🎙️ Remarkable World Commentary Episode #52: Interview with Cathy Nyfors, Manager, Passenger Programs, Vancouver Airport Authority | Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA https://donnajodhan.com/rwc-10-16-2025/

In this inspiring episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan sits down with Cathy Nyfors of the Vancouver Airport Authority to explore how YVR's non-share-capital governance keeps the community, and accessibility, at the center of every decision. Nyfors walks through the airport's co-created "Beyond Accessibility" roadmap and the philosophy of designing with lived experience: adult-size change benches and a new assisted changing place with an overhead lift; quiet/low-stim spaces; expanded tactile/Braille wayfinding; animal-relief areas; and even a yoga room. She explains how YVR's real-time "digital twin" helps teams make data-driven improvements, right down to tracking loaner wheelchairs so they're easy to find, while long-running partnerships like rehearsal tours with the Canucks Autism Network, a discreet sunflower identifier for non-visible disabilities, and the inclusive Paper Planes café (which trains neurodivergent adults) embody a human-centered approach.

Nyfors also spotlights measurable progress: YVR's 2025 Skytrax win for Best Airport in North America, a Rick Hansen Foundation Gold accessibility rating, and relentless feedback loops, from customer surveys every few days to journey-mapping, that drive continuous improvement. For aging travelers and anyone who needs a hand, YVR has added curbside greeters, trialed self-driving robotic pods to bridge long walking distances, rolled out big high-contrast digital wayfinding, enabled boarding announcements in sign language, and launched one-to-one "Travel Rehearsals" so first-time or anxious flyers can practice their exact route before the big day. Nyfors closes with a simple north star for airports everywhere: listen to customers, collaborate with community, and turn insight into action.

TRANSCRIPT

Podcast Commentator: Greetings.

Podcast Commentator: Donna J Jodhan, LLB, ACSP and MBA, invites you to listen to her biweekly podcast, Remarkable World Commentary here. Donna shares some of her innermost thoughts, insights, perspectives, and more with her listeners. Donna focuses on topics that directly affect the future of kids, especially kids with disabilities. Donna is a blind advocate, author, site loss coach, dinner mystery producer, writer, entrepreneur, law graduate, and podcast commentator. She has decades of lived experiences, knowledge, skills, and expertise in access technology and information as someone who has been internationally recognized for her work and roles. She just wants to make things better than possible.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Remarkable World Commentary. I'm Donna Jodhan, a lifelong disability advocate and one who sees the world mainly through sound, touch and stubborn optimism. I am a law graduate, accessibility consultant, author, lifelong barrier buster who also happens to be blind. You may know me from a few headline moments, as in November 2010, I won the Landmark Charter case that forced the Canadian government to make its websites accessible to every Canadian, not just to sighted ones. And in July of 2019, I co-led the Accessible Canada Act, with more than two dozen disability groups to turn equal access into federal law and most recently on June the 3rd, 2022. I was greatly humbled by Her Late Majesty's Platinum Jubilee Award for tireless commitment to removing barriers. When I'm not in a courtroom or a committee room or pottery studio, you will find me coaching kids with vision loss, producing audio mysteries, or helping tech companies to make their gadgets talk back in plain language. Everything I do circles one goal to turn accessibility from an afterthought into everyday practice. I invite you to think of this show as our shared workbench where policy meets lived experience and lived experience sparks fresh ideas. Now, before we jump into today's conversation, let me shine a quick spotlight on today's guest changemaker, whose work is as every bit as remarkable as the world that we are trying to build. Kathy Flores, I'd like to welcome you to my podcast, Remarkable World Commentary, and it was a pleasure to have met you. I think it was at the end of April when I attended the Air Canada Advisory Group meeting. Welcome to my podcast.

Cathy Nyfors: Thank you so much Donna, and thank you for your very kind words. This is an incredible opportunity, and I'm truly honored to be a guest on the Remarkable World Commentary. I am also pleased to join remotely from the traditional and unceded territory of the Musqueam people here at YVR.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Great. Okay, so let's get started. Cathy, could you explain how the Vancouver Airport Authority's unique governance model shapes day to day decisions about the passenger experience at YVR?

Cathy Nyfors: Thanks so much, Donna, for that. Great question. Well, the Vancouver Airport Authority, Vancouver International Airport is Canada's second busiest airport. We are a non share capital organization that operates YVR in truly the service of our community and the economy that supports it. Now, I know that's a little bit of a.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Mouthful.

