YVR Airport recorded 414,000 passengers in August 2020: statistics

Vancouver International Airport. (Vancouver Airport Authority)

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) saw another bump in passenger volumes in August 2020, but this is attributed mainly to the surge in outbound trips made by out-of-province domestic and international students, and Canadian repatriation and essential trips.

Monthly aviation volume statistics are compiled and released approximately two months after the fact. The statistics for August 2020 show there were 414,094 passengers going through YVR over the month, marking a 27% increase over the previous month’s total of 325,258.

Although a recent increase, the passenger total is still a 85% decrease when compared to the 2.68 million passengers in August 2019.

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Domestic travel continues to see the greatest sustained rebound, accounting for the vast majority of passenger activity.

Domestic passengers in August 2020 reached 345,996 — down by 73% compared to the 1.28 million passengers over the same month last year. Total international passengers, including US transborder, reached 68,098, which is a 95% drop from the 1.4 million passengers in August 2019.

Here is the full breakdown of YVR’s passenger traffic for August 2020:

Domestic:
- 2019: 1,282,673
- 2020: 345,996 (-73.0%)
US transborder:
- 2019: 651,410
- 2020: 18,262 (-97.2%)
Asia Pacific:
- 2019: 435,325
- 2020: 36,059 (-91.7%)
Europe:
- 2019: 260,976
- 2020: 12,247 (-95.3%)
Miscellaneous:
- 2019: 51,344
- 2020: 1,530 (-97%)
Month total for June 2020:
- 2019: 2,681,698
- 2020: 414,094 (-84.6%)

Although well under normal volumes, YVR’s passenger volumes are now significantly higher than the pandemic low of 68,730.

From late October onwards, what remains of the passenger traffic from the European market could be greatly reduced due to the European Union’s decision today to remove Canada from its list of safe countries for air travel as a result of the country’s rise in COVID-19 cases.

Over the past few weeks, there has also been a steady rise in the number and frequency of reports of potential coronavirus cases onboard YVR flights. Enhanced health safety measures at the airport were elevated in June as part of Vancouver Airport Authority’s strategy to help restore traveller confidence.

As of the end of August 2020, YVR has recorded a total of 6.03 million passengers this year — down by 66% from the 17.978 million over the same period in 2019. The airport is forecasting between eight million to 15 million passengers annually over the next three years. In contrast, YVR saw a record of 26.4 million passengers last year.

When it comes to air traffic, the statistics show there were 9,806 runway aircraft movements over August 2020 — a 5% increase compared to July 2020, and a 65% decrease compared to August 2019.

Jet aircraft movements totalled 5,273 throughout the month, representing a 4% increase over the previous month and a 68% decrease from the same month last year.

Air cargo volumes have rebounded to a constant level of 18,504 tonnes in August 2020 — down by 30% compared to the 26,525 tonnes in August 2019. There was also a 30% year-over-year drop in air cargo volumes for July 2020, which is up considerably compared to the 50% drop in April 2020.

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