YVR Airport & Sea Island Developments Discussion

[Genauso]

BC Business Magazine
7 big ideas from B.C.'s business leaders: Craig Richmond. CEO, Vancouver Airport Authority

Craig Richmond was taking flying lessons before he was old enough to drive and became an Air Force pilot by age 20. He spent 11 years in operations at YVR before taking over the running of airports in Liverpool, Cyprus and the Bahamas, returning to YVR last summer. Every airport is a gateway from here to there, and Richmond has been pushing the idea that YVR needs to capitalize on its geographic location in a different way. There’s money to be made in being a so-called “holding pen” for transit passengers. A Chinese airline has already committed to keeping two jumbo jets in Vancouver as a base—which means hundreds of jobs for maintenance, support and flight crew, if his idea comes to pass.

My Big Idea

"YVR should be a transit hub between China and South America."

Sao Paulo to Vancouver to Shanghai—it’s almost a perfectly straight line. We are in a very fortunate geographic place. There’s mining in Santiago. Who needs to get there? Everyone, especially the Chinese. Break it down this way: 200 people arrive from China, 75 get off here, 125 continue down to Chile and 40 people from Vancouver get on board. Transit without visas has been around for a long time but it used to be a horrible experience. Also, there were concerns that people would claim refugee status when they landed—but do you know how many we’ve had? Zero. They’re not here to jump ship; they’re here to get to a place where it’s convenient to have a stop in Canada. Middle Eastern hubs have taken 15 per cent of the traffic, and you learn that the transportation business is like water: people go wherever it’s easy to go, and we’ve been losing out.

[madog222]

This idea pops up here often enough. What would it take for it to actually happen?
Has either airline that flies to Shanghai expressed interest?

[Johnny Aussie]

Philippine Airlines has flip flopped again.

Winter scheds to YVR and YYZ were to revert back to the 343 end of August.

Now it appears the 77W will continue indefinitely after 1 September again.

Daily YVR with 3 weekly continuing on to YYZ and return.

http://airlineroute.net/2014/08/06/pr-yvryyz-sep14update2/

[Johnny Aussie]

Just looked at the UK stats for June again.

Despite YVR-LHR just motoring ahead with over 6,000 additional passengers compared to June 2013, all three of the Air Transat YVR-UK routes showed declines of about 100 pax to GLA, about 650 to MAN and about 700 to LGW. Overall YVR-UK is up substantially compared to 2013, but is Icelandair the reason for the Air Transat declines as it would appear those are the passengers they would be "stealing." For comparative purposes YYC-LHR was up about 3,350, LGW down about 1,200, GLA flat and MAN up about 750.

What is really noticeable though is the almost collapse of YEG-LGW down almost 50% from June 2013 and a load factor of around only 23% on the two round trip flights. YEG-LHR was down as well but only by a couple hundred. Air Transat has loaded their 2015 schedules and there is no change to the YVR or YYC frequencies at this stage but the weekly YEG-LGW appears to be gone. Not really surprising given that horrific LF. So is Icelandair pushing Air Transat out of YEG?

[craneSpotter]

ANA Expands Americas Codeshare Network from July/August 2014

Update at 0700GMT 05AUG14

Star Alliance member ANA in July and August 2014 continues to expand codeshare network in the Americas, which sees “NH” code appear on all UNITED routes to Brazil and additional domestic points operated by Air Canada via Vancouver.

New Codeshare routes as follow.

ANA operated by Air Canada effective 21AUG14

Vancouver – Calgary
Vancouver – Montreal
Vancouver – Ottawa
Vancouver – Prince Rupert

Note: Prince Rupert

Source: http://airlineroute.net/2014/08/05/nh-codeshare-jul14/

[craneSpotter]

Philippine Airlines to Continue Boeing 777 Service to Canada from Sep 2014


Update at 0840GMT 06AUG14

Philippine Airlines once again has revised planned operational aircraft for service to Canada, which sees Boeing 777-300ER aircraft continues to serve Vancouver and Toronto, on/after 01SEP14. Previously the 4 weekly Manila – Vancouver and 3 weekly Manila – Vancouver – Toronto route was to be operated by A340-300.

