YVR Airport & Sea Island Developments Discussion

[Klazu]

Thanks! Unfortunately the Hilton is too short to see planes landing, but you should still see them in mid-air. Just keep in mind that these photos are waaaay zoomed in and with naked eye things don't look nearly as prominent.

I actually took these photos already on May 31st and only got around posting them now. So this is actually the very first time BA's A380 touched down on YVR! Been seeing this repeat many times since then, but yeah, I think Westjet might be fine by now.

[CareerShow]

Originally Posted by Johnny Aussie

^^
Excellent photos! That view is amazing!

Hope I get the same view when I stay at the Hilton @ Metrotown between Xmas and New Years!! Hoping for a clear day ������������ not sure if it's high enough though ������������

Couldn't help but notice that Omni Air 767 in the last shot... Westjet still having issues... What an f'ing disaster!

Mr. Saretsky has claimed them to be a big success! Only 5% were cancelled or something haha

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by Klazu

Thanks! Unfortunately the Hilton is too short to see planes landing, but you should still see them in mid-air. Just keep in mind that these photos are waaaay zoomed in and with naked eye things don't look nearly as prominent.

I actually took these photos already on May 31st and only got around posting them now. So this is actually the very first time BA's A380 touched down on YVR! Been seeing this repeat many times since then, but yeah, I think Westjet might be fine by now.

Ahhhhhh OK then! For some reason I thought they were the last flights of the year!!

[Hot Rod]

Excellent news re: YVR-TPE, NGO, and the other recent announcements from Air Canada. It really does appear that AC is moving fast to strengthen its Vancouver Hub and the airport itself is positioning itself as THE #1 Connection city between NA and Asia.

I know this may take some time; but I LONG for the day when the existing routes mature into mainline (if they aren't) and daily (or more frequencies) and new 'thin' routes are announced such as: YVR-Kaohsiung (OMG, what a get that would be), YVR-Kolkutta, and the 2nd tier China cities become non-stops (YVR-CKG, YVR-CTU, YVR-Hangzhou, YVR-KMG).

I also am looking forward to the expansion of the terminals. I think the current plan is sufficient to get YVR comfortably into the 25-30M pax per year range. But I honestly think that even after this expansion that YVR likely will need to explore a new master plan that should include a new, dedicated transborder terminal with ATS connecting it airside to the current International and Domestic terminals and redesign of the roadway (and new Skytrain station). The new transborder terminal could be the same design as what was pitched currently just moved further to the E in order to create proper ramp space from the current expansion.

I also hope the new cross-taxiway is built and hope that it is double wide (two planes can cross at once - yes, I know, dreaming but still).

[Hot Rod]

One thing's definitely for sure, it was very smart of YVR to implement the 15% reduction on fees for new routes/expansion. Volume increases revenue overall and allows the airport to create its own economy.

[connect2source]

Great photos Klaus!! Flew BA 85 on the A380 last Monday, we conducted the same approach but it was dark given our 1.5 hr delay at Heathrow due to jetty problems. Fun to see you capture our approach all over again! thanks!!

[Johnny Aussie]

Absolutely stellar results across the board!

I've highlighted International as well and truly smashing through double digit growth.

http://www.yvr.ca/-/media/yvr/documents/facts-sheets/traffic-update_august-2016.pdf?la=en

Overall up 9.5% up 201,400 to 2,327,155

Domestic up 6.5% up 70,100 to 1,145,541

Transborder up 7.4% up 38,600 to 563,856

Asia Pacific up 15.1% up 48,200 to 367,530
Europe up 17.6% up 32,700 to 218,882
Misc Int'l up 60.1% up 11,800 to 31,346

Ttl Int'l up 12.5% up 131,300 to 1,181,614

Int'l / Domestic split 50.8% / 49.2% so a majority of pax international again.

YTD is up 8.7% up 1,208,000 to 15,072,313.

Cargo also showed a decent bump in August up 8.8% still down 2.4% on the year though.

Even the little old South Terminal saw a huge 29.6% increase in August.

[excel]

Great numbers. Nice to see cargo having a slight bump in the right direction.

[SFUVancouver]

Those are absolutely huge numbers. Fantastic. Thank you for the update.

Good to see cargo rebound a bit, even if it's down year over year.

[Johnny Aussie]

Next summer AC rouge will increase DUB from 3 to 4 flights per week.

AC1941 DUB 0950 - 1115 YVR 1246 763
AC1940 YVR 1510 - 0820+1 DUB 1357 763

Why is this significant??

This also confirms that there will be yet another 763 rouge based at YVR next summer as these flights will now rotate through YVR. Last summer these flights operated by rotating YYZ-DUB-YVR-DUB-YYZ. Next summer these flights will just be YVR-DUB-YVR.

