Vancouver airport sees new flight capacity to Japan and South Korea | Daily Hive

Vancouver International Airport sees notable new flight capacity to Japan and South Korea

All Nippon Airways. (viper-zero/Shutterstock)

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) is in the midst of an exceptionally busy period, fuelled by the FIFA World Cup now well underway and continued strong tourism that builds on the momentum of previous years, including the anticipated record season for cruise ship passengers at the Canada Place terminal.

Another driver of rising passenger volumes is the expanded operations of airlines, especially to destinations in East Asia.

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This is driven partly by All Nippon Airways’ (ANA) quiet launch of its additional summer seasonal route, operating one direct, non-stop roundtrip flight daily between YVR and Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT) throughout June, July, and August. The NRT route is in addition to ANA’s permanent year-round daily roundtrip service between YVR and Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND).

ANA has now effectively doubled its capacity serving Vancouver for the summer.

Vancouver International Airport already enjoys exceptionally strong year-round links to NRT. Currently, these include Japan Airlines’ seven direct, non-stop roundtrip flights per week, Japan Airlines-owned discount carrier Zipair’s five direct, non-stop roundtrip flights per week, and Air Canada’s seven direct, non-stop roundtrip flights per week.

Air Canada also operates four direct, non-stop roundtrip flights per week to Osaka Kansai International Airport on a summer seasonal basis.

This is on top of Air Canada’s previously announced new daily direct, non-stop roundtrip service between YVR and Chitose Hokkaido Airport (CTS) in Sapporo. This winter seasonal service will launch on Dec. 17, 2026, and run through the end of March 2027.

Upon inquiry, Vancouver Airport Authority told Daily Hive Urbanized that capacity between Japan and YVR will increase by seven per cent in 2026 compared to the previous year. For July 2026 specifically, capacity will be up by 18 per cent year-over-year.

South Korea is also showing strong growth, with capacity between YVR and Seoul Incheon International Airport (ICN) up by 24 per cent in 2026.

Combined, capacity between Japan and South Korea is up by 14 per cent year-over-year for the full year and by 11 per cent for July 2026 compared to the same month in 2025.

Currently, between YVR and ICN, there are seven direct, non-stop roundtrip flights per week operated by Air Canada, 14 by Korean Air, and three by discount carrier T’way Air.

The market serving Asia-Pacific destinations is leading YVR’s growth, with the latest available statistics showing the airport recorded a 19.6 per cent year-over-year increase in Asia-Pacific traffic, reaching 447,000 passengers during March 2026. This is beginning to rival U.S. transborder traffic, which also reached 447,000 passengers in March 2026 but represented a 5.5 per cent decline compared to the same month last year.

Over the first quarter of 2026, YVR recorded 1.272 million passengers travelling on Asia-Pacific routes, representing a 15.7 per cent increase compared to the first quarter of 2025. In contrast, U.S. transborder traffic totalled 1.304 million passengers in the first quarter, representing a six per cent decrease from the same period in 2025.

The gap between Asia-Pacific and the U.S. transborder market at YVR has been narrowing, driven by strong demand and increased capacity for Asia-Pacific destinations, alongside reduced demand and capacity for U.S. transborder travel for well over a year due to economic and political tensions. However, U.S. transborder passenger volumes remain very significant, partly due to strong visitation from Americans.

In January 2026, YVR recorded five per cent more passengers travelling on Asia-Pacific routes than on U.S. transborder routes, deviating from the decades-long historical norm — outside of the pandemic years — of U.S. transborder being YVR’s second-largest market after domestic travel.

But it remains to be seen whether this gap will continue to narrow as 2026 progresses and whether Asia-Pacific could overtake U.S. transborder for a prolonged period. In February and March 2026, the monthly U.S. transborder passenger figures only narrowly exceeded Asia-Pacific, with a much smaller gap than has historically been typical.

YVR recorded an all-time first-quarter record of 6.37 million passengers over the first three months of 2026, continuing the momentum from 2025, when it recorded an all-time annual record of 26.9 million passengers. It remains to be seen how rising fuel prices resulting from the U.S.-Iran conflict, and the higher airfares that could follow, could affect that momentum.

Over the FIFA World Cup travel period, defined by the airport authority as from June 8 to July 12 — beginning just days before the first match and ending shortly after the last match held in Vancouver — an estimated 2.7 million passengers are expected to travel through Canada’s second-busiest airport.

YVR Airport new flights 2024-2026

March 13, 2024: Tokyo, Japan (Narita; NRT) — Zipair, 5x weekly
April 3, 2024: Singapore (SIN) — Air Canada, 4x weekly
April 11, 2024: Montreal, Quebec (YUL) — Porter Airlines, daily
April 28, 2024: Detroit, Michigan (DTW) — WestJet, daily (seasonal)
June 5, 2024: Charlotte, North Carolina (CLT) — American Airlines, daily (seasonal)
Jan. 18, 2025: Hong Kong (HKG) — Hong Kong Airlines, 2x weekly
April 2, 2025: Manila, Philippines (MNL) — Air Canada, 4x weekly
May 1, 2025: Nashville, Tennessee (BNA) — Air Canada, 4x weekly (seasonal)
June 3, 2025: Tampa, Florida (TPA) — Air Canada, 2x weekly
June 4, 2025: Raleigh, North Carolina (RDU) — Air Canada, 3x weekly (seasonal)
May 11, 2025: Austin, Texas (AUS) — WestJet, 3x weekly (seasonal)
July 1, 2025: Halifax, Nova Scotia (YHZ) — WestJet, 4x weekly (seasonal)
Oct. 27, 2025: Mexico City, Mexico (MEX) — Flair Airlines, 3x weekly
Dec. 12, 2025: Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR) — WestJet, daily (seasonal)
Feb. 2, 2026: Phoenix, Arizona (PHX) — Porter Airlines, daily (seasonal)
April 15, 2026: Montreal, Quebec (YUL) – Flair Airlines, daily (seasonal)
June 1, 2026: Tokyo, Japan (Narita; NRT) — All Nippon Airways, daily (seasonal)
Oct. 3, 2026: Guanajuato, Mexico (BJX) – Flair Airlines, 1x weekly
Nov. 21, 2026: Los Angeles, California (LAX) — Delta Airlines, 2x daily
Dec. 3, 2026: Monterrey, Mexico (MTY) – Air Canada, 3x weekly (seasonal)
Dec. 7, 2026: Puerto Escondido, Mexico (PXM) – Air Canada, 4x weekly (seasonal)
Dec. 13, 2026: Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR) – , Air Canada, 4x weekly (seasonal)
Dec. 15, 2026: Mazatlán, Mexico (MZT) – Air Canada, daily (seasonal)
Dec. 17, 2026: Sapporo, Japan (CTS) — Air Canada, 3x weekly (seasonal)

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