YVR Airport & Sea Island Developments Discussion

[Johnny Aussie]

Spotter alert...

Air Canada's first revenue 787-900 flight from YYZ-YVR is scheduled tomorrow 4th August.

AC 105 ETA YVR 1154
AC 102 ETD YVR 1400

So YVR-YYZ will have pretty much all the AC larger mainline equipment on it for the next month...

320, 321, 788, 789, 77L and the 77W. Only ones missing on dometic routes are the 763 and the 333 (although YVR-YUL still sees that daily). On the smaller side, even the 319 makes a once per week rotation.

Edit: From twitter...

Pulling into the gate:

@yvrairport: This beautiful @AirCanada bird now at YVR! The @Boeing 787-9 #Dreamliner has arrived ✈️ https://vine.co/v/eHUrVDdHZ1n

And departing:

@yvrairport: See you tomorrow! Wheels up on the inaugural @AirCanada 787-9 @boeing #Dreamliner flight from YVR: http://twitter.com/yvrairport/status...050560/photo/1

[nname]

So the BA A380 is indeed summer-only with frequency reduced from 12x weekly to daily. The service will return to 747 in the winter.

A380 and frequency consolidation on London Heathrow – Vancouver in Summer 2016

British Airways will up-gauge the BA85/84 flight to an A380 and cancel the BA87/86 during the peak summer season

For the period between 1st May and 1st October, British Airways will up-gauge the BA85/84 from a 747 to an A380 and cancel the BA87/86 service currently operating 5 times a week

For the remaining period of the summer S16 season, the route will remain on a daily 747 service

LHRYVR schedule in Summer 2016

27Mar–30Apr16 and 02Oct – 29Oct16
 	BA 85 	LHR-YVR 	17:15 	18:40 	Daily 	747
 	BA 84 	YVR-LHR 	20:50 	14:00* 	Daily 	747
 
01May – 01Oct16
 	BA 85 	LHR-YVR 	17:15 	18:40 	Daily 	A380
 	BA 84 	YVR-LHR 	20:50 	14:00* 	Daily 	A380

(source)

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by Johnny Aussie

Another great result. YVR just keeps rolling along.

Decent positive growth in all sectors. Big upticks in transborder, Asia Pacific and Europe.

http://www.yvr.ca/Libraries/Aviation...date.sflb.ashx

Overall up 4.9% YTD up 5.2%

Domestic up 2.6% YTD up 2.4%
Transborder up 6.2% YTD up 11.1%
Asia Pacific up 8.9% YTD up 3.6%
Europe up 7.7% YTD up 8.2%
Misc Int'l up 5.3% YTD up 7.3%

June 2015 is up over 84,400 passengers compared to June 2014.
YTD June 2015 is up over 480,000 compared to the same period last year.

Cargo up 10.0% YTD up 11.5%. Highest June ever.

Great intl' numbers hiding some really mediocre/poor domestic numbers. Nice to see AsiaPac bounce back after a slow start to the year.

I wonder what the load factors on the domestic routes are like and if a simple lack of capacity is constraining domestic growth. Every YVR to YYZ flight I'm on is totally rammed.

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Great intl' numbers hiding some really mediocre/poor domestic numbers. Nice to see AsiaPac bounce back after a slow start to the year.

I wonder what the load factors on the domestic routes are like and if a simple lack of capacity is constraining domestic growth. Every YVR to YYZ flight I'm on is totally rammed.

Again, it's relative. Looking at the neighbouring airports, the domestic slump in places like AB and certain BC airports has to be having an impact on YVR. But like you say I am sure transcon flights aren't hurting. But it is still positive growth and not contracting!
Similar to Australia, some airports now producing some dismal domestic numbers but stellar international figures. Those areas affected by resource industry slowdowns quite noticeable now.

Originally Posted by Klazu

Yeah, almost every hotel room and accommodation in Vancouver has been fully booked all summer. It has been difficult for people to travel to Vancouver on business with no availability at certain times.

You are so right! Bloody hell! I just looked at hotel availability over the next few weeks and what the?!

[Hot Rod]

Time for more hotels to be built. I'm certain that Vancouver could benefit with several more thousand hotel rooms and brands currently not downtown in all spectrums including:

Mandarin Oriental
Ritz Carlton
JW Marriott
Intercontinental
Conrad
LeMeridian
St Regis

Hilton (under construction, right?)
Grand or Park Hyatt (personally, I'd like to see a Grand Hyatt in Yaletown and a Park Hyatt in Coal Harbour near the park)
Doubletree
Crowne Plaza
W

Embassy Suites
Holiday Inn (a NEW ONE)

aLoft

maybe a few more international brands.

