Victoria International Airport

The Victoria Airport Authority operates and runs the airport. YYJ provides a lot of nonstop daily flights to Vancouver International Airport, which is a significant facility that serves many global routes. Additionally, Victoria International Airport operates continuous service to Toronto (YYZ), Montreal (YUL, summer only), Seattle (SEA), Edmonton (YEG), Calgary (YYC), as well as the several smaller municipalities in British Columbia and Yukon. YYJ also provides seasonal (late fall to early spring) nonstop services to some Mexican resort destinations.

Victoria International Airport

The Victoria Airport Authority operates and runs the airport. YYJ provides a lot of nonstop daily flights to Vancouver International Airport, which is a significant facility that serves many global routes. Additionally, Victoria International Airport operates continuous service to Toronto (YYZ), Montreal (YUL, summer only), Seattle (SEA), Edmonton (YEG), Calgary (YYC), as well as the several smaller municipalities in British Columbia and Yukon. YYJ also provides seasonal (late fall to early spring) nonstop services to some Mexican resort destinations.

Victoria International Airport is categorized as a facility of entry by Nav Canada and is currently staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). CBSA representatives at YYJ can operate aircraft with no more than 450 travelers when unloaded from the aircraft in stages, or 120 usually. The airport does not have United States customs and border preclearance. However, many commuters fly first to Vancouver International Airport (YVR), which does provide U.S. preclearance.

In 2018, Victoria International served 2,048,627 passengers and operated 120,936 aircraft movements, making it the 11th busiest airport in Canada in terms of passengers. YYJ was British Columbia’s third busiest facility in terms of passengers and aircraft movements.

Like most airports that are operated by local authorities in Canada, YYJ charges an airport development fee for each outgoing customer. As of 2018, it was $15.00 per departing traveler. AIF fees are typically added to fares and collected automatically by most airlines.

History

The property started in 1939 as a grass strip and was utilized as a military training airfield. During the early period of WWII (1940 - 1941), the airfield was operated as Royal Air Force Station Patricia Bay, for training personnel for basic flying training, preparatory to returning them to the United Kingdom.

The facility is located beside Patricia Bay, which, because of the prevalence of flying boats at the time, confirmed to be an excellent location. The Department of Transport took over the property in 1948.

During the late 1980s, the RCAF returned to the airport when 443 Helicopter Squadron started operating CH-124 Sea King ship-borne anti-submarine helicopters from YYJ. The RCAF calls 443 Squadron operations at the airport the Patricia Bay Heliport.

In 1959, the facility was renamed to the “Victoria International Airport.”

In 2000, the Victoria Airport Authority started the process of reconstruction and developing the terminal to meet commuters’ needs. In 2002, the new “arrivals rotunda” and the new “airside hold room” were reconstructed. By 2005, the new “departures area” was finished.

In May 2005, the federal government, which currently owns the land, declared a reduction in the rent paid by the Victoria Airport Authority. This will save $0.6 million Canadian annually and $12 million CAD over the life of the lease of 50 years.

In 2018, United Airlines declared that the daily United Express flight from Victoria to San Francisco would permanently stop operations on 7 January 2019, closing over a decade of regular nonstop service between the two cities.

In 2019, Delta Airlines declared that all Delta flights from Victoria to Seattle would permanently stop on 2 September 2019, ending a three-year presence by the airline in Victoria and leaving Alaska Airlines as the only airline serving Victoria from Seattle or anywhere in the U.S. Delta’s determination also marked the second airline to leave Victoria in 2019 after United Airlines withdrew its services in January 2019.