Vancouver International Airport (YVR) has announced its verified passenger data has been released and it shows the summer season of 2026 is going down as a record-breaking year. 

YVR sets summer peak travel period as being from June 12 to Sept. 8. In that time, the airport saw 7.8 million passengers travel through. This is a 5.5 per cent increase over 2025. 

The data reflects several factors that lead to this record-breaking number of passengers. 

The first factor was the FIFA World Cup, which YVR says kicked off an early summer flight schedule. There was also a record cruise season at the Port of Vancouver, and YVR also had new and expanded flight options in their service to Asia-Pacific areas. 

According to YVR’s data, during the FIFA World Cup travel period, the airport saw about 2.98 million passengers. 

• June saw 2.5 million passengers – an increase of 2.6 per cent from last year
• July saw 2.7 million passengers – an increase of 2.6 per cent
• August saw 2.8 million passengers – an increase of 6.3 per cent
• September saw 2.5 million passengers – an increase of 4.7 per cent