YVR Xmas (2020): prolonged pandemic pause
Above/featured: “Auténtica Cuba, auténtica fun”.
I’ve remained within metro Vancouver during the CoVid19 pandemic, but I’m curious about how the city’s airport appears in this unusual holiday season.
With no-travel recommendations and other travel restrictions, all international airports are operating at a small fraction of the usual traffic. At YVR Vancouver international airport, about 100-thousand passengers (pax) pass through the airport every day around Christmas. But numbers are way down; there are few daily international flights among the scatter of domestic departures throughout the B.C. province and other parts of Canada.
With these photographs, I present a view of both domestic and international terminals at the airport on Tuesday afternoon, 3 days before Christmas. Walking the empty and quiet concourse is surreal; I wonder if there are more airport staff than travellers at any given moment. (Completing my time at the airport, I stayed to the ground by hopping on rapid transit, shopped for some food, and returned to the family house: how extraordinarily mundane.)
Welcome figures in an empty hall (landside) at international arrivals, Tuesday at 330pm.
Check-in area for U.S. flights.
Check-in area for international flights.
Check-in area for international departures. Only 2 scheduled international departures remain: Aeromexico to MEX, Cathay Pacific to HKG.
Check-in area for international flights.
From the public observation area: sunset over Vancouver Island; parked at gate 27 is WestJet Boeing737-7CT C-FKIW, scheduled WS136 to YYC.
Check-in area for Air Canada domestic/Canada flights.
Check-in area for WestJet domestic/Canada flights, Tuesday at 510pm.
Few cars, no pax. Top-level: drop-off area for domestic departures. Mid-level: pick-up area for domestic arrivals. Bottom-level: pick-up and drop-off area for hotel-shuttles and long-term airport parking. About an hour after sunset, visible in the sky at centre is the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction (in the thin white circle). Expected astronomical magnitudes for Jupiter and Saturn, respectively, are about -1 and +1.5, which jives with the factor of 10 difference between the two in observed brightness.
I made all images above on 22 Dec 2020 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-jYL.
Fotoeins Fotografie 
4 Responses to “YVR Xmas (2020): prolonged pandemic pause”
Wow , what a view you are presenting. What is your destination to go to?
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Hi, Cornelia. After I photographed this series, I hopped on rapid transit, did some food shopping, and went back home 😅 But if you’re asking where I’d like to go, those 2 international flights to Mexico City and Hong Kong would be interesting. Once things clear and travel becomes an okay thing to do, I’m going to start close with a short schlep to Seattle. How about you? Happy holidays!
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Happy traveling for next year when it will be possible again, but it’s always good to make plans and dream about it. I had been invite by my best friend in Germany to come over this year, but Covid made it impossible, so those are my plans so far. Happy Holidays to you too, Henry, stay safe and healthy.
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[…] Afternoon, 3 days before Christmas, check-in area for U.S. flights at Vancouver international airport. […]
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