[Johnny Aussie]

Originally Posted by Hot Rod

Time for more hotels to be built. I'm certain that Vancouver could benefit with several more thousand hotel rooms and brands currently not downtown....

Quite the list! Would be nice to get some... I would be thrilled to see either a Conrad, Hilton or Doubletree downtown.

However, you are right, when conditions get like this, development is spurred. I used to have quite a few hotel clients back in the day and, just like the airline traffic into YVR, Vancouver is still very seasonal. Hotels make all their money May-September. Throw in a few break even months and a few loss months, still decent overall results for the year as a whole. Makes for some very careful cash flow planning.

You have a ? about a Hilton under construction? Please say this is true. Even the Hampton Inn downtown is asking for outrageous $$$. $479 for a Hampton Inn??

A Ritz Carlton was in the cards but that fell apart. I believe that is where Trump is now building.

[SFUVancouver]

An Ibis & Novotel combo would be a good fit, too. Good price point, recognized international brands, potentially a good fit for an irregular or constrained site due to Ibis' small format rooms and the hotels' shared back of house operations.

[phesto]

I was talking to a hotel manager recently and he said this has been the best summer on record for most of the downtown hotels, but the winters haven't really improved and so seasonality is just as bad as ever and rates are quite low.

I'm sure we'll see a handful of new hotels as part of larger projects in the next few years (like Canada Post site), but I don't think the economics work to buy a piece of land and build a hotel-only tower.

[SFUVancouver]

There are a couple of hotel projects in the pipeline in Richmond along the Canada Line, and the operators of the Hilton are investing in renovations and upgrades (they just re-did their ballroom and conference facilities). Perhaps that stalled hotel reno at 12th & Cambie could find its footing again and proceed. It was going to be a Hotel Indigo. I could see a hotel-anchored project going into the site that's currently a parking lot beside Olympic Village station. The views of downtown and False Creek would be spectacular from the upper floors and the views looking back on Fairview Slopes wouldn't be a hardship, either. It's on transit, downtown-but-not-downtown, easy car access and parking, and truly within walking distance of big draws Granville Island and the False Creek Seawall.

Any thoughts on whether the eventual Transborder Terminal project at YVR would include a second airport hotel? This could be an expansion of the Fairmont YVR or a new freestanding property. That hotel recently won SkyTrax 'best NA airport hotel' and with additional long-haul flights to China, I could see baseline demand for crew layover accommodation helping justify the project.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

An Ibis & Novotel combo would be a good fit, too. Good price point, recognized international brands, potentially a good fit for an irregular or constrained site due to Ibis' small format rooms and the hotels' shared back of house operations.

Does Accor offer the Ibis brand in North America?

It is suprising the long list of major hoteliers who don't have a presence in a market the size of Vancouver.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

I wonder what the load factors on the domestic routes are like and if a simple lack of capacity is constraining domestic growth. Every YVR to YYZ flight I'm on is totally rammed.

I sometimes think that a regular, at-least-once-per-hour-may-every-half-hour in busy periods might provide better, easier customer service: almost like a commuter jet run between a large city pair. This is not, of course SFO-LAX, but it seems to warrant more frequency than it already has.

[SFUVancouver]

I was on one of those rammed YYZ-YVR flights this weekend coming back from Switzerland and was happily surprised with an upgrade to business class. In the roundabout nature of buying flights these days, I booked through Expedia for Swiss Airlines, which was actually an all-Air Canada code-share set of flights from YVR-YUL-GVA-YUL-YYZ-YVR. When the YYZ-YVR flight filled up I guess I had enough criteria to get the bump. I have been almost exclusively flying with One World airlines for work, so I didn't even have status with Air Canada, which makes me think it was the Swiss-booked tickets and international routing that did the trick. It was a quite pleasant flight; I've never flown business with Air Canada before and the product was pretty great, actually. The flight attendant was hands-down the best I've ever met, making me think that she was perhaps ex-Canadian Airlines.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

An Ibis & Novotel combo would be a good fit, too. Good price point, recognized international brands, potentially a good fit for an irregular or constrained site due to Ibis' small format rooms and the hotels' shared back of house operations.

