Effective October 29, Canada’s Vancouver International Airport (CYVR) will permanently transition to a mandatory runway slot system. “All users of CYVR will require a pre-approved arrival and departure slot prior to operation,” according to an August 22 notice from the airport authority. “This program will be operated by the airport reservation office (ARO) and will handle all general aviation and business aviation slot filings at CYVR.”
Historically, CYVR has not required runway slots as the ATC system could manage the traffic volume unconstrained. However, in the past several years the airport authority said “it has become apparent that CYVR will require a runway slot constraint to manage the flow of air traffic and improve on-time performance.”
Airport authorities said the process of managing the slots will follow “IATA worldwide guidelines as best practice.” CYVR will be using the same slot booking procedures that are in place at CYYZ and CYUL airports. Initially, operators need to contact the program vendor, PDC, to add CYVR to their account. Alternatively, operators may be able to engage FBOs at CYVR to assist with bookings, particularly for infrequent airport users. A “soft start” of the slot program is now in effect.