YVR Airport & Sea Island Developments Discussion

[nname]

As I predicted, China Airlines is once again increasing YVR-TPE to 11x weekly this summer to use up all the bilateral frequency. But this year the increase stayed for almost 4 weeks (15 round-trips) instead of just a single week (4 round-trips)

This year the service will jump from 5x weekly to 11x weekly on the week of June 14th, and drop back to daily on July 12th, then back to 5x weekly in September. The new flights (CI 33/34) departs a few hours before the regular (CI 31/32) flight, and will use a mix of A343 (0-1x weekly) and B744 (3-4x weekly)

[LeftCoaster]

Mid June to mid July? That's an odd time. Why not mid-July to mid-August? That seems much more like peak tourist season to me.

Is it something in Taipei which makes June more appropriate?

Either way nice little bump. Assuming the flights are full that's another 8,600 intl PAX over last years 1 week frequency increase.

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Mid June to mid July? That's an odd time. Why not mid-July to mid-August? That seems much more like peak tourist season to me.

Is it something in Taipei which makes June more appropriate?

Either way nice little bump. Assuming the flights are full that's another 8,600 intl PAX over last years 1 week frequency increase.

It is way too hot and humid in July and August. It's also the middle of typhoon season.

[nname]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Mid June to mid July? That's an odd time. Why not mid-July to mid-August? That seems much more like peak tourist season to me.

Is it something in Taipei which makes June more appropriate?

Either way nice little bump. Assuming the flights are full that's another 8,600 intl PAX over last years 1 week frequency increase.

CI bump YVR-TPE to fill up the available frequency twice a year on the last week of June and December to prevent BR from getting them. Guess this is the bare minimum to make it "seasonal 11x weekly".

Last year the extra flights was on:
June 28th, June 30th (9x weekly, plus BR 4xYVR 4xYYZ = 17x weekly cap)
Dec 21st, Dec 22nd, Dec 24th, Dec 25th (11x weekly, plus BR 5xYVR 5xYYZ = 21x weekly cap)

Traveled that route many time, I can say late-August and first week of September is as busy as late-June and early-July, but they probably need the planes elsewhere at that time

[LeftCoaster]

I really wish Canada and Taiwan would open up some more slots. Every time we talk about this it seems like there is a ton of pent up demand for double daily or more to TPE.

Originally Posted by twoNeurons

It is way too hot and humid in July and August. It's also the middle of typhoon season.

I was thinking more Vancouver's peak tourist season.

Taipei would be much more pleasant in the shoulder seasons I would imagine.

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

I really wish Canada and Taiwan would open up some more slots. Every time we talk about this it seems like there is a ton of pent up demand for double daily or more to TPE.

If I were EVA Air I would lobby against CI "utilising" the remaining slots for such a short period. Use it or lose it is my motto.

Just like the DOT in the US when they allocate slots. Use them or lose them. A great case to watch is the constant HND battle.

The problem with the Canada-Taiwan bilateral is also the cap is based on frequency and not capacity (seats). Obviously as the 744s are phased out they will be replaced with smaller planes as both CI and BR don't have anything larger on their order books! Taiwan is also seasonal as indicated by CI adjusting their frequencies down in the slower seasons

[Hourglass]

Came across an article claiming YVR is second only to LAX on the west coast in terms of number of Asian flights (http://www.travelweek.ca/news/vancouver-yvr-adding-13-new-air-services-2016/).

A bit surprised by this -- YVR has grown into a major hub for Asian destinations, but I would've thought that SFO still has more flights to Asia (a cursory glance at schedules from SFO to cities such as Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei seems to bear this out).

SFO definitely has more passenger traffic to Asia than YVR (not surprising given the much larger population of the Bay Area compared with Metro Vancouver), but that could be partly explained by size of aircraft used.

Huge growth in China flights from YVR, maybe? Curious to get people's thoughts...

[ShawnShank]

And another Air France - 300er, almost beginning to look intentional at this point

[connect2source]

Originally Posted by Johnny Aussie

Effective mid July LH will be flying the 346 5x per week instead of 3x per week as originally scheduled for summer 2016 on the YVR-MUC route.

Yet another boost to summer 2016 Europe capacity.

The 346s will operate x35. Days 3 and 5 will continue to operate with the 333.

Great news! Love the 346, so few left flying in the world, the lower level washrooms make for a very unique experience.

[mezzanine]

Good news for YVR - the new fuel depot on the south arm of the fraser got the last approvals from the Port of Metro Vancouver and YVR is now able to build it. Construction should start in a few weeks. Even though the Feds have changed the approvals process, they have pledged it won't be retroactive.

