to the second largest airport in Canada. It is most of the time in use by the carriers WestJet and Air Canada but also Air Transat. It is an airport that wins many awards. In the last 10 years it has already won the ‘best North American airport’ but also high in the rankings worldwide.

The first Vancouver flight departures started on a grass airstrip on Lulu island. In 1929, the city of Vancouver bought some land to run Vancouver departures from Sea Island. The terminal and runways have expanded and improved over the years to become a major airport.

History

Its history goes back to 1931. That is the year the airport opened and transported just over 1000 passengers. That has grown to 25 million passengers annually at Vancouver Airport. It all started with a small runway. There was also a small wooden building that served as a terminal. During the war it was used by the Air Force and like many airports during the 60’s and 70’s it grew rapidly with the jet planes. Even in the year 2010 with the winter Olympics it brought many athletes via the airport to Vancouver and the surrounding area.

Vancouver Airport Terminals

There are three different terminals at the airport for YVR airport departures. These terminals are called South Terminal, International Terminal and Domestic terminal. The latter two are interconnected and refer to as the set top terminal. In the main terminal there is a section for US Border Pre-clearance. The domestic terminal has been available for Vancouver flight departures since 1968. From here there are several piers or concourses named Pier A, B and C.

  • Pier A has 6 gates and is mainly in use by the airline WestJet.
  • Per B has 14 gates for Vancouver departures which are also in use by WestJet but also Air North, Sunwing Airlines and Air Transit. There are also some gates that could be in use for international air traffic.
  • Pier C is the largest with 24 gates. This is where Air Canada is based for Vancouver airport departures.

vancouver-airport-departures-YVR-terminal-map

The international terminal has been offering flights since 1996 with Pier D and E.

  • Pier D has 17 gates, some of which can also be used by the Airbus A380. Mostly international YVR departures are carried out, but also domestically with the so-called swing gates.
  • Pier E has the US Border Pre-clearance facilities.

Then you have Terminal South which provides regional flights. There is also a floatplane facility for aircraft to take off from the water.

Flight routes Vancouver airport

Most Vancouver flight departures are in operation by WestJet and Air Canada to destinations in Canada itself, but also to the US and beyond to Europe, Asia and Latin America. There are airlines that have regular flights or seasonal flights. These include:

  • Aeroméxico, Air France, Air New Zealand, Air Transit, Alaska Airlines, All Nippon Airways, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Condor, Delta, Edelweiss, EVA Air, Icelandair, Japan Airlines, KLM, Korean Air, Lufthansa, Qantas, Turkish Airlines, Sunwing Airlines, United Airlines and many more.

Vancouver regional and domestic departures are also in operation by Seair Seaplanes, Pacific Coastal Airlines, Harbor Air, Flair Airlines and a few more.

The most important and busiest destinations, especially during the pandemic, are domestic flights to Montreal, Toronto-Pearson, Calgary and Edmonton. If international traffic increases in 2021, the following destinations will also be important again:

They hope to have many Vancouver airport departures again as soon as possible in order to be able to return to the 30 million passengers in the year.

Passenger statistics

The airport is growing steadily with the amount of passengers. From 10 million in 1994 to 26 million in 2019. That are 332,214 Vancouver airport departures annually. Due to corona there is a big drop of 72% to only 7,300,287 passengers in 2020.