Vancouver airport's 'Come From Away': How YVR welcomed 8,500 stranded by 9/11 | Daily Hive

Vancouver International Airport's own 'Come From Away': How YVR welcomed 8,500 travellers stranded by 9/11

Vancouver International Airport responding to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks with Operation Yellow Ribbon. (Vancouver International Airport)

In popular culture, Canada’s Operation Yellow Ribbon may be most closely associated with Gander, Nfld., where a town of about 10,000 people helped accommodate thousands of unexpected visitors after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Its airport received 38 diverted aircraft carrying nearly 7,000 people. Gander residents rallied to provide food, accommodation, and comfort to strangers whose journeys had been interrupted by an event that was changing the world.

Years later, conceived during the 10-year anniversary of the incident, Gander’s response inspired the hit Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Come From Away — a story Vancouver audiences could experience close to home this summer. The Arts Club Theatre Company’s months-long production at the Stanley BFL Canada Stage ended just last month. A filmed version of the Broadway production can currently be viewed on Apple+.

Off to the theatre for a little musical about… September 11.*

*Come From Away is about thousands of airline passengers getting stranded in a small Newfoundland town after U.S. airspace closed on 9/11, which somehow becomes a funny, incredibly wholesome musical about Canadians… pic.twitter.com/fUoXi2bwUY

— Kenneth Chan (@iamkennethchan) August 9, 2026

But on 9/11, another extraordinary reception was unfolding on the other side of the country, at Vancouver International Airport (YVR).

Here, large passenger aircraft filled runways and taxiways. Airport staff searched for hotel rooms as far away as Hope, deep in the Fraser Valley. Residents offered spare bedrooms, airport workers slept in their offices, and the top of the parkade eventually became a waiting area for travellers trying to get moving again.

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This week, as the world marks the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, three employees who helped manage YVR’s response are recalling how an airport already busy with its own flights suddenly had to care for thousands of people who had never planned to arrive there.

In separate interviews with Daily Hive Urbanized late last month, Brett Patterson, Barb Maloney, and Danielle Moore, who have all worked at YVR for decades, described the uncertainty of those first hours, the difficulty of finding space for both aircraft and passengers, and the enormous community response that carried on for days.

All three recalled how 34 diverted flights arrived at YVR. Patterson, now the airport’s director of operational excellence and improvement, put the number of passengers aboard those wide-body aircraft at about 8,500 — the highest number of unexpected passengers accepted by any Canadian airport that fateful day.

They arrived as part of the Operation Yellow Ribbon response. With United States airspace closed to commercial aircraft and regular passenger departures grounded in Canada, airports across the country received international flights that could no longer reach their intended destinations.

At YVR, the day had begun with the usual preparations for morning flights.

Patterson, who was then manager of airside operations, recalled arriving around 6 a.m. and heading to the operations centre, where he watched television coverage with the shift manager. The airport’s overnight operations staff were there, but the full daytime team had not yet arrived.

His job covered the aircraft side of the airport: the runways, taxiways, and areas where planes parked and were serviced.

Moore, now YVR’s manager of operations centre, also worked in airport operations in 2001. She had been scheduled to start an afternoon shift at 2 p.m.

She recalled how the first crash into the World Trade Centre could initially be understood as a terrible accident. The second aircraft changed that understanding, and airport staff began considering how the events could affect Vancouver and what they might be called upon to do.

YVR had flights connecting it to the affected part of the U.S., but the questions quickly extended to the wider aviation system.

Maloney, now YVR’s director of operations safety and security, was the airport’s customer service manager at the time. She was still at home, preparing to leave for work, when an operations shift manager called with the news that two planes had struck the twin towers and the crashes were not believed to be accidental.

Because the airport regularly practised emergency responses, she briefly wondered whether this was an exercise. But the usual words identifying a drill had not been used.

“So I flipped on my TV, saw it was true, and raced here,” she said.

