YVR SEES SPIKE IN LATIN AMERICAN TRAFFIC

Posted on 08/04/2016 | About Vancouver, British Columbia

A sharp spike in travel to Latin America helped boost Vancouver International Airport's passenger numbers in the first half of 2016. Overall, the airport saw 10.5 million passengers between January and June, up 8.1 percent from the same period in 2015 - a jump that puts the airport on track to break its passenger record by year-end.

International traffic (excluding the US) rose 13.7 percent at YVR in the six-month period over a year ago, while domestic travel was up 7.6 percent and US traffic climbed 3.8 percent.
Traffic to and from Latin America shot up 20 percent. A key component of that was the service to Mexico City offered by Air Canada and Aeromexico, the airport said. Aeromexico introduced its non-stop flights on the route last December.
The airport said it expects Air Canada's new non-stop daily flights to Brisbane, Australia, which launched on June 1, and the airline's non-stop service to Delhi that kicks off Oct. 20 to further bump up its international numbers.
Craig Richmond, president and CEO of Vancouver Airport Authority, called it “a fantastic period of growth” for the airport.
“We are set to surpass 21 million passengers this year and we have an ambitious goal of 25 million passengers by 2020.”