Fact Sheet: Snow and Ice Control at YVR

Maintaining a safe and secure airfield for aircraft, passengers and workers is the focus of everything we do at Vancouver International Airport (YVR). This includes the airport’s snow response program.

Snow events significantly affect YVR's operations. As part of an integrated snow response program, a large part of the airport’s focus is on maintaining clear runways, taxiways, and aprons in the event of a snow event. With our runways covering an area equivalent to 20–24 CFL football fields, maintaining operations during snowstorms requires a well-coordinated effort.

• YVR’s snow response fleet can clear an entire runway in under 20 minutes.

• YVR’s runway and taxiway snow removal fleet includes the following specialized equipment:

  • Six multi-hogs that are equipped with a broom, plough and chemical applicator to clear apron markings and roadways.

  • Two Overaasen and Five OshKosh snow blowers, which have a combined capacity to blow 40,000 tons of snow every hour as far as 150 feet off the airport’s runways and taxiways.

  • Five OshKosh P-Series/MB 4600 ‘all-in-one’ trucks, each capable of ploughing and sweeping a 22-foot-wide path on the airport’s runways and taxiways.

  • Three OshKosh H-Series sweeper with 22-foot-wide high-speed brooms.

  • Two OshKosh P-Series trucks, each equipped with a 24-foot high-speed snow plough.

  • Three trucks that spread solid and liquid de-icing solutions to manage YVR’s runways and taxiways in sub-zero temperatures.

  • Three Boschung jetbroom combination units that plough, broom and spread de-icing solutions.

  • Four Overaasen RSC250s that plough, sweep, air blast, and apply de-icing solutions.
     

• On our aprons, YVR uses three high-tech snow-melting machines (also known as hot tubs) that are each equal in size to a semi-trailer and capable of melting the equivalent of 20 truckloads of snow every hour.

  • Two new Salt Doggs and three new Multihogs have been added to our fleet, increasing efficiency in salt distribution and snow and ice removal from aprons.
     

• Aircraft de-icing services are provided to YVR by Aero MAG, which services all aircraft with its fleet of:

  • 28 de-icing trucks, including six hybrid vehicles

  • 6 Vestergaard eBetas

  • 4 Vestergaard Beta NGs

  • 2 Vestergaard Beta 15s

  • 9 Vestergaard Betas

  • 3 Vestergaard MYs

  • 4 JBT Tempests

• 10 communal de-icing bays to de-ice aircraft.

• Aircraft with early morning departures will be de-iced at the gate ahead of time under a new pilot program expected to reduce taxi time.

• It takes an average of eight minutes to de-ice a widebody plane and four minutes to de-ice a narrowbody plane. This does not include time for the aircraft to get in and out of the de-icing bay.