YVR Airport & Sea Island Developments Discussion

[YVR Bruce]

An earlier post identified Delta. They were probably referring to ZBB Boundary Bay. There is a Delta field (…Heritage Air Park - grass) a couple miles east plus at least 2 more private strips: Ft Langley (5500’ paved) and a more modest but publicly accessible Rowena’s (2,000’ish gravel)

[thenoflyzone]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

more of a general airport question but how many airports are there in Vancouver? Besides YVR and Abbotsford, Langley, Delta and Pitt Meadows hade one any other places in the LM have something?

You're asking 2 different questions. How many airports in Vancouver, and then how many airports in the LM. Anything east of Langley is no longer in the greater Vancouver area. That includes Abbotsford. But to answer both those questions......

https://skyvector.com/

Zoom in over the LM, and in the top right corner of the screen, select "World VFR".

You'll see all the airports. There's quite a few.

[fredinno]

Has there been any progress in making use of the airside industrial lands in YVR?
Or has that still been on the back-burner?

I know they wanted to lease out the CORE geotechnical building to industrial users, but nothing since has happened.
The Templeton Parking lots would be a good place to build industrial since they already have the giant parkade on the original long-term lot that's unfinished and would need to otherwise be torn down.

[ninjakafi_81]

Originally Posted by fredinno

Has there been any progress in making use of the airside industrial lands in YVR?
Or has that still been on the back-burner?

With the realignment of Ferguson Road along the North Runway, I think something might be in the works in the near future. Once completed that should allow for YVR to repurpose the land into airside facilities.

https://iaac-aeic.gc.ca/050/evaluations/proj/83007

Vancouver Airport Authority is proposing safety upgrades and realignment work for sections of Ferguson Road located at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond B.C. Sections of Ferguson Road to be upgraded and realigned are narrow with poor pavement condition and do not meet current standards. The proposed project will improve overall safety for all road users including vehicles and cyclists and will support continued growth in the area.

The project includes realignment of 2.2 km of Ferguson Road. The proposed improvements will include wider vehicle lanes, turning lanes, paved shoulder lanes for on-road cycling and a separated multi-use path for shared pedestrian and cycling. This project will include relocating existing utilities, including power, potable water supply, sanitary sewer, stormwater drainage and communications fibre in the new road corridor.

The project will include two new culvert crossings over existing drainage ditches and will require clearing of vegetation, placement of preload for several months, excavation, installation of underground utilities and construction of new road structure

Vancouver Airport Authority must determine whether the proposed project is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects. To help inform this determination, the Airport Authority invites comments from the public respecting the determination.

[hollywoodnorth]

looks like Canada post is planning a large expansion to the YVR Plant >>

https://iaac-aeic.gc.ca/050/evaluations/proj/84339

Canada Post is proposing to construct and operate an expanded processing plant adjacent to the existing Canada Post Pacific Processing Centre, on land administered by the Vancouver Airport Authority at 5940 Ferguson Road, Richmond, British Columbia (BC) on Sea Island at the Vancouver Airport (YVR).

The Project includes a new building located to the west of the existing Canada Post processing plant. Pre-construction activities will include land clearing, pre-load for geotechnical stability, excavation, and grading. The Pacific Processing Centre expansion will include a new building, new processing equipment for parcel and package sorting as well as office space. The Project will also include docking and parking spaces for trucks and trailers, employee parking, fencing, landscaping, drainage, stormwater management, lighting, and waste and recycling storage.

This expansion project is required by Canada Post to address capacity, growth, and improving service. The new building will be designed to be highly energy efficient, and to meet the Canada Green Building Council's Zero Carbon Building Standard with a net zero carbon design. It will be designed for accessibility according to universal design standards. The Project will aim to divert 90% of construction and demolition waste.

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by ninjakafi_81

With the realignment of Ferguson Road along the North Runway, I think something might be in the works in the near future. Once completed that should allow for YVR to repurpose the land into airside facilities.

https://iaac-aeic.gc.ca/050/evaluations/proj/83007

The initial idea was to repurpose the Airport South Area and the proposed South Runway area, which wouldn't need any upgrades to convert to general industrial.


Improving Ferguson Road would be good though.
Though it would probably destroy the remaining ALR land in the north of Sea Island and possibly go into the Sea Island reserve, depending on how extensive it is.

I though Sea Island North would be lower priority because of that- Musqueam would need to get compensation of sorts.

Looking at the ALR map of Sea Island, it's pretty clear YVR doesn't even pretend to care about ALR boundaries.

[thenoflyzone]

Found this interesting.

UA was denied the right to put its code on EK flights form DXB to India. It's probably going to be the same with AC and EK. Probably explains why there was no Indian destinations mentioned when AC and EK announced their codeshare agreement last November.

https://www.zawya.com/en/business/aviati...re-on-dubai-india-flights-hrmxdzme?amp=1

New Delhi denies United Airlines-Emirates codeshare on Dubai-India flights

Emirates President Tim Clark says Indian government has rejected United’s request. The Indian government has denied permission to Texas-based United Airlines to codeshare with Emirates on routes to India, according to a local media report.

"United approached the Indian government asking for permission to put their code on our flights from India but hasn't been allowed by the government to do so. So as much as difficult it is, that's the way," Emirates President Tim Clark told Economic Times, an Indian financial daily.

Code share flights allow carriers to jointly market a route, allowing them to expand their network and help fill their planes.