By the time she arrived, information was mixed with rumours and speculation. Once staff understood that aircraft would be diverted to Vancouver, they had to turn that uncertainty into practical arrangements.

operation yellow ribbon 911 september 11 vancouver international airport yvr

Vancouver International Airport responding to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks with Operation Yellow Ribbon. (Vancouver International Airport)

For Patterson’s team, the immediate question was where to put the planes.

“Our gates were full with aircraft that were already here. There were some 60-plus aircraft sitting on the ground already,” he said.

Some aircraft were carrying passengers preparing to depart. Others were being loaded with baggage and cargo. When departures stopped, those planes remained in place, occupying the gates and parking positions the incoming flights would need.

Staff began drawing up an aircraft parking plan and working with Nav Canada on how to land and position the diverted flights. Initially, said Patterson, they did not have a final number of aircraft to plan around.

Moore recalled staff expanding beyond the airport’s usual remote parking areas — making use of pavement that would ordinarily be needed for aircraft taking off, landing, or moving around the airfield.

The north runway, crosswind runway, and taxiways became parking areas for large aircraft. Patterson recalled keeping one runway and its associated taxiway available while much of the remaining airfield filled with planes.

Finding somewhere to park was only part of the task. The passengers still had to get into the terminal, and aircraft already at the gates had to be unloaded and moved to make that possible.

Airlines, ground crews, and airport employees worked through the backlog together. Patterson estimated that passengers on the last aircraft waited more than eight hours after landing before they could get off. Water was delivered to waiting planes as the process continued.

To speed things up, arriving aircraft were brought to a gate and connected to a passenger boarding bridge. Once the passengers had left, the plane was pushed away again to free the gate for another flight.

Checked baggage was initially left onboard. That helped get people off the aircraft more quickly, but it also meant they entered the terminal with only their carry-on belongings. Maloney recalled that some travellers had medication requirements or other special needs that had to be considered.

Vancouver International Airport responding to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks with Operation Yellow Ribbon. (Vancouver International Airport)

For many passengers, the confusion began before they ever entered the terminal building.

Moore remembered aircraft from airlines that did not normally operate at YVR, including flights travelling between Asia and the U.S. Some crews arrived with little information about why they had been instructed to land in Vancouver, leaving captains and first officers with few answers for the people behind them.

The lack of information could be frightening, Moore said. Passengers had arrived in an unfamiliar place while disturbing news was emerging from the U.S., and relatives elsewhere were trying to find them.

There was also an unusual security requirement. With authorities still trying to understand the full situation, passengers had to be screened on their way into the terminal building, Moore recalled, rather than only before boarding a departing flight.

They also had to clear Canadian customs. Maloney said passengers were brought through in stages so the customs operation would not be overwhelmed by everyone arriving at once.

At the same time, the airport was dealing with calls from around the world. Relatives were contacting airports to ask whether a particular airline or flight had landed there, then continuing their search if it had not.

The travellers at YVR wanted to make calls of their own — to tell loved ones where they were and that they were safe.

“So this whole event was very much a human story, both for the very good and for the very bad of it. It was very much a human story woven into a day in an airport,” said Moore.

As passengers made their way through the terminal, staff also needed to find places for them to stay.

Airlines that regularly served YVR had employees on site making hotel arrangements. Other diverted carriers did not normally operate there and had no local presence, said Maloney.

The search for available hotel rooms stretched well beyond Metro Vancouver.

“So we were scrambling, phoning hotels as far away as Hope, saying, ‘How much availability do you have? How many rooms do you have?'” Maloney said.

Accommodation arrangements included hotels and community centres. Offers of help also began arriving from residents as news spread about the diverted flights.

Maloney recalled thousands of calls from people across the Lower Mainland offering spare rooms in their homes. Staff recorded the offers as they worked to find places for passengers. Moore also remembered people offering the use of their recreational vehicles.

For travellers under considerable physical and emotional strain, even being able to lie down for a few hours in a safe place with assistance nearby mattered, said Moore.

Vancouver International Airport responding to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks with Operation Yellow Ribbon. (Vancouver International Airport)

Within the airport, people moved into whatever work needed doing.

Moore found herself working alongside airline employees and people who ordinarily worked in airport stores. Staff whose normal jobs kept them behind the scenes came forward to answer questions, provide food, and help organize passengers.

