With potentially hundreds of VIP guests expected to arrive by private jet for World Cup matches, the private terminal operator at Pitt Meadows is angling to get any overflow from YVR.
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The number of private jets expected to descend on Vancouver for World Cup soccer games this summer is enough for the operator of the executive air terminal at suburban Pitt Meadows Regional Airport to sense a unique business opportunity.
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Most traffic will naturally go to YVR, said Geoff Bowering, owner of Integrity Flight Support at the Pitt Meadows airfield.
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“But some will look and say, ‘We might as well go to the outlying (airports),’ and others will be forced to because Vancouver is full,” he said.
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So Bowering has put some effort into sending out marketing materials to try to convince operators that his terminal, 30 kilometres east of downtown Vancouver, isn’t that far from the soccer action, which gets underway June 13.
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“We may see some overflow traffic here, and we’re certainly preparing ourselves for that,” he said.
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It is hard to know exactly how many private jets will be flying in and out of the Vancouver area — experts say jet owners and charter companies have just started making reservations — but since the World Cup is the biggest sporting event on the planet, the number could be up to 900 across the seven games in Vancouver, said Melissa Lucas Thomas, a consultant to the business-aviation sector.
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On top of being Canada’s second-busiest airport for commercial airline travel, YVR is also an important hub for business travel by private jet.
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The association that represents those jet owners anticipates a 30 per cent increase in private flights during the World Cup games.
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“Everybody’s on hot-standby to figure it out,” said Harlan Simkins, CEO of the Canadian Business Aircraft Association.
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As Vancouver is one of 16 World Cup host cities in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, private jets are expected to be cris-crossing North America during the tournament.
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“We, as an industry, actually have nothing quite to compare it to,” said Lucas Thomas, CEO of Moxie Global. “The closest thing we have to compare it to is the Super Bowl, which is kind a one-day thing, or something like the Masters.”
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After the recent Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia, 239 private jets left the city’s small regional airport, according to a report from Business Insider, which used the flight data tracking site JetSpy.
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Those events are one-offs, said Lucas Thomas, and are “nothing compared to what football is globally.”
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The World Cup has an international component, with visitors coming from all continents, and because of the complexity of operating in three host countries over several weeks, the industry is preparing “as though it is going to be multiple Super Bowls for these host cities,” Lucas Thomas said.