Cathy Nyfors: That I've just shared there, but I think what I really want to emphasize is that this unique governance model that YVR has really places our community at the center of our operation. The structure truly allows YVR to Are to prioritize accessibility, inclusion, and the guest experience. We use this to evaluate all of our decisions through five strategic lenses, and one of those being customer. That customer lens includes accessibility as a key component, ensuring that everyone at our airport has a seamless and inclusive experience. We've also developed a multi year accessibility plan or roadmap we've called Beyond Accessibility, which was truly co-created, working closely with our customers, our community, our employees and our guests that we serve. And I think what's really unique about this model is it supports that culture of continuous improvement, where feedback from our from our customers and our community and our employees directly influence those decisions and our operational enhancements at the airport here.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: I was truly impressed by your airport. I mean, I've been to Vancouver a few times. Way back in 20, I think it was 2010 and then a few times after that. But boy oh boy, what a refreshing experience. And I just like to acknowledge two of your your coworkers here. Lori is one of them. And I forget the young man's name. I was very, very impressed with the service that they offered me. I forget his name, I do apologize.

Cathy Nyfors: Oh, please. No. No apologies necessary. Thank you so much. That means so much to to to me and the entire team here. To here. That that the service that they're providing is is making a difference and being acknowledged. Thank you. I will definitely pass that along. But this really appreciated and kind thank you for sharing that, Donna. It truly means a lot to us.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: You're very welcome. Now from your vantage point on the terminal floor, what does quote accessibility quotation mark mean in practical terms. And how did that philosophy guide the design of Vivres? New international departures area.

Cathy Nyfors: Thanks so much, Donna. That's a great question. And I know there was a lot of a lot of great work that went into designing our new wing and our international departures area, and I think I'll just really kind of go back to, you know, folk with starting with our purpose. Really, truly. What I shared earlier is just the heart of what we do is serving our community. And I think a big part of that has always been you know, really listening and learning from our customers. The work we truly do is, is, is truly rooted in listening to to all of the users of the airport. And it's from that listening where we love gathering those insights of where are there some ways we can improve? What are some things that our customers are really liking about our terminal design? How can we learn about barriers and identify service enhancements so we can really, really bring and bring to life that designing with meaningful inclusion at our core. So our terminal expansion of our international departures area is a really exciting opportunity to to really embody and bring in that customer feedback because we are designing, you know, whole new space. So I think, you know it was such a great opportunity to, to really look at all of our customer feedback and see how we can really make our experience even better with this new, with this new space and design. I wanted to start just with a bit of a story of of where this thing really is such a key part of what we do. So one of our pieces of feedback that we had received was that there was a lack of adult change benches or assisted change rooms, and that was a barrier for some of our guests.

Cathy Nyfors: And in some cases, this meant that that some of our guests were needing to use the floor for changing purposes. So as a result, what we started first with was, okay, this is this is not acceptable. We want to make a change here. So how do we add manual adult change matches to all of our existing washrooms. So we did that. Wherever space allowed we added a fold down manual change bench into our private single stall washrooms. Then we also updated our our design criteria for the airport and for any new private single stall washrooms where it would include an adult size change bench. And then with with this new opportunity of designing this new pier, we also created the design for a new assisted change room or what's often called a changing place washroom. And that includes that height adjustable change bench an overhead hoist system along with other accessibility features. Part of the new international wing also included. You know, we we did and we did create some additional private single stall washrooms, just giving more flexibility next to our public bank. We also had quiet spaces for for neurodivergent, neurodiverse travelers. We have wayfinding and and signage, including adding tactile braille signage, changing stations and and seating for comfort and accessibility. And, of course, animal relief areas. We even added a yoga space for customers to stretch, relax and exercise while they're at YVR because, you know, sometimes you have a little ways to wait before your flight.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Yes, I remember seeing that yoga room when I was in Vancouver at the end of April. I think you gave us a tour of that room as well. I was really impressed. Yeah.

Cathy Nyfors: Thank you so much.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. All right. The airport leverages a digital twin analytical platform. How might a real time virtual model of the terminal Unlock new accessibility or efficiency efficiency enhancements for passengers with disabilities.