I think you're talking about the ACCOR hotel group in France, which include the hotels you mentioned. Novotel is their classic brand name, Sofitel is the most "haute gamme" and Ibis is (in France anyway) more budget-oriented.
An ACCOR hotel presence would perhaps benefit Air France in some way, or vice versa: in revenue, of course.

http://www.accorhotels-group.com/fr/...s-marques.html

[SFUVancouver]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

I think you're talking about the ACCOR hotel group in France, which include the hotels you mentioned. Novotel is their classic brand name, Sofitel is the most "haute gamme" and Ibis is (in France anyway) more budget-oriented.
An ACCOR hotel presence would perhaps benefit Air France in some way, or vice versa: in revenue, of course.

http://www.accorhotels-group.com/fr/...s-marques.html

Ibis is certainly their more budget-oriented brand, further accentuated by their Ibis-Budget sub-brand product. The clever pairing of a value-focused hotel brand (Ibis) and a mainline modest 3-4 star hotel brand (Novotel) that share a back of house (laundry, kitchens, utilities, parking structure, etc.) and loyalty rewards program make these a smart business travel option and are very well suited for the MICE (convention & meetings) customer. You can have a whole team in the same physical place with a long continuum of price points from which to choose.

I know that Accor's Ibis-Novotel presence is pretty strong in South America (particularly Brazil) and Australia, but I'm not sure if they've made a move into the competitive North American market.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

Ibis is certainly their more budget-oriented brand, further accentuated by their Ibis-Budget sub-brand product. The clever pairing of a value-focused hotel brand (Ibis) and a mainline modest 3-4 star hotel brand (Novotel) that share a back of house (laundry, kitchens, utilities, parking structure, etc.) and loyalty rewards program make these a smart business travel option and are very well suited for the MICE (convention & meetings) customer. You can have a whole team in the same physical place with a long continuum of price points from which to choose.

I know that Accor's Ibis-Novotel presence is pretty strong in South America (particularly Brazil) and Australia, but I'm not sure if they've made a move into the competitive North American market.

Let's hope it may happen; if not immediately, the when we get the TWV. . (The TWV pax are in a designated area, soaking up totem poles and Emily Carr) However, YVR will be busier all-round, and the need for non TWV passengers will need to be met, too. A ways off, I know, but it's good to plan. Hm?

[casper]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

Ibis is certainly their more budget-oriented brand, further accentuated by their Ibis-Budget sub-brand product. The clever pairing of a value-focused hotel brand (Ibis) and a mainline modest 3-4 star hotel brand (Novotel) that share a back of house (laundry, kitchens, utilities, parking structure, etc.) and loyalty rewards program make these a smart business travel option and are very well suited for the MICE (convention & meetings) customer. You can have a whole team in the same physical place with a long continuum of price points from which to choose.

I know that Accor's Ibis-Novotel presence is pretty strong in South America (particularly Brazil) and Australia, but I'm not sure if they've made a move into the competitive North American market.

There I a Novotel in Ottawa.

[Klazu]

Originally Posted by casper

There I a Novotel in Ottawa.

I have also stayed in a 5* Sofitel in New York City, so there are some Accor hotels in North America. Ibis and Mercure are convenient 2* and 3* hotels when traveling in Europe. Mostly newish and well-located. Can recommend.

[Klazu]

Originally Posted by Johnny Aussie

Even the Hampton Inn downtown is asking for outrageous $$$. $479 for a Hampton Inn?

Now, now. I am sure that price includes a complimentary continental breakfast.

[Klazu]

Anyone having flexible schedule this fall can enjoy some great bargains from YVR. Just check out some reference prices from Flight Center and then look for yourself: http://www.flightcentre.ca/worldwide-deals

I could find return fares from YVR to HKG for as low as $650 CAD (all taxes included) next month! I am really tempted to pick one of those, but my wife has such a busy work.

[vanlaw]

Originally Posted by Klazu

I could find return fares from YVR to HKG for as low as $650 CAD (all taxes included) next month! I am really tempted to pick one of those, but my wife has such a busy work.

I booked that flight/price earlier this week for travel early next year. It is ridiculously low. However, downside is it is on AC's cattle car 777HD. I had second thoughts for a moment, but was booking 4 tickets, so the price differential won the day. Lots of cheap budget flights from HK to sun destinations.