Vancouver International Airport named the best airport in the Americas

Vancouver International Airport (khunrarai/Shutterstock)

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) has picked up yet another accolade, with Canada’s second largest airport deemed as 2023’s best airport in the Americas — both North America and South America — for its size.

On Thursday, UK-based global aviation industry analysis and development firm Routes (Routes Online) named YVR as the best airport in the Americas for airports with four to 20 million passengers annually, based on 2022 data.

This is not to be confused with the separate annual Skytrax ranking, which recently named YVR as North America’s second best airport and the world’s 20th best in 2023.

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Unlike the Skytrax awards, Routes is award winner-based, not a ranking. While Skytrax focuses on passenger experiences, the Routes award is centred on business operations and marketing excellence.

Routes said YVR “demonstrated commitment and drive towards understanding market priorities and its airlines needs. The successful execution of this strategy has seen the airport secure multiple new routes and increase capacity on existing services. Last year, the airport welcomed JetBlue, Sun Country, Lynx Air, and Jetlines, and saw passenger numbers and capacity size double in growth.”

vancouver international airport yvr pier d expansion

Upper lounge area of the Pier D expansion of Vancouver International Airport. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Routes named a total of seven winners for their 2023 awards for the Americas.

Other recipients include Tulsa International Airport for both “overall winner” and the best airport with under four million passengers annually.

San Francisco International Airport is the winner for best airport with over 20 million passengers, which was the category YVR previously contended with before the pandemic when it had over 20 million passengers.

YVR recorded a strong recovery of 19 million passengers in 2022, and it is forecast to see 22 million passengers in 2023. In pre-pandemic 2019, YVR saw a record of 26.4 million passengers.

Other Routes winners for the Americas include Visit Orlando tourism bureau for the “destination” award and American Airlines for the best airline award.

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