The continent's top airport? We have it Travellers from far and wide rate Vancouver the best airport in North America Lena Sin The Province Thursday, May 15, 2003 Vancouver International Airport has been rated the top airport in North America in an annual global survey. Overall, YVR placed eighth in the world in a passenger survey conducted by the International Air Transport Association. "This is no small achievement," Graham Clarke, chair of the Vancouver International Airport Authority, said yesterday. "Customer service is fundamental to us being No. 1 in North America. There are other airports that are hugely expensive and new, but we've made it on service." For the fifth consecutive year, YVR has been named one of the top 10 airports in the world, and the only Canadian airport to make it onto the global list. Dubai was ranked the world's best airport, followed by Singapore and Hong Kong. YVR, Canada's second-busiest airport, handled 15 million passengers last year, compared to 70 million at Los Angeles International Airport and more than 30 million at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Approximately 70,000 passengers were asked to rate 51 airports around the globe in a variety of service categories. YVR, which placed second in the North American rankings last year, received high marks for comfortable waiting areas and its shopping and eating facilities. "I was in Las Vegas last week and this is far superior to their airport," said Peggy Reeves of Vancouver, on her way to Edmonton. "If you want a drink, you've got a pub, and there are places to read. Everything you need seems to be here." Nadine Gros-Louis, from Quebec City, enjoys the shopping and native art. "[I like] the art from the First Nations. It's very respectful to the first people who were here," she said. Garry Pennington, also from Quebec City, joked that YVR made his home-town airport look tiny. "This is cleaner and it's huge," he said. "It makes Quebec City's [airport] look like a shed." While recent construction projects at YVR have now been completed, the authority will not pay off the costs until 2006. That means it will continue collecting an airport improvement fee of between $5 and $15 depending on the passenger's destination. In 2002, revenue from the fee was $54.2 million. Clarke said it is possible the fee could be used in the future to support the proposed rapid-transit line between Richmond and Vancouver. THE SURVEY Results of the 2002 International Air Transport Association's global airport survey: 2002 TOP FIVE AIRPORTS IN NORTH AMERICA Vancouver Cincinnati Minneapolis Bermuda Halifax 2002 TOP 10 AIRPORTS IN THE WORLD Dubai Singapore Hong Kong Copenhagen Kuala Lumpur Seoul Athens Vancouver Cincinnati Sydney *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.cso.gov.tt TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************