YVR Airport & Sea Island Developments Discussion

[Cage]

Originally Posted by Gordon

I suspect there is space to add more gates for encore where the current 3 gates are?

Yes there is limited space to add additional express gates around the area of A4-5-6. Going on my memory from Air BC days (when they operated from the old gate 7 area) the power plant (building located beside the commuter stands) is the limiting factor in further extension of concourse A.

However once the A/B refit is complete, there will be more than enough gates fro Westjet to handle their Encore operations.

[Johnny Aussie]

From 19 December through January 7 US Airways will be flying 3 times daily to PHX (except 25/26 December). The added flight is a daily 319 at 0600. Not sure when that popped up but didn't see it earlier.

Also on 1 Feb the morning flight ops as a 321 and then there is another third flight (looks like a one-off) on 15 Feb.

[Johnny Aussie]

Allegedly (cannot find an actual confirmation yet) Canada and Taiwan have signed a new air bilateral effective immediately.

Taiwanese airlines have had their cap on weekly passenger flights lifted from 13 to 17. This further increases to 21 in November 2015.

So now of course the speculation of where these additional frequencies will go, if they are in fact used.

Right now China Airlines has 7 for the YVR-TPE route and EVA Air has 3 each on YVR-TPE and YYZ-TPE. Since EVA is now Star Alliance... hmmmmm.

So will BR go daily YVR or daily YYZ or?

[nname]

Originally Posted by Johnny Aussie

Right now China Airlines has 7 for the YVR-TPE route and EVA Air has 3 each on YVR-TPE and YYZ-TPE. Since EVA is now Star Alliance... hmmmmm.

So will BR go daily YVR or daily YYZ or?

Well, BR is phasing out the 744s within the next 3 years, so maybe there will be an increase of frequency to compensate the loss of capacity when switching to the 777?

[casper]

Originally Posted by Johnny Aussie

.

Right now China Airlines has 7 for the YVR-TPE route and EVA Air has 3 each on YVR-TPE and YYZ-TPE. Since EVA is now Star Alliance... hmmmmm.

So will BR go daily YVR or daily YYZ or?

Hopefully EVA and AC are playing nice with each again now that EVA is in SA.

For several years AC would code-share on the EVA flight to Vancouver. It was a fairly weird code-share in that you were able to reserve seats through AC but it was limited to a certain block of seats in one part of the aircraft. Flew the AC code share a few times. I believe AC dropped the code-share when they started to fly to Toronto, not certain why.

It has been a few years, however I remember both the EVA and China Airlines flight scheduled to depart TPE within and hour of each other and arriving at Vancouver at virtually the same time, back then it was around 10pm. Not certain now.

[zahav]

I shouldn't really be posting these, but I took these photos from documents at work. There are so many drawings, but no real good nice renderings (airports aren't like condos, the plans are usually very mechanical and focus on materials and floor plans, not pretty graphics). Anyways, I'll post some other soon..

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by zahav

I shouldn't really be posting these, but I took these photos from documents at work. There are so many drawings, but no real good nice renderings (airports aren't like condos, the plans are usually very mechanical and focus on materials and floor plans, not pretty graphics). Anyways, I'll post some other soon..

Oh man! That is brilliant. Well done.. I won't tell!

Finally some decent plans to get an idea of what is actually going on.

Many thanks buddy.

[trofirhen]

I found this in the Vancouver Sun: an article featuring YVR, with Calin
Rovinescu explaining why more international carriers should NOT be allowed into YVR, and how AC only has the power to turn it into a real hub, etc etc.

True? Falsely protectionist? Readers may decide. Thank you.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Open+Skies+could+turn+into+carriers+stub/9178893/story.html

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

I found this in the Vancouver Sun: an article featuring YVR, with Calin
Rovinescu explaining why more international carriers should NOT be allowed into YVR, and how AC only has the power to turn it into a real hub, etc etc.

True? Falsely protectionist? Readers may decide. Thank you.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Open+Skies+could+turn+into+carriers+stub/9178893/story.html

AC the only airline that can turn YVR into a true hub... but are they? Will they?

And then one day later talking about turning YYZ into a truly global hub.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on...ort-an-international-hub/article15516226

A country the size of Canada and an airline the size of Air Canada... can't really have both now can we?

His words don't = his actions now do they.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Johnny Aussie

AC the only airline that can turn YVR into a true hub... but are they? Will they?

And then one day later talking about turning YYZ into a truly global hub.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on...ort-an-international-hub/article15516226

A country the size of Canada and an airline the size of Air Canada... can't really have both now can we?

His words don't = his actions now do they.

Thank you!! Thank you!! My thoughts exactly. (more of the same protectionism to benefit T.O.; wrapped in a plastic national flag)

[connect2source]

Wow thanks for the spy-work Zahav!!

In the first two photos of the drawings, it looks as though the hammerhead is staying, for now. Mixed feeling as the pier will lack cohesion but it'll be nice to see a small bit of the original domestic terminal retained.

[Gordon]

thanks for the Pier a\B drawings zahav. the drawings don't show the WestJet Encore Area. more gates wil be phased in as their service It will likely be a while before they need more than 3 gates(A5,6&7)

AC is the dominant carrier at YVR . Canada is too large a country to have only 1 hub.
The airport authority should focus on growing our current international carriers as opposed to Emirates.

does anyone have any idea When the 1st phase of the the Pier A\B connector will be open?