Cathy Nyfors: Thank you so much. It's a great question. I think it's the digital twin is has so many exciting options available through it. And the digital twin itself is that virtual representation of our airport facility and the Musqueam lands on which we reside. This was developed by our incredible innovation team at YVR. Really, you know, using the digital twin we've been using it extensively since January 2023. It's really helped our teams to make better faster, data driven decisions that support that operational excellence, the customer experience sustainability and revenue growth. I think some of the exciting things about the digital twin is it really gives our team, you know, that one source of truth real time monitoring of our systems, you know, bringing in all the different data sources such as air traffic, passenger movements, baggage handling and hundreds of the airport systems that our teams use every single day to make sure that it's as smooth and seamless experience for customers. It really has empowered our team and stakeholders to effectively operate the airport and manage manage assets. But I always believe in sharing, you know, a story of how to your question of, you know, how can this unlock new accessibility or efficiency enhancements. So I want to share one example of how my team is using the digital twin to improve the experience and accessibility at YVR. I always like to start with customer feedback as that often where we're, where we're, we're we're starting is identifying areas where we can improve our services.

Cathy Nyfors: And one area of feedback that we had received through our community consultation, was making it easier for guests to locate a wheelchair for their own use. So following this feedback, we expanded our inventory and introduced wheelchairs readily at our key entrance points and and key points where customers were looking to to borrow wheelchair. And while this improved our service for our guests, making them more readily available, we heard that our team that was required to collect them on it throughout the day and then return them to their home bases, was having a challenge to locate locate them and return them again to those entry entrance spots? So this is just where truly where technology can come into place was we added equipment trackers onto our wheelchairs, and then the visualization of their location on our one source of truth through the digital twin. So this really helped with the efficient collection, but it also gave us some information for capacity planning to make sure that we could have the right numbers of, of wheelchairs, in essence, in the right place for our customers, but also to make sure that the collection was efficient for our teams as well at the same time.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: I think this is great. I mean, you know, like you have guests who often get tired or, you know, like waiting around or standing around and you know, why not, you know, find a wheelchair and take advantage of it. Hey.

Cathy Nyfors: Yeah. No, thank you so much. I think we wanted, you know, we wanted to have complimentary services. We know we've got, you know, our airlines are here and provide an excellent service to our guests. We have our curbside service ourselves as well. Yeah, but we had heard from guests that, you know, if they just want to borrow one to help a family member or their travel companion, we wanted to make those more readily available.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: I think it's great. I really do.

Cathy Nyfors: Thank you so much.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. So you helped launch autism airport accessibility tours with the Canucks. Is it autism network? What key lessons emerged from those rehearsal journeys and how have they changed drivers? Why standard procedures?

Cathy Nyfors: Another great question, Donna. Thank you so much. You know, this this initiative you know, started well over, well over ten years ago. So we partnered with Canucks Autism Network. We've been partnering with them since 2014. When we first designed the program, the tour program to offer neurodiverse individuals and families the opportunity to come out and rehearse the preflight process really aiming to reduce those barriers of travel and help to prepare families and individuals with what to expect and, you know, creating that more predictable environment. And I, I just need to take that moment to thank all of our government agencies and airline partners for the support in making those tours possible. Each year. We love participating in them, and it's a great opportunity for the community to come together. But to your question, apologies on on the the lessons emerged. I've got just a few examples that I, that I'd really like to share. The first one is you know, why the Canucks Autism network joined together to also create some resource kits? So these featured sort of a step by step storybook, an interactive checklist travel tips and more. And these were just created as a, as additional options for guests because, again, not everyone may have that opportunity to come out to to the annual tour, but we wanted to create different options for them. You know, based on based on feedback as well from the tour. And then at the same time, we also developed training tips for teams and partners in partnership with Autism Network.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Okay.

Cathy Nyfors: The second one that I wanted to share is we also offer a sunflower program. So where a guest could choose to wear a sunflower lanyard or maybe have a sticker on their boarding pass as a, as a discreet way to let staff know they have an invisible disability. We actually did a soft launch. We we were working on our launch plans for the sunflower program. But we we chose to do a soft launch of of before we launched to the whole community here during one of our accessibility tours. And it just really gave us that opportunity to get feedback and help build awareness from staff prior to the launch. And then the third one that I, I'm hoping I could share as well is just around, you know, empowering beyond the traveler experience. I don't know if we had a chance if you had a chance to see this Donna, while you were here, the Paper Planes cafe. But we're also thinking about things, you know, beyond traveling and wider supports, you know, creating those employment and learning opportunities. And so, in partnership with the Pacific Autism Family Network, right, to create a new retail concept called the Paper Planes Cafe. And it's more than just a coffee shop. It's a place where adults with diverse abilities can gain real world paid training and employment opportunities. And I'm really, just really proud of of this incredible inclusion that this cafe is creating. And just to share just a little bit of stats is they have been able to support 22 neurodivergent trainees who've completed over 40 500 hours of hands on training at the cafe.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Wow. Okay. I don't think I got an opportunity to see that cafe. I got to get out there and see it.

