Vancouver International Airport
Vancouver International Airport
Vancouver International Airport (IATA: YVR, ICAO: CYVR) is an international airport located on Sea Island in Richmond, British Columbia, serving the city of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland region. It is located 12 km (7.5 mi) from Downtown Vancouver. The airport is managed by Vancouver Airport Authority, a nonprofit organization, and covers a total expanse of about 1,340 hectares (3,311 acres) of airport property. Vancouver is the second busiest airport in Canada by passenger traffic (26.2 million), with the site serving as Canada's main transpacific airport. Vancouver International Airport is a hub for Air Canada, WestJet, and Pacific Coastal Airlines, and is one of nine Canadian airports that have U.S Border Pre-clearance facilities. It is also one of the few major international airports to have a terminal for scheduled floatplanes.
Location
49.194°N, 123.184°O · 4 m s. n. m. (14 ft)
General data
Runways · 3
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Radio frequencies · 7
Tower
Ground
Clearance delivery
ATIS (automatic information)
Approach
Departure
Flight information
Reference frequencies for enthusiasts, from OurAirports (community database, public domain), checked on Oct 16, 2026. They may be outdated or incomplete and do not replace the AIP or current charts: not for navigation. In Europe the published frequency may be an 8.33 kHz channel (e.g., 118.505 for 118.500). In MHz.
History
In 1929, the City of Vancouver purchased land located on Sea Island to be used for aviation purposes, replacing the original grass airstrip at Minoru Park on Lulu Island. During World War II, the airport and its original terminal, now the South Terminal, were leased to the federal government and operated by the Department of National Defence and the Department of Transport as RCAF Station Sea Island. The airport was used for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. The crews and their families were housed in a new town-site on the island, named Burkeville, after Boeing president Stanley Burke. Funds from the lease were used to purchase additional land for new hangars and a production plant for Boeing Aircraft of Canada (now Boeing Canada).
The present main terminal was completed in 1968 and has since been expanded to include separate domestic and international terminals. A north runway was completed in 1996.
A United States border pre-clearance facility was created in the 1970s, and as of 2024 has the largest operating hours of any US pre-clearance facility, operating from 4:30 am to midnight the next day.
In 2011, the airport announced that it would enact a program aiming to encourage airlines to start more flights between Vancouver and Asia.
The airport has often been described as a major trans-Pacific hub due to its location in the Pacific Northwest and destinations in the Americas, Asia, and Australia, which help facilitate connecting flights. In 2019, Craig Richmond, then President and CEO of the Vancouver Airport Authority, said that the recent growth of Seattle–Tacoma International Airport in the United States could challenge Vancouver's status as a trans-Pacific hub, although Seattle/Tacoma is already the larger airport.
Sea Island, where the airport is situated, is at sea level and has a 22-kilometre (14 mi) system of dikes to protect the airport. The island has been identified as a location vulnerable to future storm surges and extreme weather events caused by climate change, requiring new pump stations and a raised dike.
Airlines operating here · 53
Other airlines with direct routes
List taken from the airport’s own website (September 2026).
Photo: Sikander Iqbal · Public domain · view original
Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Cite
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This page was last updated on October 15, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/YVR
MLA
“Vancouver International Airport (YVR).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/YVR. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Vancouver International Airport (YVR).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/YVR.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/YVR (Accessed: 17 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_yvr,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Vancouver International Airport (YVR)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-15},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/YVR},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/YVR}},
urldate = {2026-10-17},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-17}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/YVR |title=Vancouver International Airport (YVR) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-17 |language=en}}