Vancouver International Airport Adopts AI to Boost Turnaround Efficiency

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) is taking a major step forward in its ongoing digital transformation with the deployment of Deep Turnaround — an artificial intelligence (AI) platform developed by Aviation Solutions, a subsidiary of Royal Schiphol Group.

According to a release today, the technology is designed to optimize the aircraft turnaround process — the crucial period between an aircraft’s arrival and its next departure — to make airside operations more efficient, predictable, and resilient.

Integrated with YVR’s pandemic-time creation of a Digital Twin, which is a complete virtual replica of the airport on a digital platform with real-time inputs, Deep Turnaround will allow the airport to further monitor its operations in real time, providing insights to streamline decision-making and improve long-term performance.

The system uses AI-powered video analysis from two cameras installed outside the aircraft gates — providing a full view of both sides of the aircraft. It detects and log key turnaround activities, such as cargo loading, baggage handling, cleaning, water resupplying, refuelling, boarding, disembarking, and stair/jet bridge deployments.

In essence, this system can identify the precise causes of turnaround delays, with Deep Turnaround reducing such delays by up to 30 per cent and ultimately improving the passenger experience. The system can identify over 70 different types of turnaround events, effectively eliminating the current issue of vague and unknown details.

“Investing in digital technologies is a key part of YVR’s innovation strategy, enabling us to deliver reliable and resilient service to passengers and our airline customers,” said Andy Margolis, vice president of operations and chief operations officer for Vancouver Airport Authority, in a statement.

“Deep Turnaround and digitizing our gating process data will provide invaluable insights to help minimize delays for passengers and the movement of goods and ultimately support more predictable and efficient operational service.”

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport’s (AMS) use of Deep Turnaround has enabled its operators to identify a potential delay at a specific gate up to 15 minutes in advance, which allows them to anticipate and change their planning, such as looking for an alternative gate for the next inbound flight. This results in fewer last-minute gate changes.

It has also allowed different companies of ground handling crews to optimize their schedules both before and during the day.

The use of Deep Turnaround at AMS by Swissport — a major global company that provides cargo handling services to airports — eliminated the inefficient need for coordinators to make up to 500 calls per day to check in, align, and notify crews. Swissport also operates at YVR.

At AMS, two cameras linked to the Deep Turnaround system are installed at every aircraft gate about 20 metres high. The cameras send photos to a computer system every five seconds, which are then analyzed by Deep Turnaround’s AI models — one model that looks at every ramp and reports all current events, and the other model that also takes into account flight data and makes predictions on when a turnaround is expected to reach completion.

“With Deep Turnaround, YVR joins a global community of airports transforming airside operations, collaboratively setting new standards for efficiency, reliability, and sustainability,” said Caroline Massart, head of Aviation Solutions.

“We’re proud to work side-by-side with our partners to solve real challenges and deliver results, quickly, for the airport, the airline and ground handlers.”

Earlier this year, Vancouver Airport Authority and Royal Schiphol Group — the owner and operator of AMS — first announced a partnership to potentially explore the integration of their recently-created AI tools.

The now-cemented partnership places YVR among a growing network of airports worldwide using AI to transform airside operations.

Air Canada, the largest airline operating at YVR, is also embracing the new technology to enhance its own operational performance for departure times.

According to Aviation Solutions, Icelandair used Deep Turnaround to gain real-time visibility into aircraft ground operations, uncovering the exact causes of delays — particularly in baggage handling — and enabling swift corrective action with ground handlers. This data-driven insight led to a rapid improvement in on-time performance, reaching 100 per cent at one station, while also fostering more transparent collaboration and allowing managers to monitor operations remotely.

“The Air Canada YVR Team is laser-focused on continually optimizing our ground operations to increase our process efficiencies which drives our operational performance,” said Anna McMurdo, manager of global on-time performance solutions at Air Canada.

“We are excited to turn on the Deep Turnaround software capabilities to give us better insights on turnaround activity. Data analytic tools such as this will enable us to better predict and calculate estimated departure times with improved precision and accuracy.”

The AI platform at YVR will initially be deployed at select gates and expanded in multiple phases. The airport authority states that as passenger and cargo volumes continue to grow, YVR will aim to use data-driven innovation to enhance on-time performance, support sustainable growth, and deliver a smarter, more efficient airport operations.

Based on the latest available statistics, as of the first eight months of the year through August 2025, YVR has recorded a cumulative total of 18.176 million passengers — exceeding the 17.751 million passengers recorded over the first eight months of 2024.

For the month of August 2025 alone, it saw 2.648 million passengers — up from 2.611 million in August 2024. YVR is on pace for a potential record-breaking year that not only exceeds 2024’s second-best passenger total, but also the all-time record set in 2019 of 26.4 million passengers.

For air cargo volumes, YVR has recorded over 232,000 tonnes over the first eight months of the year — up by nearly six per cent compared to the same period in 2024.

By DailyHive