Vancouver International Airport

YVR CYVR  Vancouver, Canada

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YVR at a glance

  • What it is: Vancouver International Airport is a major international airport serving Vancouver, Canada.
  • Codes: YVR on your ticket, CYVR on the radar.
  • How busy: the reference profile lists about 26.4 million annual passengers across 3 runways.
  • Main airline: Air Canada bases aircraft here.
  • Right now: 40 aircraft are within 55 km, shown live on the map above.
  • Local time zone: America/Vancouver (UTC-7), so every time shown for YVR is local rather than UTC.

Aircraft observed near YVR

40 aircraft are within 55 km of YVR right now. This is live ADS-B traffic, not a published timetable: aircraft are classified by what they are physically doing - Climbing out, on approach, or holding at cruise overhead. For gate numbers and scheduled times, check with YVR directly or your airline.

Departing now

FlightOperatorRouteStatusAltitudeSpeed
FLE2820 — route not published on stand or taxiing — —
ACA305 Air Canada route not published on stand or taxiing — 1 kts
KLM219 KLM Royal Dutch Airlines AMS → YVR on stand or taxiing — 10 kts
ROU1764 — route not published on stand or taxiing — 8 kts
C060C6 — route not published on stand or taxiing — 4 kts
FLE821 — route not published on stand or taxiing — 21 kts
DAL1064 Delta Air Lines route not published on stand or taxiing — —
UAL1151 United Airlines IAH → EWR on stand or taxiing — 1 kts

Arriving now

FlightOperatorRouteStatusAltitudeSpeed
CGSSC — route not published on approach 150 ft 77 kts
WJA543 — route not published on approach 500 ft 145 kts
WEN3286 — route not published on approach 1,400 ft 129 kts
WEN3649 — route not published on approach 2,275 ft 179 kts
WJA123 — route not published on approach 8,700 ft 261 kts
GLR562 — route not published on approach 7,975 ft 257 kts
QXE2007 — route not published on approach 10,675 ft 281 kts

Overhead and in the area

FlightOperatorRouteStatusAltitudeSpeed
CFLLH — route not published in the area 2,025 ft 83 kts
CGFHA — route not published in the area 1,050 ft 161 kts
FLE807 — route not published in the area 4,000 ft 215 kts
CFEZB — route not published in the area 1,125 ft 108 kts
CFJEN — route not published in the area — 2 kts
CGVTS — route not published in the area 2,500 ft 98 kts
CGKGP — route not published in the area 575 ft 132 kts
CGGSP — route not published in the area 2,000 ft 107 kts
26.4M
Annual passengers (reference)
3
Runways
2
Terminals
14 ft
Field elevation

About YVR

Canada's second-busiest airport and its principal gateway to Asia, located on Sea Island in the Fraser River delta. The terminal showcases one of the world's largest collections of Northwest Coast Indigenous art. It regularly wins awards as the best airport in North America.

Vancouver International opened in 1931 on Sea Island in the Fraser River delta, after civic leaders, reportedly spurred by Charles Lindbergh's refusal to visit a city without a proper airport, resolved to build one. The federal government ran the field through the war years, when it doubled as a training and patrol base. Postwar growth brought transpacific ambitions, a new terminal in 1968, and Vancouver's rise as Canada's western gateway.

Local control returned in 1992 when the Vancouver Airport Authority took over, launching the expansion that defined the modern airport: the 1996 international terminal filled with Pacific Northwest Coast Indigenous art, including Bill Reid's celebrated bronze The Spirit of Haida Gwaii, the Jade Canoe. The Canada Line rapid transit link opened in 2009 for the Vancouver Winter Olympics, connecting the terminals to downtown in under half an hour.

YVR built a reputation as North America's premier transpacific transfer point, with Air Canada operating a major hub and Asian carriers clustering here, and Skytrax has named it the best airport in North America a record number of consecutive times. Expansion continued with Pier D opening in 2021.

How YVR operates today

Vancouver operates two parallel east-west runways plus a crosswind strip on Sea Island, with the main terminal divided into domestic, international, and US preclearance zones and a separate south terminal serving floatplanes and regional operators. Air Canada runs its Pacific hub here, WestJet maintains a strong base.

A dense roster of Asian carriers makes YVR a leading transpacific gateway, with connections engineered for one-stop flows between Asia and North America. The airport is also a significant cargo and seafood-export point, and fog rolling off the Strait of Georgia is the main seasonal disruptor.