Manila – Vancouver
PR116 MNL1900 – 1615YVR 77W x357
PR117 YVR2345 – 0435+2MNL 77W x357

Manila – Vancouver – Toronto
PR118 MNL1500 – 1215YVR1345 – 2105YYZ 77W 357
PR119 YYZ2235 – 0035+1YVR0150+1 – 0640+2MNL 77W 357

source - http://airlineroute.net/2014/08/06/pr-yvryyz-sep14update2/

[usog]

Random question but this came up today. Does YVR not do gate passes anymore or was the old lady at Air Canada customer service feeding me BS?

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by craneSpotter

ANA Expands Americas Codeshare Network from July/August 2014

Update at 0700GMT 05AUG14

Star Alliance member ANA in July and August 2014 continues to expand codeshare network in the Americas, which sees “NH” code appear on all UNITED routes to Brazil and additional domestic points operated by Air Canada via Vancouver.

New Codeshare routes as follow.

ANA operated by Air Canada effective 21AUG14

Vancouver – Calgary
Vancouver – Montreal
Vancouver – Ottawa
Vancouver – Prince Rupert

Note: Prince Rupert

Source: http://airlineroute.net/2014/08/05/nh-codeshare-jul14/

Calgary is easy. Banf is a big draw for Japanese tourists.
Prince Rupert COULD be for Aurora Borealis tourism.

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by usog

Random question but this came up today. Does YVR not do gate passes anymore or was the old lady at Air Canada customer service feeding me BS?

The last time I got a gate pass was in 1995. Didn't they stop after 2001-09-11?

[craneSpotter]

Originally Posted by twoneurons

prince rupert could be for aurora borealis tourism.

LNG, sportfishing & bear watching (@ the nearby Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary).

[craneSpotter]

[Gordon]

Great stats for YVR With an 8.7% increase in Transborder Traffic I wonder if BLI is down noticeably this year?

West Jet Encore seems to have a 4th Gate Gate A12. Has B12 been converted to an Encore gate or is B12 just being used as an overflow graound load slot?

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Genauso

BC Business Magazine
7 big ideas from B.C.'s business leaders: Craig Richmond. CEO, Vancouver Airport Authority

Quote:
Craig Richmond was taking flying lessons before he was old enough to drive and became an Air Force pilot by age 20. He spent 11 years in operations at YVR before taking over the running of airports in Liverpool, Cyprus and the Bahamas, returning to YVR last summer. Every airport is a gateway from here to there, and Richmond has been pushing the idea that YVR needs to capitalize on its geographic location in a different way. There’s money to be made in being a so-called “holding pen” for transit passengers. A Chinese airline has already committed to keeping two jumbo jets in Vancouver as a base—which means hundreds of jobs for maintenance, support and flight crew, if his idea comes to pass.

My Big Idea

"YVR should be a transit hub between China and South America."

Sao Paulo to Vancouver to Shanghai—it’s almost a perfectly straight line. We are in a very fortunate geographic place. There’s mining in Santiago. Who needs to get there? Everyone, especially the Chinese. Break it down this way: 200 people arrive from China, 75 get off here, 125 continue down to Chile and 40 people from Vancouver get on board. Transit without visas has been around for a long time but it used to be a horrible experience. Also, there were concerns that people would claim refugee status when they landed—but do you know how many we’ve had? Zero. They’re not here to jump ship; they’re here to get to a place where it’s convenient to have a stop in Canada. Middle Eastern hubs have taken 15 per cent of the traffic, and you learn that the transportation business is like water: people go wherever it’s easy to go, and we’ve been losing out. [QUOTE/]........................................
* * * * * * * * * * * *
**********************************************************************************************************************
Lima and Santiago are are closer to China by YVR than by YYZ, about the only two cities that are. São Paolo is about 200 miles longer via YVR than YYZ,
and whether the fuel costs would rule out a Vancouver run or not is anyone's guess.