Cathy Nyfors: I hope next time you're here.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Yeah, I hope so, too. Gosh. Now, why? Vr has won the Skytrax and the Asai CI Customer Experience Award year after year. What metrics or feedback loops help your team stay ahead of changing traveler expectations?

Cathy Nyfors: You know, we're really proud to have been voted best Airport in North America in the 2025 Skytrax World Airport Awards, which marks the 14th time in 16 years that Riviera has received this distinction.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Whoa. Wow. Okay. Sorry.

Cathy Nyfors: No, that's.

Cathy Nyfors: Thank you. This this honor, truly comes solely from passenger ratings and is really special to our team. Because of, really our focus on putting the guests at the center of what we do. And it's a focus of, you know, not only myself, but our entire organization. You asked a little bit about metrics and feedback loops of how we're how we're staying ahead and really listening closely to our customers. And we have a number of different variety of ways that we're doing this. We've got, you know, our online accessibility surveys. We're doing community partner consultations employee feedback as well, passenger journey mapping sessions. We look at guest experience data, direct feedback from from our customers. We also evaluate programs, specific data. You know, again learning how how how are we doing on different services, whether it be our sunflower program or others? And also our customer surveys are really key. We regularly listen to customers and speak to them in the airport to learn, you know, how how how can we find out what things are working? Well, where do we need to improve? And we've also increased that to about every 4 to 5 days so that really we can get more of that real time feedback on what's happening and so that we can take action to to improve those services if there's areas that aren't going well. And these are things we need to continue to do. We need to continue to look at those opportunities. I think of what are those different metrics and feedback areas, but we're going to continue to look at these and really identify those pain points. And how can we use this to really drive the experience and and decisions that.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: You guys are very, very proactive, right? Yes.

Cathy Nyfors: Yes, we're trying to be but but it truly like this feedback is means so much to us. Yeah. It really helps us to identify ways that we can make their work better.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: I think that's terrific.

Cathy Nyfors: Thank you so much.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Now, why VR has earned a Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility award for inclusive Move washrooms and adult change tables. What obstacles did your team overcome to move those features from a blueprint to reality?

Cathy Nyfors: Well, in 2018, Donna, we we were really proud to receive the Accessibility Certified Gold rating under the Rick Hansen Foundation's certification program. We're the first airport to receive this rating and at the time was the highest rated building.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Whoa. Okay.

Cathy Nyfors: The the program itself measures, you know, the meaningful access of a building or site. And I think I spoke when I talked earlier just about the example of the adult change benches. Yeah. You know, I would say for us, the main obstacle really to solve is being creative with our space, because we have to ensure, you know, when we're talking about some of these larger washroom sizes or design requirements for adult change tables. It was really about how do we find enough space to be able to achieve these goals?

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: My goodness. Okay. Could you share a behind the scenes example where co-design with people who have lived experience, such as blind or autistic travelers, directly influenced a facility or policy?

Cathy Nyfors: Yes, absolutely. Well, I would like to share a couple of examples, if that's all right. So. Sure.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Yeah.

Cathy Nyfors: First I wanted to share was how we launched a new program. It's called the Travel Rehearsal Program, and it offers individual support for passengers to come out in advance of book travel to preview their journey. This rehearsal is is designed in a similar way to the one I talked about with the Canucks Autism Network team, meant to reduce barriers to air travel and a chance for people to participate and practice before their trip, making the airport a more familiar less stressful place as well. But but we learned that with our group tour programs that that we offer not everyone was able to make it out to those to those tours. So we created this this travel rehearsal program which again, directly influenced from customer feedback, really allowing that opportunity for individuals to come out and and practice and prepare before their trip. So when they have booked travel which is, which is one of the requirements so that we can take a customer Post-security then we're able to, to support the guest in, in walking doing that pre pre walkthrough and pre-practice through basically the exact path that they would take that day of travel. And we can answer any questions that they might have. Talk about our accessibility services. You know, provide information and introductions to our airline partners as well. So it really was just you know, such a key program for us in enhancing enhancing what we offer through our accessibility tour programs. And I'm really happy to say that we've provided 34 of those travel rehearsals since our launch. And the feedback has just been tremendous on on how much it's making a difference.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Our other airports across Canada doing the same thing. Do you know.