Top routes from YVR

DestinationMain airlinesWhy it matters
Toronto (YYZ) Air Canada, WestJet, Porter Airlines Canada's transcontinental trunk route, flown by widebodies at peak times.
Calgary (YYC) WestJet, Air Canada, Flair Airlines A dense western corridor linking British Columbia with WestJet's home hub.
Hong Kong (HKG) Cathay Pacific, Air Canada A historic transpacific link serving one of the largest Hong Kong communities abroad.
Los Angeles (LAX) Air Canada, WestJet, Delta Air Lines The busiest US route from Vancouver, feeding both tourism and film-industry traffic.
Tokyo Narita (NRT) Air Canada, ANA, Japan Airlines Part of YVR's core mission as Canada's gateway to Asia.

Facts about YVR

  • A casting of Bill Reid's sculpture The Spirit of Haida Gwaii, displayed at the airport, appeared on the Canadian twenty-dollar bill.
  • Skytrax has named YVR the best airport in North America more consecutive times than any other airport on the continent.
  • The airport sits on Sea Island in the Fraser River delta, sharing the island with a floatplane and regional aircraft terminal.
  • The international terminal houses a large saltwater aquarium with thousands of sea creatures beside the security lines.

Plane spotting at YVR

Larry Berg Flight Path Park at the eastern end of the south runway is a purpose-built spotting park where heavy transpacific jets pass directly overhead on final approach. New to spotting? Start with our aircraft identification guide and the world's best spotting airports.

IATA / ICAO
YVR / CYVR
Location
Vancouver, Canada 49.197, -123.181
Time zone
America/Vancouver
Opened
1931
Hub for
Air Canada, WestJet
Website
www.yvr.ca

Airlines hubbed at YVR

AC · ACA Air Canada Canada

Tracked flights using YVR

Selected scheduled services whose curated route starts, ends or stops at Vancouver International Airport.

FlightRouteTypical aircraft
AC33 YVR → SYD Boeing 787-9Track AC33 →
CX888 HKG → JFK Airbus A350-1000Track CX888 →

Nearby and related airports

Geographically close airports and useful alternatives in Canada.

SEA Seattle - Tacoma International Airport Seattle, United States YYC Calgary International Airport Calgary, Canada KTN Ketchikan International Airport Ketchikan, United States YYZ Toronto Pearson International Airport Toronto, Canada YUL Montreal - Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport Montreal, Canada

More airports and guides connected to YVR

Most of the tails you see here belong to Air Canada. How a field like this runs day to day is covered in how airports work. Nearby, Calgary (YYC) serves the same country. The codes YVR and CYVR are explained in airport codes decoded.

Data sources and review

Reviewed 2026-07-29 by Flight-Tracker.net Editorial Team

Passenger, runway, terminal and hub figures are maintained as a reviewed reference snapshot, not a live operational record. Check the airport directly before travelling.

Read our airport data sourcing and review process, or inspect the machine-readable reference dataset.

Frequently asked questions about YVR

What is the airport code for Vancouver International Airport?

Vancouver International Airport uses the IATA code YVR on tickets and baggage tags, and the ICAO code CYVR in flight plans and on radar. The leading “C” in CYVR is the region marker: ICAO codes are grouped geographically, which is why airports near each other usually share their first letter or two while their IATA codes look unrelated.

How many runways does YVR have?

Vancouver International Airport operates 3 runways across 2 passenger terminals. The field sits at 14 ft above sea level.

How busy is YVR?

This reference profile lists roughly 26.4 million annual passengers for Vancouver International Airport. You can see aircraft observed departing, arriving and overhead on this page, taken from live ADS-B broadcasts.

Which airlines are based at YVR?

Air Canada treat YVR as a hub or major base. Many other carriers serve the airport without basing aircraft there.

How many terminals does YVR have?

This reference lists Vancouver International Airport with 2 passenger terminals. Check the airport or operating airline for the terminal assigned to a specific flight.

What time zone is YVR in?

Vancouver International Airport runs on America/Vancouver, currently UTC-7. Flight trackers work in UTC internally, so the seven-day history on our flight pages is stamped UTC while the boards on this page are in YVR local time - worth remembering when the two disagree by a whole calendar day.

Can I track flights at YVR live?

Yes. The map on this page shows every aircraft broadcasting its position within about 55 km of Vancouver International Airport, and there are 40 in range as this page loaded. The boards split them into departures, arrivals and traffic passing overhead, all timed in America/Vancouver.