Vancouver International Airport

Vancouver International Airport is located approximately 15 kilometers outside of the city of Vancouver in Canada. Second to the Toronto Pearson International Airport, this Canadian airport is extremely busy and accommodates domestic traffic as well as flights to the United States, Caribbean, Asia and to Europe. Throughout the last few years, the traffic to this airport has increased dramatically, with 15.7 million passengers recorded in 2004, 16.4 million passengers in 2005 and 16.9 million in 2006. Approximately 60 000 passengers depart and arrive at this airport daily. This Canadian airport is one of the eight airports in Canada that has facilities to service Border Pre-clearance for the United States.

The Vancouver International Airport operates from three active terminals. The terminal for the International and Domestic flights is housed in one building, but has been divided into two sections. The building that is home to the Domestic traffic was constructed in 1968 but underwent complete renovations to improve the facilities and services. The addition to the building, to house the International traffic, was built in the 1990s. The South Terminal is completely separate, and accommodates the regional airlines. The regional airlines operate in British Columbia for the most part.

There are four runways at the Vancouver Airport. The 08L/26R runway is made from concrete and has a length of 3 029 meters; while the 08R/26L is constructed from asphalt and concrete and has length of 3 505 meters. Runway 12/30 is 2 225 meters in length and is constructed from asphalt and concrete; and the last runway, the 26A, is constructed from concrete and has a length of 1 066 meters. The Vancouver Airport has also installed the Tarsier Foreign Objects Debris system to their runways. This is radar system that can detect debris on the runways no matter what the weather conditions are. They were the very first in the world of commercial airports to have installed and operate this system.

The Vancouver Airport has approximately 400 businesses on their premises that not only employ 26 000 people, but also accommodate international trade. Businesses that are housed here are not only situated at the airport for commerce purposes, but provide services to passengers. Facilities such as book stores, convenience stores, sport shops, gift shops, food stores, pharmacies, dental clinics, medical clinics, postal services, ATMs, banks, foreign exchange services, barbers and even dry cleaning services are available, to name a few.

Transport from the Vancouver International Airport and to the airport is available through taxis, buses and limousines. Parking areas are conveniently situated for passengers that arrive in their own vehicles, and the airport, including the parking area and some taxis, are wheelchair accessible.