Neverthess, if nothing else, a route into Lima is something to be sought after,
as that city, and its new, modern airport, is apparently the "N.W. Gateway" into South America.

Interestingly São Paolo is closer to HK via DBX than over the Pacific. Most other Chinese cites, east of the critical line of longitude, have a
shorter haul over the Pacific, and if YVR continues to atttract flights from second-tier (still huge) cities in China, the the yields for airlinks Craig Richmond talks of just might be there.

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by Gordon

Great stats for YVR With an 8.7% increase in Transborder Traffic I wonder if BLI is down noticeably this year?

West Jet Encore seems to have a 4th Gate Gate A12. Has B12 been converted to an Encore gate or is B12 just being used as an overflow graound load slot?

Not only decent % increases but look at the passenger volume increases... that really tells the story of what's going on at YVR. Fastest growing major airport in Western Canada in both % and pax volume YTD 2014.

In thousands

JUNE // YTD
DOMESTIC UP 55.0 // UP 303.2
TRANSBORDER UP 34.5 // UP 186.3
ASIA PACIFIC UP 34.6 // UP 167.1
EUROPE UP 4.0 // UP 41.5
MISC INT DOWN 2.1 // UP 6.3
TTL INT UP 71.1 // UP 401.2
TTL UP 126.0 // UP 704.4

That's over 700,000 more passengers going through YVR in the first 6 months of the year compared to 2013.

Interesting Europe figures - scheduled traffic up a decent 6.3% or 6,700 (Icelandair and AC LHR) but charter down 6.4% or ~ 2,700.

Also, looking at YUL, YVR has virtually caught up to total international for the first 6 months. YUL about 4.5M total international almost the same as YVR. Yes, this includes transborder but that is still international. If the trend continues, YVR may exceed YUL for total international this year. Will be close! Obviously taking out transborder YUL is still the larger for remaining international and with their tremendous number of sun flights, it is no wonder!

Also, forget about BLI... look at SEA stats for June 2014 and YTD 2014. In June international was up only 2.7% and YTD up 6.1%. Taking out transborder, YVR international is up 9.5% in June and 10.8% YTD. I think there were a few people who were dooming and glooming on SEA's DL build up... These figures certainly paint a different picture.

And check out those cargo figures... must be all those additional freighters.... cargo up 21.6% in June.

[Hourglass]

Originally Posted by Johnny Aussie

I think there were a few people who were dooming and glooming on SEA's DL build up... These figures certainly paint a different picture.

Johnny, this is a case where I'd love to be proven wrong...

The ytd numbers are looking good, but a 12-month period is hardly an accurate indicator of how the build-up of DL's SEA hub will impact YVR. Anecdotally, i know several friends flying to YVR from Hong Kong this summer who opted for DL via SEA rather than fly CX or AC non-stop because of cheaper fares. More choice is almost always good for the consumer, but who knows how possible erosion in fares or passengers will impact longer-term growth at YVR...

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by Hourglass

Johnny, a 12-month period of time is hardly an accurate indicator of how the build-up of DL's SEA hub will impact YVR. Anecdotally, i know several friends flying to YVR from Hong Kong this summer who opted for DL via SEA rather than fly CX or AC non-stop because of cheaper fares. More choice is almost always good for the consumer, but who knows how this will impact longer-term growth at YVR...

But yes, the numbers ytd are encouraging.