Cathy Nyfors: I am aware there may be more, but I'm aware of two others. I'm aware of Winnipeg and also Toronto are are both offering these individual travel rehearsal programs.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: I think Cathy Saliba mentioned that in her interview. So that's why I was asking you know, if there were other airports. I think it's great. I mean, like, I for one, would love to have a rehearsal before I travel, although I do travel a lot, but I think it would be great, especially for the first time traveler. You know, they want a little reassurance and they want to know, you know, like when they take this kind of tour, they'll say to themselves, well, I know what to expect, right?

Cathy Nyfors: Of course.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Reassurance. Yeah. Now aging travelers form a growing demographic. How is YVR adapting wayfinding, seating and assistance services to meet the needs of older passengers while still benefiting everyone?

Cathy Nyfors: Another great question, Donna. Thank you so much. Thank you. Why we are we're really committed to making changes that benefit all travelers and improve the travel experience for all. Universal design has been a core value of ours since the very beginning, I want to share a couple of examples. The first one I want to talk about is to share our new Curbside Greeter and assistance program. As you mentioned, you talked about assistance services. Yeah. Introduced in December 2023, our Curbside Greeter program basically extends our customer experience team to the to the curb area. So of course we've been offering our customer assistance program or curbside curbside assistance program for many years. But really this curbside greeter program was an evolution of our service to have our greeters strategically stationed to welcome guests as they arrive curbside, so that we could proactively be there to provide them with information, directions assistance. And and it's it's been a real success for us. I would say from a feedback perspective, lots of amazing anecdotal feedback of of how our team has been proactively welcoming guests and, and supporting them, whether it's whether it's just navigating to the check in area or direct assistance to the check in area, whether it be through sighted guidance or or a wheelchair assistance or just help with someone's luggage. Our latest number since launching our curbside greeter program is that we've supported just under 29,000 customers year to date and growing. I'm sure it's it's it's even higher. And then the the second opportunity or. Sorry, the second example that I wanted to share was that we've also been trialing. And I think, Donna, you might have had a chance to see these while you were here, but we've we've also been trialing our self-driving robotic pot.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Oh, yes.

Cathy Nyfors: Yeah.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: I love that one. Yeah.

Cathy Nyfors: Oh. Oh, great. Yeah. No, it's been.

Cathy Nyfors: A lot of really learning. We've received tremendous feedback. You know, we we've 100% of, of people who have of our customers who've tried them have, have recommended have recommended, recommended their service. Apologies.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Yeah.

Cathy Nyfors: But you know, we've been we're really excited. We've been working with the local company and K robotics and you know, for for us, you know, of course, we have the airline service that is this is still available. This just is a service that complements this. This technology offers, you know, really guests of all ages and abilities, the opportunity to independently navigate the terminals and, and that opportunity to fully participate in all services, you know, whether it's shopping or dining or amenities along the way. And I talked a little Some of the other examples that I kind of shared, just maybe from a built environment. But thinking about the sheer size of our terminal is one of our areas of feedback that we've received is that walking through the terminal can, can really feel like long, long distance. So one example, it's, you know, 650m from our security screening checkpoint to our furthest gate. So that's really this type of technology. And service allows us to add additional options for customers and really ultimately making it easier to navigate and, and increasing that independence as well.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: I really enjoyed that, that, you know, experience on what is it called, again.

Cathy Nyfors: The robotic self, a self-driving robotic pods.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: But yeah.

Cathy Nyfors: Some may call it autonomous, you know, autonomous self-driving vehicles.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: I really liked it. I really, really enjoyed that. And, you know, the other thing too is I think once someone like, you know, you get to the airport and the first thing you have a curbside greeter, I think it, it, it starts things off on the right foot. You know, like it? It makes you feel. Oh, now I'm going to get good care. And I think that is really, really important. The curbside experience. You know, for me, anyway, that's what I think. Yeah.

