YVR Airport & Sea Island Developments Discussion

[Canadian74]

Originally Posted by officedweller

I think Montreal will have the first scheduled A380 service in Canada.

Correct. Air France from Paris, along with 3 other daily flights in the summer (4 daily total). Starts in 2009. First test flight will be this Nov. 12.

[j4893k]

Don't know if anyone has seen this but there's a cool 3D rendering video of the link building on yvr's webiste. It shows the inside and how it will connect to the station quite well.

http://www.yvr.ca/authority/news/whatsnew.asp?vid=linkbuilding

Does anyone have any pics?

[phesto]

NWA is back year-round:

Northwest Resumes Minneapolis-Vancouver Service

This month, Northwest Airlines resumes its year-round Minneapolis-Vancouver flights. The daily flights will use Embraer EMB-175 LR (Long Range) aircraft operated by Compass Airlines, a wholly owned subsidiary of Northwest operating under the Northwest Airlink banner. The service will leave Minneapolis/ St Paul at 9:10 a.m., arriving at 10:55 a.m., while the return option leaves Vancouver at noon and lands in Minnesota at 5:29 p.m.

“We are delighted to once again offer year-round service between Minneapolis/St Paul and Vancouver,” said Tom Bach, vice president market planning and Airlink. “We believe the new dual-class regional jets serving the route will be popular with business and leisure customers.” The NWA EMB-175 accommodates 76 passengers in a dual-class configuration, with 12 seats in first class and 64 seats in coach class.

Compass plans to operate a fleet of 10 EMB-175 aircraft by the end of 2007, and 36 aircraft by the end of 2008.

[mattropolis]

Here are some pics I took on the weekend. Most of the link building isn't open yet.


Looking from International Terminal. The part behind the plastic is the round glass part of the link building not open yet.



Note the different tile colour.



New departures screen and check-in desks not open yet.



Outside

[mr.x]

^ really nice pics, thx for posting....but ugh, the flooring! standing at where the old and new are, it looks terrible - that they didn't try to match it with the old design.

the roof is also different...it's missing the aqua strips the old design had. it's too much of a contrast between the old and new.

[nname]

Originally Posted by mr.x2

^ really nice pics, thx for posting....but ugh, the flooring! standing at where the old and new are, it looks terrible - that they didn't try to match it with the old design.

I think someone in the forum (was it here or SSC?) mentioned that they are going to push the check in counter back to line up with the ones in the link buildings... Maybe they'll match it then?

EDIT: Now I found it... it was from DYK from Airliners.net

The news is the link building is about 80% complete. We have heard that the Intl Check In counters in the ITB will be removed in two phases. The wall behind the check in counters will be removed and the counter will be pushed back level with the check in counters in the Link Building? Not sure if the offices above the check in counters will be gone as well but seems they will be. Heard also the airline offices against the south wall of the ITB will be removed?

They are also totally re-doing the immigration and customs area next to the Intl arrivals hall, i have no idea what the end result will look like.

[deasine]

Originally Posted by mr.x2

^ really nice pics, thx for posting....but ugh, the flooring! standing at where the old and new are, it looks terrible - that they didn't try to match it with the old design.

the roof is also different...it's missing the aqua strips the old design had. it's too much of a contrast between the old and new.

Completely agree! I think the nicest part of YVR is the domestic terminal checkins... They should keep that design and use it throughout the airport.

[mr.x]

The news is the link building is about 80% complete. We have heard that the Intl Check In counters in the ITB will be removed in two phases. The wall behind the check in counters will be removed and the counter will be pushed back level with the check in counters in the Link Building? Not sure if the offices above the check in counters will be gone as well but seems they will be. Heard also the airline offices against the south wall of the ITB will be removed?

They are also totally re-doing the immigration and customs area next to the Intl arrivals hall, i have no idea what the end result will look like.

That's GREAT to hear. I'm guessing they've realized that the international check-in area is quite congested and needs more space. i said it before that it was too narrow and the line ups often blocked people from moving across the hall.

so i'm guessing there could be a reflooring of the terminal built in 1995?

[Canadian74]

In one of the pictures, there is sign in English as well as Chinese. Are all other signs at the airport in Chinese too?

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by Canadian74

In one of the pictures, there is sign in English as well as Chinese. Are all other signs at the airport in Chinese too?

