Vancouver revamp takes off

The largest expansion programme in more than two decades has taken off at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) with the start of the next phase of a multi-year capital improvement programme including a revamp of the Pier D international terminal.

The development will add four new gates and four remote stands configured to support aircraft up to and including the Airbus A380. The new gates are expected to open in mid-2020, with minor finishing work continuing until 2021.

The Pier D work is part of a C$9.1bn (£5.2bn) expansion that includes 75 major projects during the next 20 years. Items include reconfiguring YVR’s landside parking to accommodate 10 additional remote-stand parking areas.

Much of the work is being fast-tracked to support YVR’s rapid growth after the airport served a record 24.2m passengers in 2017, up 8.4% year-over-year. The figure is projected to reach 29m in 2020, 4m more than originally envisioned.

International passengers excluding transborder flyers make up about 25% of the traffic and are out-pacing the overall figure, rising 13% in 2017 and 17% in 2016.

The rapid growth and revised projections have now been built into the airport’s updated master plan, which applies a more aggressive timeline to some key projects.

www.yvr.ca

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