Oh, I meant to say O/D. I mean, the increase must be coming from passengers travels within or to/from Canada, rather than international connecting flights such as LAX-YUL-LHR (unless, of course, if they do LAX-YVR-YUL-LHR....)

Ho Lee Fuk.:slob::slob::slob:

I can't remember seeing a growth figure that high on one of our "top 5" in probably over a decade. That's ridiculous. What the hell happened in April?

This is only the beginning ! There are 58 more scheduled international flights this summer compared to last year ...including 2 daily Aeromexico.

Vancouver is getting North America's first Skyteam branded lounge, see official press release below. It's a good fit I'd say, it mentions the 9 Skyteam airlines serving YVR:

SkyTeam announces lounge expansion, focus on technology
Seventh lounge to open in Vancouver by end of 2017

CANCUN, June 12, 2017 - SkyTeam, the global airline alliance, is taking its customers’ airport experience to new heights by opening a new lounge at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) later this year. The alliance’s first branded facility in North America, it will offer a luxurious environment for First, Business and Elite Plus customers flying on any of the alliance’s nine member airlines currently serving the airport.

SkyTeam currently offers six branded lounges around the world in Beijing, Dubai, Hong Kong, Istanbul, London Heathrow and Sydney, serving hundreds of thousands high-value customers each year.

Speaking at the 73rd annual IATA AGM held in Cancun, Mexico, SkyTeam CEO and Managing Director, Perry Cantarutti, also outlined some of the focus areas that the alliance was working on to improve customer travel experiences while gaining its members value from the synergies.

“With the opening of Vancouver later this year, SkyTeam will offer more branded airport lounges around the world than any other airline alliance. Increasing the number of shared facilities worldwide realizes significant synergies for our airlines while offering a greatly enhanced airport experience for our top customers,” said Perry Cantarutti, SkyTeam’s CEO and Managing Director. “Meanwhile, we continue to invest in technology so that we can capitalize on emerging customer trends, drive greater efficiencies and continue to deliver value for our airlines and their passengers.”

In addition to increasing its global lounge network, the 20-strong airline alliance is focused on projects designed to enhance the customer experience giving SkyTeam airlines the most from their membership. These include:

Customer engagement: The alliance has now recruited more than 10,000 high-value travelers as SkyPriority auditors, assessing their airport experience at every SkyPriority touchpoint. Over 50,000 observations have been recorded from over 600 airports globally. From this feedback, we are improving signage at Check- in areas in some airports and focusing more on baggage handling by improving the first-on-belt performance.


Loyalty benefits: Customers can ensure they never miss a mile by using SkyTeam’s retro-crediting tool that will be available across all members by year end. With a continued focus on technology driven solutions, 50% of all SkyTeam award redemptions are now booked via the web/mobile


Business solutions: With a growing portfolio of travel products, SkyTeam is the first alliance to offer a dedicated product for Marine and Offshore travel and has also launched corporate contracts specifically for companies in Greater China.
###

Notes to Editors:

SkyTeam member airlines serving Vancouver are: Aeroméxico, Air France, China Airlines, China Eastern, China Southern, Delta Air Lines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Korean Air and Xiamen Airlines.

For more information about SkyTeam Lounges, click here.

For more information:

SkyTeam Corporate Communications

E: media@skyteam.com



About SkyTeam:
SkyTeam is the global airline alliance with 20 member airlines working together to offer seamless travel on an extensive global network. From top hubs around the world, SkyTeam members provide reliable and comfortable journeys to over 1,050 destinations. SkyTeam customers can unwind in 636 lounges as they travel, earn and redeem Frequent Flyer Miles. SkyTeam Elite Plus customers are eligible for SkyPriority services. The 20 members are: Aeroflot, Aerolíneas Argentinas, Aeroméxico, Air Europa, Air France, Alitalia, China Airlines, China Eastern, China Southern, Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Garuda Indonesia, Kenya Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Korean Air, Middle East Airlines, Saudia, TAROM, Vietnam Airlines and Xiamen Airlines. SkyTeam welcomes 612 million customers each year on more than 16,320 daily flights to 1,062 destinations in 177 countries.

https://www.skyteam.com/en/about/pre...on-technology/

All this growth at YUL is tremendous. If growth like this keeps up, pretty soon Montreal might have to build a new airport ;)

They already have... uhh... had one.

^^what's the shear quantity of Big 'Owes' does one city really need to have :shrug:
Montreal should really spend any available money on it's city's road infrastructure. When I was there in March I really noticed how interchanges and overpasses concrete looked like it was literally crumbling :(

Don't be silly. .... new terminal most likey! Careful YVR ;) haha! no but seriously, YUL is growing! I wouldn't be surprised if more Asian flights are announced in a couple years! we shall see...and if YUL grows by 8.5% that's 18,000,000+ pax for 2017 which is very doable and most like for this year. By 2018 if all goes well and steady 20 million PAX. I see it!! capacity as of now if 20 million so they need to start reviewing their plans. I do know that the expansion of the Transaborder jetty shall begin in 2018? not too sure. Anywho! im glad too see YUL rebounding!

It does not make things better necessarily, but a lot of these are different levels of government: the airports are (or were) the feds, highway interchanges are generally the province, and city streets are the city of course.

I know. It was a joke.

I think Mirabel was a combination of being far ahead of its time and also being incredibly dated.

The idea of building a distant airport about 40km away with a huge amount of room to expand was extremely forward thinking. Cities like Denver and Asian megacities would do this about 30 years later. Of course, it's not like Montreal needed something like this in the 1970s.

On the other hand, the design of Mirabel itself was a disaster. Little pods that you had to reach via some proprietary bus system.

The problem with Miralbel is that it only had international flights while domestic flights came in through Dorval. Incredibly inconvenient if connecting. When Dorval was allowed to get international flights, that was a death sentence for Mirabel. Plus, the economy also shifted away to Toronto.

Airports are self funding, and March is an ugly month to visit pretty much anywhere in the country in terms of infrastructure.

^^yes, it was cold and rained/snowed the whole time..
you could actually see rebar from the concrete crumbled away along expressways though.. I've never seen that anytime of the year anywhere before :/

Yeah, the state of Montreal's infrastructure makes Winnipeg's look good....I believe the general trend has been improvement though (in both cities).

... especially the fact that YVR is already over capacity :uhh:

I dont think so. The transborder jetty is almost never at capacity. The international and domestic jetties are.

what highway ? where ?

Interestingly, this is basically what Shanghai does with its second airport (Hongqiao) - it's used primarily as a domestic-only airport, with only a few short regional international flights available (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan). All the main international flights go through Pudong.

Of course, the difference here is that Pudong also handles a lot of domestic traffic as well, since Hongqiao alone isn't large enough to handle all the domestic traffic a city the size of Shanghai generates.

In an ideal world, the airport in Dorval shouldn't exist. All that land could be used for something else. It's not like Mirabel is hours away.

Anyway, in 5-10 years when YUL is at full capacity without any more space for expansions, Mirabel WILL be revived. They already use the runway for cargo so half of the work is done, all they would need is a modern terminal.

A new terminal will get built in the next 5 years as the current terminal is good for 20M pax. The runways right now are good for 50M pax, and there is space for another runway.

Mirabel land was given back to the farmers, so it won't happen.