IMO this is important infrastructure to the airport and the best of several choices.

Off hand, anyone know about the status of the NS Taxiway? That would also be unglamorous but important infrastructure for YVR.

It’s official. Construction on a jet fuel terminal on the Fraser River’s south arm, as well as a pipeline crossing diagonally across Richmond to Vancouver International Airport, will begin as early as next week.

On Wednesday, Port Metro Vancouver (PMV) issued a project permit to the Vancouver Airport Fuel Facilities Corporation, a consortium of airlines, allowing it to build a loading dock and six storage tanks for the jet fuel. The facility, near the Riverport entertainment complex, will also include a small operations building, a foam storage and incident command centre and spill containment infrastructure.

It is anticipated construction will take 18 to 24 months.

http://www.richmond-news.com/news/jet-fu...vancouver-1.2184837#sthash.ttVq9g7N.dpuf

[SFUVancouver]

Ah, the A346: "the flying pencil"!


Source

[trofirhen]

Nice plane. I especially liked the downstairs bathrooms, and wish other designers would do the same. On LH, the tourist class seats were a classy grey, and really comfortable

[Gordon]

Has there been any construction updates on the Pier A expansion?

[Johnny Aussie]

With the summer season about to officially kick off... let's say 1 May (BA 388)
I was looking over my notes and realised this has to be the largest increase in new routes/upgauges etc for as long as I remember. It's getting to the point of almost overwhelming.

But here goes as as brief a summary as possible compared to last summer.

This is changes only.

INTERNATIONAL

Air Canada

GAINS
ICN from 788 to 789
NRT from 788 to 77W
PVG from 788 to 77W
KIX increases from 5 to 6 weekly
DUB **new** 3 weekly rouge 763
LHR additional daily flight on a 788 - so double daily 77W/788
BNE **new** daily 788
PVR **new* once weekly rouge 763
PEK increased capacity from a 77W to a HD 77W
SYD increased capacity from a 77L to a HD 77L
LOSSES
SJD weekly 319 discontinued

China Airlines
TPE daily 744 for the entire summer - plus-
Frequency increase to 11 weekly for a longer period this summer.

Korean Air
ICN from 744 to 748

China Southern
CAN from 788 to 77W

British Airways
LHR from 12 weekly 744 to daily 388 (capacity reduction)

Lufthansa
MUC from daily 333 to 5x weekly 346 / 2x weekly 333

KLM
AMS from daily 333 to daily 772

All Nippon
HND from 788 to 789

Qantas
SYD 3 weekly on 744 for a longer run this summer

Aeromexico
MEX daily 73W/73H mix

Westjet
LGW **new** 6 weekly 763

Xiamen
XMN **new** 3 weekly 788

Philippines
MNL reduced from 11 weekly to 7 weekly 77W (capacity reduction)

Air Transat
LGW increased from 6 weekly to daily 332
FCO **new** one weekly 332

Condor
FRA increased from 4 to 5 weekly 763

Transborder changes - not in depth
AC new routes to SJC, SAN and ORD. EWR goes to a 788 from 319. LAX, ANC and SFO de-rouged. SEA/PDX to be all DH4.
WS new route to SAN. LIH and KOA dropped in favour of more OGG/HNL.
AS LAX dumped and mainline added to SEA.

Domestic changes - not in depth
WS new routes to YHM, YQU and YHZ.

[nname]

Air China
PEK Frequency increase for 2x daily for longer period this summer

EVA Air
TPE 5x weekly compared to 4x weekly last summer

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by nname

Air China
PEK Frequency increase for 2x daily for longer period this summer

EVA Air
TPE 5x weekly compared to 4x weekly last summer

Right you are thanks.

Yup, so many changes more likely to miss something.

And Air China fiddling with equipment with the 332 on for two months

[SFUVancouver]

Wow. When you spell it all out like that, it's a dramatic set of changes coming to YVR this summer. The BA A388 might be the most visible change, but it's far from the only one. Thank you for all the work that went into compiling this.

[trofirhen]

Think we'll hit, or pass, the 21 million pax mark this year?

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

Think we'll hit, or pass, the 21 million pax mark this year?

2015 final total was 20,315,978
For 2016 to hit/exceed 21,000,000 need an increase of 684,022
This would require a growth rate of ~3.4%

YTD so far of 8.7% - factoring in the leap day in Feb and then factoring all the increases coming online.... if I were a betting man, I would say yes... absolutely... barring any unusual events this year.

[Klazu]

Considering that YVR's plan is also to hit 25 million by 2020, we better keep this pace.