From what I understand, the number of airport employees is a much bigger factor than the O&D through the airport.

It would be interesting to see if they have any Ridership data for the Canada Line to YVR. It would save on staff parking!

I always just assume people that want rapid transit to and from airport envision visitors landing and jumping on train to be whisked dowtown to offices and hotels, or locals using it to catch their flights instead of driving or taking taxi.

Average daily usage for the Airport stations in 2011:

YVR-Airport - 13460
Templeton - 4427
Sea Island Centre - 1173

Air Canada announces Hamilton to Montreal direct flights
Airline plans twice-daily flights between 'Ontario's Golden Horseshoe' and Montreal

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilt...ghts-1.3431829

Air Canada announced Wednesday it'll launch new flights direct between Hamilton and Montreal beginning in May.

The flights are scheduled to leave each airport twice daily except Saturday, which will have one flight each way.

The airline says it timed the flights so passengers could connect with flights to Atlantic Canada and Europe.

Air Canada's passenger airlines president, Benjamin Smith, cited the population of Ontario's Golden Horseshoe as a factor in deciding to launch the service in Hamilton.

"Hamilton is a convenient departure and arrival point for the business community as well as tourists, visiting friends and relatives," Smith said in a press release.

Montreal is a destination that Hamilton airport passengers have requested often, said Frank Scremin, president and CEO of the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport — both for business and for getaways.

The service is scheduled to begin on May 24. The airline says the flights will be on Jazz Aviation LP 50-seat Bombardier CRJ jets.
Schedule:

Sunday to Friday flights:

Montreal to Hamilton: Depart YUL at 6:30 a.m., arrive YHM at 7:40 a.m.
Hamilton to Montreal: Depart YHM at 8:10 a.m., arrive YUL at 9:21 a.m.

Daily flights:

Montreal to Hamilton: Depart YUL at 4:55 p.m., arrive YHM at 6:07 p.m.
Hamilton to Montreal: Depart YHM at 6:40 p.m., arrive YUL at 7:50 p.m.

^this is good for you guys. You get access to French destinations without having to drive to YYZ.

Looks like 2016 will be a good year for YHM with increase in passenger numbers.

Rumour of the day.

PEK-YEG-JFK

That is very interesting. From where were those stats taken? May I have the link?

13,460 daily boardings at YVR-Airport would put airport terminal usage at about 10% of overall line usage. That certainly helps put to rest the old original assertion that the line is "just" for people going to and from the airport and that airport ridership would not justify the project.

Those numbers are likely from Wikipedia, and are 2011 numbers. I did find this quote, but it is also dated:

source - http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/n...9-ffab044488f4

I did read a report yesterday which had a table that showed 23% of the Canada line passengers were using it to get to/from YVR. However it didn't break down whether they were going to YVR as a passenger or worker. The same table had a separate line that showed ~30% of the total Canada Line passengers were using it to commute to/from work.

I'll try to find the report - I think it was 2013.

Agreed, though I do expect both "destinations" to go through. Either way none are daily and on the smaller side of the planes YVR sees. Not changing the underlying point much.

I do wonder if Tanjin will take Tanjin and Hainan will serve Vancouver through Xi'an. It's not the prize that Tanjin(Beijing) is but its a top 10 airport in China not currently served at YVR which Hainan uses as a hub.

YYZ 2015 Full Year Stats
 

http://www.torontopearson.com/en/gtaa/statistics/##

To cap off an incredible year, December had a 4.8% increase over Dec 2014.

YYZ grew 6.4% in 2015. This is an increase of almost 2.5 million passengers compared to 2014.

Not only did YYZ pass 40 million it exceeded 41 million with a final total of 41,036,847.

Domestic was up 4.4% YOY, Transborder up 6.2% and International up 8.9%.

41M - wow.

Final results for the top 5 airports in Canada:

YYZ: 41,036,847 (6.4%)
YVR: 20,315,978 (4.9%)
YUL: 14,303,963 (4.6%)*stats up to November
YYC: 15,475,759 (1.4%)
YEG: 7,280,920 (-0.7%)

#6 YOW had another mediocre year: 4,656,360 (+0.9%) - still 30,000 pax below 2012's record.

That should get surpassed finally in 2016 given this year's abysmal transborder numbers likely won't be nearly as bad in 2016 as a whole and WS' upcoming expanded YHZ and YYZ schedules on the way (they're quietly dropping YOW-YQM at the same time as the YOW-YHZ growth and given 10/12 YOW-YYZ departures will be Q400 [vs current 2/10], also the increased departures should greatly improve their loads with less seats on average per flight to fill up.)

Current YOW-YYZ one-way seats per day vs. expanded schedule: 904 vs. 1035
Current YOW-YHZ/YQM one-way seats per day vs. expanded schedule: 156 vs. 234 (YQM dropped)
Total seats current vs. expanded: 1060 vs 1269
WS YOW Capacity increase on the listed routes: 19.7% (this assumes that WS224/225 YHZ-YOW-YEG remains on the schedule as-is for summer 2016), which so far it is.

Domestic might increase, but there is absolutely no indication that Transborder figures will be better in 2016 than 2015. Quite the contrary actually. The dollar has no sign of going back up and is at its lowest point in years. I would expect YOW to remain stagnant for the foreseeable future, with 1-2% increase/decreases per year, nothing else.

Fantastic growth at Yyz. It pays being a fortress hub, and unlike what you'd think, these hubs attract even more foreign tails.

I actually think transborder when all is said and done for 2016 will be rather stable vs. 2015 at YOW given how outside of Q1 2015, YOW already went through 9 months of big transborder declines. I think YOW can muster 2-3% growth in 2016 for the first time in years with the new domestic capacity and AC using a 333 to FRA for +3 months. 2017 should be a decent year with Canada 150 celebrations centered around the Capital. 2017 will be more than your typical Canada Day weekend rush with events throughout the year including the 100th anniversary outdoor NHL game in December and the Grey Cup in November. If YOW can land Icelandair, WoW, etc. or get FRA back to year-round within the next 2-3 years, international would be pushed up a lot.

YUL *should* pass YYC based on current growth rates. Not by a lot, but enough. Looks like they'll be just over 15.5M (in their rightful 3rd place, if you ask me...).

Considering the size of the two metropolitan areas, one would certainly expect so. I am always amazed that YYC is even close to YUL in numbers.

Compare the US (or Canadian) cities within a day drive of both airports and you will get your answer.
Not to take anything away from Calgary tough, YYC has had incredible growth.