Vancouver airport named North America's best airport for 15th year | Daily Hive

Vancouver International Airport named North America's best airport for 15th year

Vancouver International Airport. (Kenneth Chan)

Once again, Canada’s second-busiest airport has been ranked among the world’s best, with Vancouver International Airport (YVR) earning continued and improved recognition in Skytrax’s prestigious annual World Airport Awards.

Today, YVR was named the 10th best airport in the world in 2026 — up from 13th in 2025, 17th in 2024, 20th in 2023, and the previous low of 28th in 2022 amid the pandemic’s major impacts on global aviation and challenges with the full restart of airport operations and service levels.

Given that an airport’s passenger volumes can also greatly impact the passenger experience, comfort, and customer satisfaction levels — especially if an airport is not optimally designed or serviced to handle its volumes — this major variable is also reflected in Skytrax’s separate global ranking category based on how busy an airport is. In 2026, YVR is the best airport in the world for airports with 20 million to 30 million passengers per year — ahead of Fukuoka Airport and Taipei Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

In 2025, YVR recorded an all-time historic annual record of 26.9 million passengers — up from its previous record set in 2019 of 26.4 million.

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YVR’s overall 2026 ranking of being the 10th best airport in the entire world is just behind Munich Airport and ahead of Helsinki-Vantaa Airport.

Singapore Changi Airport continues to be the world’s best airport, followed by Seoul Incheon International Airport, Tokyo Haneda International Airport, Hong Kong International Airport, and Tokyo Narita International Airport.

Notably, Vancouver’s airport now outranks the renowned Dubai International Airport, which fell to 13th place in 2026 from 11th in 2025 and seventh in 2024.

YVR has been slowly climbing back up in the global rankings, as not too long ago, it regularly ranked within the top 10 of the entire world’s best airports. But it has faced growing competition from other new and improved airports for well over a decade, which pushed it out of the global 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.

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Pier D atrium at Vancouver International Airport. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

With its 10th best global ranking, this also makes Vancouver’s airport the best airport in North America in 2026 — the 15th year YVR has landed this title. YVR earned the best airport in North America title for 15 of the last 17 years — only interrupted by Seattle-Tacoma International Airport’s brief takeover of the title in 2022 and 2023. It is also the only airport to receive such an award from Skytrax 15 times.

The next highest ranking North American airport is Houston’s George Bush International Airport, which earned a 29th global ranking in 2026.

Only two other Canadian airports made it to Skytrax’s top 100 global airports list; Montreal Pierre Trudeau International Airport’s global ranking improved from 51st in 2025 to 46th in 2026, while Toronto Pearson International Airport remained at 55th globally in 2026.

Seattle’s airport ranked 44th in 2026 — falling from 38th in 2025 and its earlier highs emerging out of the pandemic.

Additionally, Vancouver’s airport has North America’s third-best airport staff — behind Toronto Pearson and Montreal, but ahead of San Francisco International Airport and New York’s LaGuardia Airport.

YVR also has the world’s fourth-best art in the airport — behind Houston Airport System, Singapore Changi, and Denver International Airport, but ahead of Bangalore Kempegowda International Airport, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, and San Diego International Airport.

mickey mouse disney yvr vancouver international airport

Vintage figurines of Mickey Mouse & Minnie Mouse and their friends at Vancouver International Airport. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

The luxurious Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel, which is directly attached to YVR’s U.S. transborder terminal building wing, is ranked as the third best hotel airport in the world — just behind Singapore’s Crowne Plaza Changi Airport and Grand Hyatt at San Francisco, and ahead of the TWA Hotel at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Hyatt Regency Shenzhen Airport.

“For YVR to continue to be recognized as the Best Airport in North America while at the same time breaking records for passengers and cargo is something for our teams and our community to be proud of,” said Tamara Vrooman, president and CEO of Vancouver International Airport, in a statement.

“This honour is a tribute to the tireless work of our dedicated employees, our airline and partner agency teams, and of course the support of our passengers, customers, and the community that we are here to serve.”

In summary, these are all of Vancouver International Airport’s accolades in the 2026 Skytrax World Airport Awards:

10th best airport in the world
Best airport in the world for airports with 20 million to 30 million passengers
North America’s best airport
Fourth-best art in the airport globally
North America’s third-best airport staff
Third-best airport hotel globally (Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel)

Skytrax’s annual World Airport Awards are widely recognized as the global benchmark for airport excellence.

It is entirely based on passenger feedback through millions of independent customer satisfaction surveys conducted around the globe, with the survey gauging passenger input on check-in, arrivals, transportation, shopping, amenities, security, and immigration through to departure at the gate. This year’s winners were announced in a ceremony in London, England.

vancouver international airport fairmont vancouver airport hotel

Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel at the U.S. transborder terminal of Vancouver International Airport. (Fairmont)

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