“It was a case of all getting together to do the right thing for the people who needed us,” she said.

Maloney recalled volunteers distributing blankets, sunscreen, and water. They included YVR employees, airline staff, and members of their families. The Salvation Army helped feed people, and doctors from the airport’s clinic came out to assist.

Patterson’s own responsibilities changed once the aircraft had been parked and dealt with. He began working in the terminal, moving the barriers used to form queues and helping passengers get where they needed to go.

“So everybody moved wherever the work was,” he said.

The response stretched well beyond normal working hours. Staff placed cots in offices and stayed at the airport.

“We slept at the airport for I don’t know how many days,” recalled Patterson.

Maloney described the response with two distinct phases: receiving the diverted flights and finding accommodation, then managing the return of passengers when flights could begin departing again.

The second phase created its own pressure on the building and the people working inside it.

Some passengers were able to continue by road. Patterson recalled airlines arranging buses to Seattle for travellers whose flights had been bound there. For those heading farther into the U.S., getting to their destinations was more complicated.

Restarting flights required aircraft to be cleaned, unloaded, and prepared to carry passengers again. It also required staff to adapt to additional security measures for travellers and their bags.

Maloney recalled receiving new information from Transport Canada almost hourly as requirements changed. The task of resuming departures was happening alongside the introduction of procedures that had not been part of the airport’s routine before the attacks.

There was a worldwide shift in airport security that made flying very different from what it had been before the attacks — a shift that continues to this day.

Patterson described a gradual, methodical restart, with flights dealt with individually. But passengers hearing that air travel was beginning again often came straight to the airport, assuming their own flights would soon be leaving.

Many arrived before their departures had been scheduled or confirmed.

This was an era of paper tickets and far less immediate access to flight information. Patterson recalled the difficulty of getting accurate updates to everyone, although airlines progressively reached their passengers.

Moore remembered passengers beginning to leave again roughly three days after the attacks. As people returned, the airport had to accommodate both those with flights and those still searching for a way to continue their journeys.

The terminal became so crowded that queues extended onto the curb outside. When the curb could not accommodate everyone, staff created additional space on the rooftop of the parkade.

“We towed cars off the top of the parkade and made mini terminals out there,” said Maloney.

Moore recalled a sequence of waiting areas: passengers were organized on the parkade, then at the curb, and again as they entered the building to speak with their airlines.

Maintenance workers and other airport and airline employees helped with the crowds, answered questions, and distributed food. Patterson estimated that working through the disruption took the better part of a week.

Vancouver International Airport responding to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks with Operation Yellow Ribbon. (Vancouver International Airport)

It was on the top of that parkade, as travellers began departing again, that Moore had an encounter she still remembers 25 years later.

She and her colleagues were handing out bottled water and snack bars when a few people repeatedly offered to help with the heavy boxes of water they were carrying.

The staff initially declined. These were passengers, and they did not want to put them to work.

Then one of the men explained that they were New York City firefighters.

“Can you please give us something to do?” Moore recalled him asking. This time, the staff accepted the offer and gave them the task of loading the boxes into a truck.

For Moore, the moment reflected how helping someone else could itself provide a sense of purpose during an event that had exposed such terrible violence.

“We were helping because it sort of made you feel like you participated in the better part of humanity because you were helping people,” she said.

The parallels with the story told in Come From Away are familiar to Patterson, who has seen the musical and said it captured the experience of those days, with flight crews and passengers caught up in the same extraordinary circumstances.

Maloney also recognized similarities with Gander’s response, while noting that Metro Vancouver, of course, had an exponentially larger population and more infrastructure to draw upon.

What remained with her was how readily people had offered to help through an enormously complicated event.

“Everybody was just so willing to help. It was lovely,” she said.

For Patterson, the same spirit connected Vancouver’s response with what happened at airports and communities elsewhere in Canada.

“Nobody asked questions; just, we just did, right? You just worked.”

september 11 memorial museum new york city

The 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York City, as seen in 2017. (Kenneth Chan)

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