Looks like it, but correction: English, French, and Chinese.

[SpongeG]

a friend of mine just had an interview here for Emirates Airlines

sounds like a multi interview process

are they going to be coming to YVR?

[Canadian74]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

a friend of mine just had an interview here for Emirates Airlines

sounds like a multi interview process

are they going to be coming to YVR?

The current bi-lateral agreement between Canada and the UAE allows for a total of 6x weekly flights from each country. 3 were taken by Etihad before and Emirates recently took the other 3 for service to YYZ (starts tomorrow).

Emirates have officially said that they want to fly daily to YYZ and they also have selected their second Canadian destination, which is YYC.

They were trying to negotiate with the Canadian gov't. about increaseing their YYZ frequencies as well as adding YYC, but the Canadian gov't. said NO. They said fly to YYZ for a year and prove to us that the loads are sufficient enough to support a daily frequency.

So, to sum it up, when the bi-lateral is negotiated again in late 2008/early 2009, Emirates will first increase their YYZ frequency to daily, add daily YYC service and then look to other possible Canadian destinations such as YVR and YUL. Emirates will come to YYC before coming to YVR, which is surprising. YVR won't happen for the next few years.

[phesto]

Originally Posted by Canadian74

The current bi-lateral agreement between Canada and the UAE allows for a total of 6x weekly flights from each country. 3 were taken by Etihad before and Emirates recently took the other 3 for service to YYZ (starts tomorrow).

Emirates have officially said that they want to fly daily to YYZ and they also have selected their second Canadian destination, which is YYC.

They were trying to negotiate with the Canadian gov't. about increaseing their YYZ frequencies as well as adding YYC, but the Canadian gov't. said NO. They said fly to YYZ for a year and prove to us that the loads are sufficient enough to support a daily frequency.

So, to sum it up, when the bi-lateral is negotiated again in late 2008/early 2009, Emirates will first increase their YYZ frequency to daily, add daily YYC service and then look to other possible Canadian destinations such as YVR and YUL. Emirates will come to YYC before coming to YVR, which is surprising. YVR won't happen for the next few years.

Not really surprising that YYC would be the next logical choice considering Emirates specifically mentioned Calgary as the epicentre of the Canadian oil market, which they are targetting.

I can't see EK coming to YVR even in a few years, there just isn't the demand; maybe DXB-YYC-YVR would work, but then I can't see the government allowing that one.

[Hot Rod]

perhaps it should be DXB-YVR-YYC and/or DXB-YVR-YUL, since YVR is closer and is the AsiaPac hub if nothing else. ???

[Delirium]

here's a great shot of the link building taken from the fairmont


from www.flickr.com

[deasine]

that pic doesn't look like YVR is an airport anymore =P

[bils]

this might be off-topic.... but anyways, they've planted a whole bunch of fairly large evergreen trees in the middle of the boulevard of grant mcconachie way (i.e., the road in and out of YVR) ...... it looks pretty good. should give the area a greener appearance especially during the wintertime/olympics

[officedweller]

Nice - now that they don't need it for the Canada Line, they may as well beautify it.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by bils

this might be off-topic.... but anyways, they've planted a whole bunch of fairly large evergreen trees in the middle of the boulevard of grant mcconachie way (i.e., the road in and out of YVR) ...... it looks pretty good. should give the area a greener appearance especially during the wintertime/olympics

yeah drove out to the airport last week and noticed that

looks nice

[phesto]

Airbus A380 Begins Commercial Service

Last month, an Airbus A380, powered by the new Engine Alliance GP7000engines, touched down at YVR as part of the aircraft’s certification process. Arriving from Bogota, Colombia, the aircraft was carrying 43 Airbus employees and testing equipment. This was the second time the A380 has visited YVR; the first visit took place in November 2006 amidst unusually wintry conditions.

During its visit, the A380 was parked at Gate 64 in the new International Terminal wing, where the Airport Operations team had the opportunity to test the automated gate guidance and doubleheaded bridge systems on the aircraft for the first time. The tests worked well, proving that YVR’s new facilities can easily handle these newer, larger aircraft of the future.

After the Vancouver stop, the aircraft departed as scheduled for Osaka, Japan, continuing its technical route-proving exercise to replicate a continuous, typical airline schedule.