Wpgjetse

So, sending old aircraft with limited range makes YVR more important? If the 747 is so great, why are airlines retiring them as fast as possible and not fixing them up.

The Lev

I think 747-400ER and 77W would have very similar range - in any event 747 range isn't the limiting factor for service from YVR-Asia (keep in mind a number of Asian destinations are or were served by 763's and 330's from YVR).

The answer to why they are being retired is a combination of age and higher fuel/maintenance cost relative to say a 77W as well as being too big for some routes which can be serviced adequately by a smaller 787.

Wpgjetse

The 777 has a longer operational range, it's not about the range to Vancouver/Asia but the range to Toronto, New York etc/Asia.

flyquiet

I did not arrive to it but I departed IFT in Feb 2016 to IAD on United on a CRJ. I had also thought IFT was unused, and was a little bit rushed to make it all the way there from the lounge.

Sean Peever

Riiiiigggghhhttttt..... just like there are no 747's at YVR right? Uh-huh.... ok.

24left

Exactly.

Well, I think it's time now to list all of the carriers that fly from YVR to various points in Asia. Then I'll get my handy yellow tape measure so we can compare that to those ex-YYZ.

While we're at it, we should compare the number of daily 747s that land at YVR vs YYZ.

eigenvector

There's a really handy website for this: http://www.flightconnections.com/

Some people think exclusively in AC/*A terms and forget about the Chinese airlines that fly to YVR. Hang around the international PPL after midnight and you won't make the same mistake.

Sean Peever

Or some people just don't think.

yyznomad

Out of curiosity, which gate did you board the people mover bus at?

Fiordland

Why 747s, the "my airport is better than your" meassure these days is the A380. Vancouver has BA daily A380, Does YYZ still only have one show up every couple of days?

Back to the topic of airport expansions. One should compare and contrast the philosophy of YVR with YYZ.....

To quote the YVR CEO as he discusses the next round of terminal expansions "It keeps everything in one terminal,” he said. “I hate it when I’m driving up to a terminal, and the I don’t know and the taxi asks which terminal. Because we’re a big connecting airport, keeping it as long as we can in one terminal is very important to us so that we can transfer people between various sectors very easily."

"Another big factor is that we like the fact that it’s incremental growth. We don’t like to make a billion or two billion dollar gamble because inevitably if there is a downturn in the economy, you started something that is very expensive, and you can’t stop, then you have this huge terminal that is empty for a long time. That is not a very efficient way to do it.”

http://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vanco...ion-masterplan

eigenvector

I like this attitude of one terminal. I understand that some global hubs are at a scale where it just won't work, but so many small-to-medium sized airports have a gratuitous number of terminals for no evident reason. Even worse when I am in some 3rd world country trying to use hand gestures to tell a taxi driver which one I want to go to (if I can even figure it out with the broken-English confirmation email from some Asian ULCC that may or may not even exist).

canadiancow

Yeah, because those domestic to US connections at YVR are sooooo easy, because it's such a short distance.

24left

Kind of an AC FT inside joke for a while back about the claim that YVR doesn't have 747s

WR Cage

Someone should take Craig Richmond aside and point out that he is CEO of a two terminal operation, domestic terminal and international terminal are separate buildings connected by the link building.

Under the east terminal expansion plan, the new terminal would be connected to the international terminal by a second link corridor. Further with the next domestic expansion being to the southeast of the A/B connector, connection times are going to take a big hit because airport operations are getting too spread out.

The airport needs an automated people mover to remain competitive for connections. The people mover needs to connect international connections facility, concourse C, the A/B connector, and the new regional concourse that is yet to be constructed. The people mover will be a $200 million plus bill.

The current gate plan does not work for a dual hub operation. Under the central expansion option, there is no provision for Westjet to develop a true hub at YVR because their operation would be too spread out with separate concourses for encore, domestic, international, and transborder. The east terminal option would have worked for Westjet and the midfield terminal option would have worked for AC. The central expansion option works for collection of international airlines that use YVR as a spoke.

Wpgjetse

I didn't say there was no 747 in YVR. I love your gaming playing. By the way, anymore old pictures of 3 747 at YVR to post? I did see one today, 2 short of your average.