Cathy Nyfors: Well, thank you so much. I could share a little bit about our wayfinding as well. Just because I know you're just about our wayfinding. Yes. So our wayfinding is truly one that continues to evolve to to evolve. We've really we've got a really amazing wayfinding and signage teams. They're definitely you know, take all feedback to heart. They're looking at ways that they can increase font size, add better improve contrast levels. And I think a great example of that was we just recently opened up a new security screening area in our domestic travel area in our park. And, you know, we have this enormous digital sign now out front of it. So prior to that, it was it was much smaller signage and some of the font sizes would have been smaller as well. So the whole digital screens now surround the security screening entrance, making it just a lot more easier to from a location perspective. We were able to include language on both security and gates, because we found that some customers were kind of looking for 1 or 2 of those, you know, different, different interpretation of what they were looking for next. Right? And, you know, it really just allowed us that opportunity to have much larger font size that allowed us to to also have some some terminal maps there, which also talk about like the what? Like what's the walking times getting to various piers and just allowed us really to, you know, continue to evolve our wayfinding services. Again, just thinking about all of our customers who use them and wanting to make it more readable for all of our visitors.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Are you? Do you use IRA? Do you have the IRA technology at the airport?

Cathy Nyfors: Yes we do.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: You do?

Cathy Nyfors: Yes.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: So you're up to date? Like you know, the wayfinder is great. Ira is great. Anything else that you have? Any other technology? We.

Cathy Nyfors: I think one of the other ones that I can share is we also offer in flight information status that customers could sign up for. So we have all of our flight information display screens in the terminal, and we you know, of course, we have those in high contrast as well from a readability. But customers could also sign up for flight updates that come directly to their phone or by email. Okay. All of our check in kiosks and customs kiosks are all designed to meet accessibility requirements. Right. There's probably some others that I'm missing, but those are just a couple that just come to to top of mind. Oh, the other one we do have as well. We've got our translation service that's available 24 over seven for customers in over 240 languages.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Oh.

Cathy Nyfors: And but also including American Sign Language as well.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Any audio feedback? Do you have? No.

Cathy Nyfors: I'm sorry. Do you mean. What? Sorry. Meaning? So our paging system. So our announcements are available in audio and visual format. And also include sign language at our boarding gates as well.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Okay. For airports considering similar inclusion efforts, what budget neutral or low cost changes have proven surprisingly impactful at Why VR?

Cathy Nyfors: That's a great question. Thank you so much. I think the one that I wanted to share from from the low cost you know, and that had a really wonderful impact was in 2024 I talked about this just just a moment ago, but why? They're introduced our sign language video boarding messages in three languages. So American Sign Language, Quebec sign language, and international sign on all of our gate information screens. And these messages complement our existing audio and visual announcements, ensuring seamless communication for our customers. And I think, you know, so so basically, when an airline agent triggers, you know, the boarding messages, it's displaying it in all of those different formats. So the audio visual and also sign language feedback has been tremendously positive. You know, with one example that I can share was, you know, I feel so happy and relaxed because I don't have to worry about ground staff or asking ground staff for help when they're busy. You know, thank you for thinking of the deaf community.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: My goodness. Okay. Why why VR collaborates with border agencies, airlines and retailers and community groups. How do you cultivate a shared accessibility mindset among partners who may have very different priorities?

Cathy Nyfors: You know why VR has developed our multi year accessibility plan beyond accessibility. And a big part of that plan is our four killer four pillars four main pillars that we've developed, which is leadership, engaged community experience and design. Sign, and a key part of that engaged community is really making sure that we're working collaboratively with our partners to create that inclusive experience across all touch points. So we do this in a number of ways. You know, we we, we connect regularly with our partners from from building awareness of our services, working group meetings exploring ways that we can really work together to remove barriers or, you know, to trial new innovation. And I thought I would share one example today of, of just that, that work of our partnership you know, with our airline partners. So we partnered with Sierra Seaplanes. So we have a full plane service here also at YVR. It's closer to our terminal. And so wyverns are seaplanes work together to introduce a new lift at their YVR floatplane plane which is again based near the cell terminal. So this this new lift was designed to make travel seamless for guests with mobility needs by making it easier to board and exit from a float plane. I know when I've traveled by float plane myself, you know, it's kind of going up those stairs. It might be a little rocky, depending on the things.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Yeah.

