U.S. route passengers see dip at Vancouver airport in March | Daily Hive

U.S. route passengers see dip at Vancouver International Airport in March

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Passenger volumes at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) for routes serving United States destinations saw a notable dip in March 2025.

Newly released statistics for the month show a 7.3 per cent year-over-year drop in U.S. transborder passenger volumes, defying a historical trajectory that typically sees year-over-year growth in this traveller segment.

YVR saw a total of 504,956 passengers for U.S. routes in March 2025, down from 544,547 in March 2024 but up from 500,061 in March 2023. Apart from 2020 to 2022 — the years particularly impacted by the pandemic — the U.S. total for the month of March in 2025 was the lowest since the same month in 2017.

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However, in terms of total passenger volumes, YVR still tracked its third-best March ever, recording 2.15 million passengers — driven by the growth in the volume of domestic, Asia Pacific, and European destination passengers.

Year-over-year, YVR’s March 2025 volumes grew by 3.7 per cent to 1.013 million for domestic, 16.3 per cent for Asia Pacific, and 14.95 per cent for Europe.

The dip in U.S. route passengers in February 2025 was not particularly apparent compared to March 2025.

Despite the year-over-year decrease, March 2025’s tally for U.S. route passengers still represents a month-over-month increase from the 435,962 recorded in February 2025. However, this can be expected, with February typically being a slower month for travel, and March historically seeing an increase, especially from spring break.

Of course, travel demand between Canada and the U.S. has been falling ever since President Donald Trump began his trade war and annexation rhetoric earlier this year — and all of this is also compounded by the highly unfavourable U.S. dollar exchange rate for Canadians.

Only a minimal erosion to passenger volumes can be expected at first, given that travellers typically book their flights many weeks or months in advance of their trip, and are unlikely to cancel their trips, especially if they have already sunk non-refundable costs for flights, hotels, and other experiences and services.

In late March 2025, British-based air travel intelligence firm OAG Aviation Worldwide reported that all forward bookings by Canadians to U.S. destinations dropped by over 70 per cent every month between April and September 2025, suggesting travellers are holding off on making reservations due to economic uncertainty and political tensions.

Airlines have responded by reducing their capacities to U.S. destinations, with Air Canada and WestJet boosting the capacity of their domestic and select non-U.S. international routes.

Over the first three months of 2025, YVR recorded a total of 6.1 million passengers — up by 1.8 per cent over the same period last year. Official statistics are typically published about a month later to ensure accuracy, with full April data expected by early June.

YVR ended 2024 with an annual total passenger count of 26.2 million passengers — the airport’s second-best annual total tally ever. Passengers flying on U.S. routes accounted for 25.3 per cent of YVR’s total volumes in 2024.

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