So now we have:

1 operating LAS and HNL/OGG daily
1 operating KIX 6 weekly and 1 PVR overnight and return
1 operating 4 weekly NGO
1 operating 4 weekly DUB

Soooooooooo now this adds to even more speculation as to what they will do with the 6 remaining frequencies.

I'm gonna tip 3 weekly CDG and 3 weekly MAN.

[nname]

Are you sure NGO and DUB are different planes? Based on the schedule, seems like they are doing YVR-DUB-YVR-NGO-YVR rotation, for the month of June and July at least. So there may not be a new plane until around August.

AC1940 YVR1510 - 0820+1DUB 763 1357
AC1941 DUB0950 - 1115YVR 763 1246

AC1955 YVR1245 – 1515+1NGO 763 246
AC1956 NGO1640 – 0955YVR 763 357

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by nname

Are you sure NGO and DUB are different planes? Based on the schedule, seems like they are doing YVR-DUB-YVR-NGO-YVR rotation, for the month of June and July at least. So there may not be a new plane until around August.

AC1940 YVR1510 - 0820+1DUB 763 1357
AC1941 DUB0950 - 1115YVR 763 1246

AC1955 YVR1245 – 1515+1NGO 763 246
AC1956 NGO1640 – 0955YVR 763 357

Yes, I definitely thought that... But then I looked into it a bit deeper... because they both operate on Mondays starting July 31 I am tipping there are two separate planes. I doubt AC would start a summer service as late as the first week of August. Plus DUB starts earlier (only a week mind you) and the scheds don't synch for the first couple of weeks. Also, I can't imagine they would have a rouge 763 sit on the ground for over 5 hours in the middle of the day.

I'm pretty sure there is more to come... But I guess we will see! It's an interesting puzzle that is piecing together.

[Johnny Aussie]

Saw the sched on flyertalk. No flight numbers given.

AC TPE 1600 - 1130 YVR 789 D
AC YVR 1115 - 1420+1 TPE 789 D

So now we can speculate what they'll do with the a/c as this route requires two 789s. Probably another transcon to YYZ or maybe YUL.

[nname]

Rotate with YVR-NRT probably

AC3 YVR1340 - 1525+1NRT 789 D
AC4 NRT1700 - 0935YVR 789 D


And, seems like TS had removed YVR-FCO from schedule for next summer...

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by nname

And, seems like TS had removed YVR-FCO from schedule for next summer...

I saw that, kind of a bummer. I'm surprised there wasn't the load for a low yield 1PW flight to Rome, seemed like a npretty viable route. Maybe TS just found a more lucrative route for the flight.

Would like to see that extra rouge plane pick that frequency up. 3x to FCO and 3x to CDG would be amazing!

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by nname

Rotate with YVR-NRT probably

AC3 YVR1340 - 1525+1NRT 789 D
AC4 NRT1700 - 0935YVR 789 D


And, seems like TS had removed YVR-FCO from schedule for next summer...

That works! I didn't realise NRT was downgauging to a 789 next summer but this ties in. All other international routes same equipment as last summer so far except the second LHR looks like it's a 789 instead of a 788.

Yeah just checked Transat.. All flights to FCO now via YYZ or YUL next summer. I think that was Transat's second attempt at FCO probably won't try again for awhile.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

I saw that, kind of a bummer. I'm surprised there wasn't the load for a low yield 1PW flight to Rome, seemed like a npretty viable route. Maybe TS just found a more lucrative route for the flight.

Would like to see that extra rouge plane pick that frequency up. 3x to FCO and 3x to CDG would be amazing!

Interesting, because in a confidential "route demand" graph I received some years back, Paris was at the top, followed by Melbourne, Rome, and DBX, all at about the same level.
And with the large Italian population in Vancouver, I thought it might be viable, though I guess it's a "family" and "tourist" route, and has scant potential for business class yield.

[LeftCoaster]

That's the surprise though, Transat doesn't rely on business class. It's a low yield model, which leaves me scratching my head as to why a 1 per week low yield route didn't work.

Must have found a better utilization for the aircraft.

[nname]

Maybe the issue is the 1 per week part...

If I'm on vacation, I don't want to limit the length to either 7 or 14 days...

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

That's my surprise though, Transat doesn't rely on business class. It's a low yield model, which leaves me scratching my head as to why a 1 per week low yield route didn't work.

But that's probably it. You've answered your question....

1) Once per week flights struggle by just their nature. Doesn't make trips flexible. Minimum stay one week and then trips by the week. One, two , three.... So even though it's a leisure route. So many one stop options available between YVR and FCO.

2) low yield model meaning b/e LF so much higher. So TS would have really had to fill those seats. Even a LF around 80% would struggle on a longer thinner route like YVR-FCO. Perhaps the loads were there but I actually thought the viability of this route would have been a struggle.