Vancouver airport eyes new routes to Vietnam, South America for trade ambitions | Daily Hive

Vancouver International Airport eyes new routes to Vietnam and South America for trade ambitions

Vancouver International Airport. (Kenneth Chan)

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) is pursuing new trade and transportation links with Vietnam and South America, not only to further enhance the global connectivity of Canada’s second busiest airport and Trans-Pacific Hub but also as part of a broader strategy to strengthen the country’s trade connections.

During her address to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade earlier this spring, YVR president and CEO Tamara Vrooman said shifting global trade patterns are creating significant opportunities for Vancouver to expand its role as a passenger and freight cargo gateway.

Vrooman said YVR is experiencing strong growth in both domestic and international travel, with Asia-Pacific traffic up 15 per cent and other international routes increasing by roughly 10 per cent compared with the previous year.

That international growth is helping drive demand for new routes while expanding freight cargo capacity — not to be confused with the checked baggage of passengers — for Canadian exporters.

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She shared that even a single weekly flight added to YVR’s schedule can generate significant economic benefits, supporting roughly $54 million in economic activity and up to $500 million in additional freight cargo shipments — transported in the bellies of the commercial passenger aircraft — over the course of a year.

Vrooman also said YVR is benefiting from recent changes in global trade flows. The airport has seen freight cargo volumes rise as shippers seek alternatives to routes affected by geopolitical instability in the Middle East.

“A lot of Asia cargo used to go through the Persian Gulf into the region and connect into Europe. Now it’s finding a safer and more secure passage from Southeast Asia through YVR, connecting not only to other points in North America, but as a bridge to Europe,” she said.

Those changing patterns create an opportunity for Vancouver to strengthen its position as a global trade hub.

As governments and businesses seek to diversify trade relationships, Vrooman said YVR is actively building connections in emerging markets. Recent outreach by airport officials has included visits to East Asia and Southeast Asia, including Hong Kong and Singapore, to identify new opportunities.

According to Vrooman, many countries are seeking stronger economic ties with Canada as they navigate growing competition between the world’s largest economies.

“We have a strategic geographic advantage, but we also have a strategic business model advantage, which we feel is very, very important, not only for us, but for the region,” said Vrooman.

“Countries like Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Japan, Korea, they are all looking also to diversify their trade. They’re feeling squeezed, in that case, often between China and the United States. They really see an opportunity to partner with Canada. In fact, I would say, we’re near the top of their list in almost every instance.”

At the same time, she warned that Canada must move quickly to capitalize on the opportunity, acknowledging that while Canadian businesses and governments make sound decisions, it takes a very long time for them to arrive at that juncture.

“What they also made clear was that they can’t wait,” emphasized Vrooman.

“While their first preference is to grow and partner with us, they can’t wait. And so, we need to be ready and able to receive the investments to facilitate the trade, to facilitate the partnership and the movement of people and goods that really is a once-in-a-generational opportunity for us.”

Among the markets attracting particular attention is Vietnam, which Vrooman described as one of the strongest opportunities for both freight cargo and passenger growth.

“So, Vietnam, a country I hear a lot about when I’m talking to businesses,” she said.

“Huge opportunity, not only for tourism, but even greater opportunity that many people realize for trade.”

Vrooman said substantial trade already exists between Western Canada and Vietnam, particularly in high-value goods that are typically transported by air.

Despite that demand, YVR currently has no direct, non-stop flights to Vietnam. In fact, there are no such flights between Canada and Vietnam.

She shared that 58,000 passengers flew from YVR to Vietnam in 2025 by connecting through Singapore alone. She argued that existing demand is already sufficient to support a direct, non-stop service, along with the new freight cargo capacity that would be established in the bellies of the commercial passenger aircraft. Strong cargo volumes on a flight route can also serve to make a passenger service more financially and economically viable.

“Those are the kinds of opportunities that we’re working on to be able to deliver on now so that we can serve the local businesses and the western Canadian businesses that tell us that they really need to have that direct service to be competitive, given all of the capital flows that are shifting, given the trade dynamics,” said Vrooman.