I hear you...however... SEA only increased 2.7% despite all of their new international Asia (and Europe) flights either commencing in June or prior. Given SEA's huge increase in capacity in June, I am very surprised at such low growth. Of course SEA will have an impact. I am sure you know people who have travelled to SEA to fly to Asia or vice versa. This is nothing new and has been happening since the 1980s. It still amazes people keep saying things like this as if it is some sort of a new "threat." YVR has had to deal with this competition for over 30 years and seems to be doing fine. However, like I said the stats/facts do not indicate the doom and gloom as I would not have expected them to. Regardless of time frame and regardless of opinion, YVR's Asia Pacific passenger volume in June actually increased more than the capacity added in June. That should bode well for increased load factors... yes yields are another beast, but a very good sign that the market grew stronger than capacity added. Plus AC's July stats are certainly showing this momentum is just getting stronger. Clearly an additional 34,600 passengers travelling Asia Pacific routes to/from YVR in just one month is phenomenal. The Asia Pacific pie is a huge one and getting bigger each day....I could go on... but I tend to take the glass half full approach anyway.

[Johnny Aussie]

http://aircanada.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=795

"I am pleased to report that Air Canada delivered its best second quarter financial performance in the Corporation's history, surpassing last year's records in all three measures of operating income, adjusted net income and EBITDAR"

Without looking into the complete results in much detail.....Air Canada seems to be doing ok.

Looked again... challenges ahead.... But who doesn't.

[moosejaw]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

My Big Idea

"YVR should be a transit hub between China and South America."

Sao Paulo to Vancouver to Shanghai—it’s almost a perfectly straight line. We are in a very fortunate geographic place. There’s mining in Santiago. Who needs to get there? Everyone, especially the Chinese. Break it down this way: 200 people arrive from China, 75 get off here, 125 continue down to Chile and 40 people from Vancouver get on board. Transit without visas has been around for a long time but it used to be a horrible experience. [QUOTE/]........................................
* * * * * * * * * * * *
**********************************************************************************************************************
Lima and Santiago are are closer to China by YVR than by YYZ, about the only two cities that are. São Paolo is about 200 miles longer via YVR than YYZ,
and whether the fuel costs would rule out a Vancouver run or not is anyone's guess.

Neverthess, if nothing else, a route into Lima is something to be sought after,
as that city, and its new, modern airport, is apparently the "N.W. Gateway" into South America.

Interestingly São Paolo is closer to HK via DBX than over the Pacific. Most other Chinese cites, east of the critical line of longitude, have a
shorter haul over the Pacific, and if YVR continues to atttract flights from second-tier (still huge) cities in China, the the yields for airlinks Craig Richmond talks of just might be there.

Wherever this stands the folks at YVR better hop on it soon bc Miami International is poised to be be the #1 spot for international destinations soon overtaking JFK. The first place MIA is trying to woo is Asian destinations and with the long range 787, the trips can be made. Miami's advantage is warm tropical weather, gambling and pretty much any destination in South America. Heck even American Airlines offers direct flights to seven cities in Brazil. ANA, JAL and Cathay Pacific have all expressed interest in coming to Miami. I would personally like to see YVR get over any political hurdles and establish service to south america. Vancouver already has a sizeable Brazilian student population. Be interesting to see which city gets there first.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by moosejaw

Wherever this stands the folks at YVR better hop on it soon bc Miami International is poised to be be the #1 spot for international destinations soon overtaking JFK. The first place MIA is trying to woo is Asian destinations and with the long range 787, the trips can be made. Miami's advantage is warm tropical weather, gambling and pretty much any destination in South America. Heck even American Airlines offers direct flights to seven cities in Brazil. ANA, JAL and Cathay Pacific have all expressed interest in coming to Miami. I would personally like to see YVR get over any political hurdles and establish service to south america. Vancouver already has a sizeable Brazilian student population. Be interesting to see which city gets there first.

With the Canadians in charge? Ha! Three guesses. Viva MIA (to the expense of Vancouver's struggling, Ottawa's ass-dragging, and often-restrictive bilaterals)......
though I think Lima and maybe Santiago would be quicker served from YVR.

[Johnny Aussie]

As reported earlier, AC, AA and DL are adding seats to the YVR-LAX market this winter... and now Alaska adding to the flood.

Winter scheds showing almost all 739s (17/21 weekly flights).

This latest addition tips YVR-LAX into the 1,000,000 annual seats category.

Hey UA, wanna get in on it?