by Jen Mallia
Last updated: 11:20 AM ET, Tue February 3, 2026
Vancouver International Airport is flying high after smashing passenger and cargo freight records in 2025. YVR saw a historic high of 26.914 million passengers last year, a 2.7 percent increase from 26.205 million passengers in 2024. The previous record of 26.38 million passengers was set in pre-pandemic 2019.
Over the year, only two months saw fewer than two million passengers. Vancouver has the second busiest airport in Canada and serves as the gateway to Asia for our country. Passenger volumes for the Asia Pacific market grew 15.6 percent year-over-year, to 4.47 million passengers in 2025. That falls just short of 2019’s record year, with 4.59 million Asia-bound or returning passengers.
European passenger volume also saw growth, but a more modest 6.3 percent growth on a smaller scale: 1.78 million in 2025. The previous record was set in 2019, with 1.76 million European passengers.
By far, the majority of passengers are domestic. 2025 marked a banner year, with 13.35 million passengers, the most ever in YVR’s 94-year history. That represents 3.8 percent year-over-year growth over 2024’s previously set record of 12.86 million domestic passengers.
YVR also welcomed 13 new routes in 2025, including T’Way Airlines’ new service to Seoul, multiple new Air Canada destinations spanning Asia, the U.S., Mexico and Canada, and additional routes from WestJet, Flair Airlines, Porter Airlines, and Pacific Coastal.
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