What airport is YVR?

Why the code is YVR

Y prefix plus VR for Vancouver.

This is the explanation in general circulation and it is very likely right, but no primary document has been published that settles it. Treated as an account rather than a fact.

The airport

IATA code

YVR

ICAO code

CYVR

Airport

Vancouver International Airport

City

Vancouver, Canada

Code origin

The usual account, unverified

One of the more legible Canadian codes, since VR is recognisably Vancouver. The terminal holds a large permanent collection of Northwest Coast Indigenous art, including Bill Reid's Jade Canoe, which appeared on the Canadian twenty-dollar note.

The other code, CYVR

Every airport has two codes. The three-letter IATA code, YVR, is the one on your boarding pass and your luggage tag, and it is assigned for commercial use. The four-letter ICAO code, CYVR, is the one pilots and controllers use, and it is assigned geographically: the first letter or two identify the region, so every airport in the same part of the world shares a prefix. That is why CYVR looks nothing like YVR.