Vancouver International Airport, YVR, is the second busiest airport in Canada following Toronto Pearson International Airport. Though offering extensive services to Europe and North America, Vancouver International is Canada's gateway to the Pacific Rim, owing to Vancouver's strong Asian (particularly Chinese) population. YVR airport has won several notable international best airport awards; it won the Skytrax Best North American Airport award in 2010, the second time it has received the honor with the first being in 2007. It is a hub for Air Canada, Air Canada Express and Air Transat as well as a focus city for WestJet. Vancouver is divided into three terminals: Domestic (renovated from the 1968 design) and the inter-connected International Terminal. The South Terminal serves regional airlines which fly mostly within British Columbia. The terminals boast a stunning Northwest British Columbian look with an extensive collection of Pacific Northwest Coast Native art. The most famous sculpture is "The Spirit of Haida Gwaii, The Jade Canoe", which is displayed in the international departures area. YVR completed a $1.4-billion, multi-year capital development plan, which included a four-gate expansion to the International Terminal Wing in June 2007. This international terminal addition has several examples of the stunning visual landscape of British Columbia, including a stream in a pathway and fish and jellyfish tanks.
Also recently completed was a five-gate and food and retail expansion in the Domestic Terminal's C-Pier, completed in 2009, and the Canada Line rapid transit link between YVR, Richmond and downtown Vancouver, which opened in August 2009.
YVR is located on Sea Island in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, about 7.5 miles south of Downtown Vancouver. It boasts 3 main runways: 8L/26R, 8R/26L and 12/30 at 9,940, 11,500, and 7,300 feet respectively.