Vancouver International Airport reclaims North America's best airport title

First Nations welcome art gateway at the US transborder terminal of Vancouver International Airport. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

After a two-year hiatus from the top spot, Vancouver International Airport (YVR) is once again the best airport in North America, according to the prestigious annual World Best Airport rankings by Skytrax.

For the previous rankings of 2022 and 2023, YVR lost the top spot in North America to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), ranking as second best in the continent for both years and ending a 12-year consecutive first-place streak for Canada’s second busiest airport.

However, SEA was bumped back down to second place in Skytrax’s 2024 ranking of North America’s best airports.

Skytrax’s rankings each year are based on tens of thousands of surveys by travellers around the world.

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Furthermore, YVR has also risen in the global rankings — now the 17th best airport in the world for 2024, up from 20th in 2023 and the previous low of 28th in 2022.

YVR is slowly climbing back up in the global rankings, as not too long ago it regularly ranked within the top 10. But it has faced growing competition from other new and improved reports for over a decade, which pushed it out of the top 10 starting in 2015, when the airport ranked 11th. This was followed by YVR’s global rankings of 14th in 2016, 13th in 2017, 14th in 2018, 17th in 2019, 13th in 2020, and 24th in 2021.

“Regaining our top spot as Best Airport in North America is a result of the dedication and hard work of our employees and everyone working here at YVR to serve travellers and our community,” said Tamara Vrooman, president and CEO of Vancouver Airport Authority, in a statement today.

“From the team greeting people at our front doors to those who move cargo and bags, to security staff who keep us moving safely, to those to maintain and clean our facilities – 26,000 people work at our airport each and every day with pride and purpose. This recognition belongs to them, and I want to acknowledge and thank them for all their work this past year.”

YVR also saw a strong performance in a number of other categories.

Additionally, for the 2024 ranking, YVR is the third-best airport in the world for mid-sized airports with between 20 million and 30 million passengers. In 2023, YVR saw a strong post-pandemic recovery of 24.9 million passengers, marking the airport’s third-highest annual passenger total ever — not far off from the all-time 2019 record of 26.4 million.

This third-place ranking based on passenger volumes, which impacts service levels and maintenance outcomes, is just behind Zurich Airport (ZRH) and Vienna International Airport (VIE) and ahead of Kansai International Airport (KIX).

When it comes to the world’s best airport staff in 2024, YVR ranked third in North America — behind Dallas-Forth Worth International Airport (DFW) and Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL), and ahead of New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA).

For the world’s best art in the airport category in 2024, YVR earned a seventh-place ranking — behind Amsterdam Schiphol AMS) and ahead of Bangalore Airport (BLR). YVR is known for its wide range of extensive art installations, ranging from local First Nations works to even the world’s largest Disney figurine exhibit at a major airport.

The 2024 rankings also named YVR as North America’s cleanest airport.

Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel, which is attached to YVR’s US transborder terminal wing, is still one of the world’s best airport hotels, with 2024 rankings of fifth place globally and second place for North America — just behind the new TWA Hotel New York at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).

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Vancouver International Airport’s “Best Airport in North America” awards between 2010 and 2021. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

After YVR, the next highest Canadian airport in the 2024 world’s best airport ranking is Montreal’s YUL, which came in at 53rd — down from 45th in 2023. Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) was further down the 2024 global list with its ranking of 63rd, which is slightly up from 64th in 2023.

But both YUL and YYZ made it to the top 10 of North America’s airports, coming in at eighth and 10th, respectively, for 2024.

Calgary International Airport (YYC) did not make Skytrax’s full ranking of the world’s 100 best airports.

Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) ended its long-running streak as the world’s best airport, coming just behind Doha Hamad International Airport (DOH) in 2024.

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