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Vancouver International Airport (IATA: YVR, ICAO: CYVR) is located about 15 kilometres driving distance from downtown Vancouver, British Columbia on Sea Island in Richmond. It is the second busiest airport in Canada, with non-stop flights daily to Asia, Europe, the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, and other airports within Canada. In 2004, 15.7 million passengers went through the airport, and in 2005 it was expected to serve over 16 million.
Passengers travelling through YVR are no longer required to pay a separate Airport Improvement Fee; it now is included in the price of a ticket.
Vancouver International Airport is one of eight Canadian Airports that have U.S. border preclearance facilities.
Vancouver International Airport has three terminals: The domestic terminal, which was constructed in 1968 and recently given a top-to-bottom renovation; the International Terminal, which was newly constructed in the early 1990s, and the South Terminal, which is a portion of the original terminal that is still in use. The International and Domestic terminals can effectively be considered to be one building divided into two sections, while the South terminal is located in a remote part of the airport. The South Terminal serves regional airlines which fly mostly within British Columbia.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the closure of North American airspace forced Vancouver International Airport to be part of Operation Yellow Ribbon because it was the only major Canadian airport on the West Coast that could handle large aircraft. This resulted in a huge volume of trans-Pacific traffic being diverted there—34 flights carrying 8,500 passengers from Asia to destinations on the United States West Coast and points beyond. One of the aircraft diverted was an Air China 747 from Beijing to San Francisco escorted by two U.S. F-15s onto the airport's north runway, purely due to a communication problem. Even though Vancouver International did not register the highest number of flights relative to other Canadian airports involved in the operation (Only Halifax and Gander registered more than Vancouver International), it registered more passengers than any other Canadian airport involved in the operation. The airport's handling of the operation won them the 2001 Airport Management Award from the B.C. Aviation Council.
In May 2005, the federal government, who own the land, announced that they were cutting rent costs by 54%. The rent reductions will cut the cost of the lease by approx. $1.1 billion Canadian over the term of the lease, which ends in 2052. Currently, the airport authority pays about $80 million CAD each year in rent.
Vancouver International Airport Authority has built a reputation as a premier gateway airport between Asia and North America. It is the closest major North American airport to Asia on the great circle routes which saves air carriers and passengers time. Although metropolitan Vancouver has a population of about 2.4 million, YVR boasts more non-stop service to Asia relative to size of local population than any other airport in North America. This is because of the close family and business ties between Vancouver and Asia and the success of the Authority, together with air carriers, in building a connecting hub or gateway between North America and Asia. The result is that Vancouver is better connected to the world than would otherwise be the case.
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