YVR Report & Action Plan: December 2022 Travel Disruption
In January 2023, Vancouver Airport Authority / L'Administration de l’aéroport de Vancouver initiated an enhanced operational After-Action Review and conducted public engagement following the travel disruption experienced in December 2022 at YVR.
Our After-Action Review sought extensive input from various stakeholders, including airlines, partners, suppliers, and employees and was conducted with the valuable assistance of noted aviation and engineering consulting firm, Arup, along with teams from Airports Council International (ACI), KPMG and other experts and advisors both internal and external to YVR. We also conducted a public engagement program undertaken by public engagement consultants, Kirk & Co. to hear directly from passengers and the public.
From this work, we identified the contributing factors and root causes of the disruption at YVR and developed a clear action plan to address them.
By implementing our action plan, we will deliver a better and more predictable service to passengers through any future adverse weather events and any other unplanned disruption to travel.
Our five actions:
- Enhance Winter and Irregular Operations – installation of new real-time weather monitoring equipment, new gate protocols to ensure arriving aircraft can deplane passengers within 30 minutes of taxiing off the runway, additional winter weather equipment and de-icing fluid storage capacity to meet the new realities of sustained, extreme weather events.
- Enhance Cross-Team Collaboration - Additional information sharing across different airport partners as well as establishing a permanent team from across the Airport Authority to enhance decision-making and improve passenger focus.
- Accelerate Investments in Technology and Data – Better prioritization of aircraft on the airfield as well as an improved ability to track delayed baggage through real-time technology and data including a new digital apron monitoring tool.
- Enhance In-Terminal Passenger Supports - More staff will be trained to directly support travellers using better, up-to-date information throughout the terminal 24-7. Improved digital communications directly to passengers in the terminal about resources available, including accessibility services.
- Enhance Communications to Passengers and Public – YVR will commit to sharing more information more often. We will also make better use of our website and leverage stakeholders, partners, and other organizations to get people the updates they need in a more reliable and consistent way. Regular public reporting on YVR’s on-time performance, baggage performance, security screening times.
Take a closer look at the contributing factors of December's disruption and our clear action plan.