Vancouver airport sets ambitious growth target

Vancouver International Airport has set an “audacious goal” to handle 25 million passengers by 2020 — five million more than the 20 million passengers expected through the airport this year, airport authority president Craig Richmond said Wednesday.

“At the same time, we are going to reduce our greenhouse gases by 33 per cent,” he told the Vancouver Board of Trade’s 2015 Aviation Forum. “No, it won’t be easy, but that’s what we’re aiming for.”

Richmond said the airport will achieve the passenger growth target by creating a “sustainable connecting hub” between Asia and the Americas, by advancing air policies and by delivering “remarkable” customer experiences.

He said an expanded Transit Without Visa program — now being worked on by five federal government ministries — would add several new routes to the airport’s business portfolio.

Under the program, passengers aboard international flights that connect through Vancouver en route to other international destinations don’t need Canadian visas.

“With expanded Transit Without Visa in place, in a few years we could easily add 10 new destinations into the U.S., Central and South America,” Richmond said.

He said the addition of five million new airport passengers would create between 5,000 and 7,000 new jobs in B.C. and pump about $500 million into the provincial economy.

Richmond said new Vancouver airport passengers will come from all over the world.

“We’ll see growth from Europe, Asia, the United States and domestic,” he said in an interview after his presentation to the industry forum. “It will come from everywhere, but we’re focusing a lot of efforts on Asia because that’s where a huge growing middle class is coming from.

“But all sectors will grow and we’re just as excited to get an extra flight to Paris as we are in getting one to Dallas or Shanghai.”

Richmond said he’s confident the airport has the infrastructure in place to handle a sharp increase in passenger traffic.

He said the airport is pushing for an open skies deal with Chile, for liberalization of agreements with Taiwan and is pursuing new opportunities in growing markets like Turkey.

He said increasing air service between Vancouver and India is also a priority but recognizes the challenges that exist with route profitability and aircraft range.

“Transit Without Visa could help the economics of this route by combining higher-yield U.S.-India traffic with our local market demand,” Richmond said.

He said the airport will soon announce the opening date for a new luxury shopping centre under construction near the airport, with a late spring opening being most likely.