YVR also told Daily Hive Urbanized today that since 2018, the origin and destination demand for a route to Vietnam — the total demand for direct, non-stop service between two destinations without the need for connecting passengers to supplement local passenger numbers — has grown to 37 per cent to 90,000 passengers in 2025. Based on the last census, there are over 270,000 Canadians with links to Vietnam and/or with Vietnamese heritage, with over 52,000 people in B.C. alone.

Air Canada is interested in launching direct, non-stop routes between YVR and Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam’s largest city and commercial hub, located in the country’s southernmost extent, based on a presentation to the airline’s investors in Spring 2024.

Interest in creating new air links between Vancouver and Vietnam has also been expressed publicly by Vietnam’s flag carrier. As previously reported by Daily Hive Urbanized, Vietnam Airlines publicly identified YVR in early 2025 as one of several international destinations it hoped to add to its network, alongside Seattle, Los Angeles, Copenhagen, Dubai, Bangalore, Dhaka and Darwin, Australia. Currently, the only direct, non-stop service between Vietnam and North America is through San Francisco, operated by Vietnam Airlines, which first launched in 2021.

As YVR looks to further establish its Trans-Pacific links, it is also looking south.

Vrooman said demand for direct connections to South America is growing, driven not only by passenger travel but increasingly by business and freight cargo demand.

She pointed to Vancouver’s growing role as a hub for global mining and resource companies, including the arrival of a major global corporate headquarters office in the city — the hub of Anglo Teck, following the recent merger between Vancouver-based Teck Resources and London-based Anglo American.

“As we continue to grow in sectors like mining and some of the tech sectors and others, it’s not just the tourism growth that needs to be supported by these new routes, it’s often business connections and business growth,” she said.

“As our colleagues at Anglo Teck said, they’re from London, and they’re used to getting on a plane from London and flying to whatever site they want in the world, but if we’re wanting to attract and grow these kinds of local businesses in and around the bridge function of Vancouver, we need to have this level of connectivity that they expect in order to really facilitate local and scale businesses.”

Vrooman highlighted that 30 per cent of YVR’s overall passenger volumes come from passengers who are flying to YVR to connect to other domestic and international flights, without leaving the terminal building.

“They really support routes that allow all British Londoners to access the network at a range and scale that wouldn’t be possible without it,” she said as an example of the local business and economic possibilities that come with YVR’s connectivity to the rest of the world.

Freight cargo demand is also helping drive interest in new South American routes. But currently, these flows of passengers and freight cargo have to make a connection through Toronto.

She identified Lima in Peru as YVR’s most promising South American opportunity for a new direct, non-stop service.

“The market that is probably the first that will come to us, although, of course, we’re always looking for opportunities, would actually be Lima, in Peru,” said Vrooman.

“Lima is our top prospect in South America.”

The push for new international routes is part of a broader, ambitious effort to transform YVR into a much larger freight cargo gateway for North America over the coming years. During the same address, Vrooman announced YVR’s goal of doubling its freight cargo business to 730,000 tonnes per year by 2030.

In 2025, YVR saw all-time annual records of handling 365,000 tonnes of freight cargo — punching well above its weight compared to many other larger airports on the continent — and 26.9 million passengers, exceeding the previous record set in 2019.

“What we see is that if you can deliver speed, consistency, and scale, people will come,” said Vrooman emphatically. “You’ll attract all of the integrators. The freight forwarders will want to be there. Shipping efficiencies will be there.”

“Competition emerges that lowers costs, improves access, not only for the biggest shippers, but right through the economic ecosystem to small and medium-sized business. That’s the vision that we have for YVR. Taking the strength that we have on the passenger side, for which we are recognized and increasingly world-renowned, and extending it to the cargo business, because we think this is the opportunity, more than at any other time potentially in our history, to really ensure that our role as a trade hub and a cargo hub is equally compelling and equally, if given what’s at stake, for our business,” she continued.

Vrooman said achieving that goal would help businesses across British Columbia access international markets more efficiently, while strengthening the province’s economic resilience — generating new jobs and adding to billions of dollars in local GDP.

“It’s important because we think that it’s difficult for businesses to grow in our region without access to an efficient, digitized, smart, reliable cargo airport in exactly the same way you’ve come to rely on us as a passenger airport,” she added.

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