The bilateral agreement between India and Dubai does not allow a third airline to use the seats, the newspaper said, quoting an unnamed government official.

[nname]

Some YVR updates:

AF will be increase YVR-CDG to 5x weekly through W23 and through the beginning of S24. From the end of this month, looks like the route will be at least 5x weekly year-round (except for 2 weeks in late-Sept)
NZ increase YVR-AKL schedule for W23, so the route will be basically daily year round (except 6x weekly for March)
8P adds daily YVR-YCD starting from Sept 12
YP adds seasonal daily YVR-YTP, already operating

YVR recently posted the following passenger number:
March: 2,006,242
April: 1,905,101

The stats are about 92-94% of the peak number pre-pandemic and in between the 2017 and 2018 number. If the trend continue, then this year should ends with around 24.5m to 25m passengers

[stiffdeadman]

jetblue boston flights start this week. loads from yvr to bos look terrible. you can a ticket for $110 a week out. loads from bos to yvr a little better but not money making. they probably should have stuck with the original plan of using the a220 instead of switching to the a320.

[nname]

Originally Posted by stiffdeadman

jetblue boston flights start this week. loads from yvr to bos look terrible. you can a ticket for $110 a week out. loads from bos to yvr a little better but not money making. they probably should have stuck with the original plan of using the a220 instead of switching to the a320.

Yeah, load from YVR looks pretty bad, with most flights have less than 40% load from ExpertFlyer and B6 seat maps. But from BOS, most flights are doing fine, and a few flights are already 90% full and there's still almost 2 weeks away. Wouldn't have enough seats if A220 is used.

Loads from July till the end of the season looks fine though.

[Johnny Aussie]

Good news re AF and NZ

As for B6 that’s usually quite typical for a startup route. Source of traffic would be more on the BOS end. As the route develops then the two way flows balance out. Very typical of seasonal European routes too. YVR originating traffic usually very quiet for the first few flights while inbound much heavier then evens out with the returning pax. But as nname points out July loads better per my point.

Looking at April 2023 stats - Europe and “other” international exceeded April 2019 figures. Asia Pacific, as expected, way down. But yes, overall 92% of April 2019 numbers.

[hehehe]

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/ai...uver-to-singapore-service-876477928.html

AC to start SIN 4x weekly next April!!

[thenoflyzone]

Always found it weird that AC and SQ announced an expansion of their codeshare agreement mere weeks before SQ decided to cancel YVR.

AC was clearly interested in feeding this route, and was maybe caught off guard with SQ’s withdrawal. I think since they were able to see the number of pax coming off of SQ’s flights, they decided to launch the route themselves.

Good news for YVR, as they maintain nonstop service to a major city. SQ won’t be too happy about this I think.

Long lead in time before the flight starts, however. Almost 10 months. Wonder if its lack of frames or something else. Would have been perfect to start this route for northern W23 season I think, not S24.

[nname]

I had a feeling that they wanted to start the route in W23, but got delayed due to something not ready? Or maybe they decided to go ahead with DXB first. I don't think frame is ever an issue for AC during winter.

Now, what will AC do with the other 3x weekly? I'm guessing one of DXB, BKK, AKL will be extended to year-round.

Where did AC found the extra 2 frames for the route though...

[ninjakafi_81]

Originally Posted by nname

I had a feeling that they wanted to start the route in W23, but got delayed due to something not ready? Or maybe they decided to go ahead with DXB first. I don't think frame is ever an issue for AC during winter.

Now, what will AC do with the other 3x weekly? I'm guessing one of DXB, BKK, AKL will be extended to year-round.

Where did AC found the extra 2 frames for the route though...

I thought DXB was a year round route ?

[nname]

Originally Posted by ninjakafi_81

I thought DXB was a year round route ?

No mention of "year-round" from the DXB PR, but no mention of "seasonal" either. Currently it is only scheduled until the end of March.

For SIN, "year-round" was explicitly mentioned in the PR.

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by nname

I had a feeling that they wanted to start the route in W23, but got delayed due to something not ready? Or maybe they decided to go ahead with DXB first. I don't think frame is ever an issue for AC during winter.

Now, what will AC do with the other 3x weekly? I'm guessing one of DXB, BKK, AKL will be extended to year-round.

Where did AC found the extra 2 frames for the route though...

Wow. Fantastic YVR-SIN a new AC year-round route. Very disappointed it’s not SQ but great to remain connected.
MEL still seems like a likely option as well.
Where will they get the two 789 frames from? What other Dreamliner routes are there they could pull from - replace with 788s or 77Ws or drop altogether?

[LeftCoaster]

Great news, will miss Singapore's presence but the link is the key thing and this is actually a pretty solid capacity bump over SQ's 3xA359.

Much better flight timing too. Departs in the big second Asia bank so has all day to feed into and arrives decently into YVR's morning domestic banks and hits some of the later transborder runs.

AC is really putting a lot of their own metal on flights out of YVR and not relying on code share partners to pick up the slack. Not sure what that means but it mirrors what they do at YYZ so that must be a good thing right?

[madog222]

Originally Posted by nname

Where did AC found the extra 2 frames for the route though...

Originally Posted by Johnny Aussie

will they get the two 789 frames from? What other Dreamliner routes are there they could pull from - replace with 788s or 77Ws or drop altogether?

Replaced with the new 333 frames recently received? They also still have 2 more 789 to receive.

[osirisboy]

Frames? You mean planes?