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by Gordon

thanks for the Pier a\B drawings zahav. the drawings don't show the WestJet Encore Area. more gates wil be phased in as their service It will likely be a while before they need more than 3 gates(A5,6&7)

AC is the dominant carrier at YVR . Canada is too large a country to have only 1 hub.
The airport authority should focus on growing our current international carriers as opposed to Emirates.

Where is the Encore area anyway?

Agree Canada is too large a country to have just one hub but they won't do anything to jeopardise the YYZ hub. And that's just business. I never play the poor YVR card but in Rovinescu's latest series of speeches he talks about AC being the only airline that can truly develop YVR as a hub, therefore not supporting YVR's desire for more open skies bilaterals. Then goes on to talk about developing YYZ as an even more major global hub. So his intentions for YVR will not come at the expense of YYZ like it or not. As always we will just have to wait and see how this plays out over the next couple of years.

I think the airport authority should continue to focus on growing the current international carriers AND pursue others like ANA and Asiana.

[Gordon]

I think the major hub for yyz May be targeting the North eastern U.S.

I Suspect Mr Robinescu probably realizes that one hub for country the size of Canada is not workable because his airline would lose Western traffic to U.S. Coastal gateways.

[YYCguys]

The Encore area is currently operating out of Gates A5, A6, and A7 at the end of the A pier. They are ground loading stands.

A1 has disappeared to make room for the lounge, and wonder if it will re-appear after the expansion/renovation is complete.

[nname]

From the terminal diagram, seems like they will renumber the gates, from East to West on the south side:

A7 -> A1
A6 -> A2
A5 -> A3
A4 -> A4
A3 -> A5
A2 -> A6
New -> A7
New -> A8
New -> A9
New -> A10
B12 -> Removed??
B16 -> B16
B18 -> B18
B20 -> B20

The north side is unchanged:
B11, B15, B17

[deasine]

Wow zahav, thanks for the update! Do you know what YVR is doing with the "arrivals" level? Based on the renderings, the new piers had a level/bridge above the departures area connected to the gates. I suspend that this allowed for int'l flights in the future should they be supported and would allow YVR to reconfigure its airport operations potentially based on airline/alliance rather than based on destination (with the exception of transborder flights which would need a separate area given they have their own customs/procedures).

[casper]

Originally Posted by Johnny Aussie

AC the only airline that can turn YVR into a true hub... but are they? Will they?

And then one day later talking about turning YYZ into a truly global hub.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on...ort-an-international-hub/article15516226

A country the size of Canada and an airline the size of Air Canada... can't really have both now can we?

His words don't = his actions now do they.

I don't think Air Canada is playing favorites between YYZ and YVR. From the eastern US they create more competitive (i.e., shorter travel time) routing to Asia through Toronto. They are trying to compete with Asian and US airlines. They are going to build up YYZ to serve those markets if they can fill the planes. For many of the secondary markets in Asia Toronto does not work. Toronto is also not an ideal transfer point for the western US.

For the secondary citiies in Asia, YVR is idea to connect to all of North America.

If YVR wants to be an international hub, it is silly for them to chase after flights to the middle east over the Atlantic. I think Air Canada is correct, there little strategic benefit to chase after open skies with the middle east airlines. Why would anyone in North American fly to the pacific coast to transfer onto an eastern bound flight. Those flights are just going to undermine the flights to Asia and Europe by AC or anyone else.

If YVR is chasing after South and Central American airlines, and marketing YVR as a transfer point to Asia, that is a positive move. If Air Canada wants to play in that market, cool, if not then they should try to get LAN and COPA etc.

If YVR is chasing after Asian airlines or Russian airlines and marketing it as a transfer point to the Americas that is also a positive move.

[ACT7]

The truth is, Rovinescu is not wrong about needing a domestic carrier to build a true hub. That's a true statement. The question is whether or not AC will actually do this. Maybe, maybe not. One has to be careful with AC's definition of a Canadian hub (ex YYZ) because if you really look at the destinations that AC serves out of YVR, there are only 8 international destinations (one additional seasonal one), 8 transborder (two operated by Jazz and two additional seasonal routes), and only 6 non-BC domestic routes. The rest are by and large Jazz-operated provincial destinations. By any definition of the word 'hub', this is not one.

YVR should continue to pursue other airlines, no question, but until a domestic carrier invests a substantial portion of its operations into the airport, it will forever be a mid-size focus city.

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by casper

For the secondary citiies in Asia, YVR is idea to connect to all of North America.

If YVR wants to be an international hub, it is silly for them to chase after flights to the middle east over the Atlantic. I think Air Canada is correct, there little strategic benefit to chase after open skies with the middle east airlines. Why would anyone in North American fly to the pacific coast to transfer onto an eastern bound flight. Those flights are just going to undermine the flights to Asia and Europe by AC or anyone else.

If YVR is chasing after South and Central American airlines, and marketing YVR as a transfer point to Asia, that is a positive move. If Air Canada wants to play in that market, cool, if not then they should try to get LAN and COPA etc.

If YVR is chasing after Asian airlines or Russian airlines and marketing it as a transfer point to the Americas that is also a positive move.

Agree with you on these statements for sure. So tired of hearing them bring up the Emirates issue over and over. Focus on getting more links with the likes of Asiana and ANA and to more secondary Chinese cities. Secondary in China meaning many cities bigger than anywhere in Canada!

YVR as we know offers a pretty impressive list of international airlines, routes etc for a city it's size.