Cathy Nyfors: You know, but this innovative lift was designed by local company Aircraft Access Solutions and is making a real difference in reducing barriers to our regional and remote communities that we served. And basically to kind of give it a bit of a description the lift basically connects with the dock and then the float plane, and it allows the guest to move up onto the float plane in a seated position for both entering and exiting the plane, again, making it making it really seamless and removing that barrier where in some cases some customers who are using wheelchair may or may not have been able to take a float plane previously.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: I think for me, I've never taken a float plane, but it makes me want to take one, you know, just to try it out and see. Because I know a lot of people do get nervous about, you know, stepping off the float plane and onto the dock or wherever they, you know, they have to. So I think this is great. Yeah. Okay. So many passengers recognize why RVers, green coat volunteers, what training principles did you develop for them and how do those volunteers reinforce the airport's customer service culture?

Cathy Nyfors: Well, thank you so much for the great question about our volunteer team. You know, we're really proud of this volunteer program. I'm going to give a shout out to Drew Pancratz, the manager of our incredible volunteers here. You know, they've been in place since 1989 here at YVR. And today we have a team of 375 amazing volunteers who come in seven days a week here at YVR. And I think what's so special about them is they really are here and so dedicated to inclusion and service. They're often that first point of contact. They, they really play that vital role in welcoming guests, helping to inform them and just making sure they're there. They have that, that supportive environment. You talked a bit about the training principles. They all of the volunteers through their orientation go through many days of orientation training. They also complete our overall accessibility training program called respectability. And then we also bring in partners such as Pacific Autism Family Network to provide some.

Cathy Nyfors: Training as well. Right.

Cathy Nyfors: We have offered some unique classes as well, such as Parkinson's and dementia friendly travel training as well for our green coat team. And you know, they are so dedicated. This team, they also come in and support a lot of our accessibility initiatives, you know, from our travel rehearsal program to our community events such as what we talked about earlier for Canucks Autism Network or Spinal Cord Injury BC and many, many more. You know, they this team really takes inclusion to heart. And I wanted to share one one last example just on our volunteer team is they even created they are really great about sharing feedback. And one of our volunteers came forward and, and brought forward the idea of they wanted to create a French language training program. And they wanted to help to make our team to feel more comfortable in serving our guests in into official languages. And they do so much on accessibility. But I just wanted to say inclusion is just part of what they do, including even having an amazing team who brings forward ideas of of new ways that that we can help to serve our customers well.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: This is terrific. I'm really impressed. I got to go live out in Vancouver now. A.

Cathy Nyfors: Well, you'll be very welcome.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Thank you very much. I have one final question for you. If every airport worldwide could adopt one change tomorrow to make air travel more welcoming and inclusive, what would you choose and why?

Cathy Nyfors: Well, Donna, that's a really tough one to pick. To pick one thing.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Give it a go.

Cathy Nyfors: I feel like I have a list, but but, you know.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: You could give us more than one if you want, but.

Cathy Nyfors: I think for me you know, I, I think what what truly drives us and what I would say is that from that, accessibility is a continuous journey of inclusion. And I think for me that really if I had to pick one thing, it would be on really focusing on listening to our customers, collaborating with our community, but then also implementing those changes. I think those are really key. And I feel like that's, you know, I have to go back to like the heart of what we do is, is our purpose of serving our community. And we want to make sure that we're choosing the right things. We're really identifying those areas for meaningful access and meaningful inclusion. And I, I feel like that one thing that I think really drives all of that is making sure that we're listening and learning from our customers and employees and community.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Kathy, it has been a pleasure having you on our podcast, and I invite you to come back, you know, in a few months, in a year's time, we want to know more of what why VR is doing. I mean, like, to me, it sounds as if, like you, you're pretty well ahead of other airports across Canada. I don't know if I'd get into trouble for saying that, but I'm truly, truly impressed. And anytime you feel you want to share something with us, please let us know.

Cathy Nyfors: Thank you so much, Donna. Like thank you for your kind words. It really it truly means so much to me and our team. And, you know, we if there's, you know, any of your listeners are looking for more information on our services. You know, those are available at wivb.com. But we also welcome any further feedback on ways we can improve our experience. We're going to be launching our next three year plan in June 2026 next year. So but you know, I think thank you for being on this journey of inclusion with us is what I also wanted to say. And thank you, Donna, for your the incredible work that you're doing with this podcast. And I just am so grateful and honored to be given this opportunity to to be a guest on your podcast.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: I am honored to have had you, and I would like you to say hello to Lori and that wonderful young man. I wish I could remember his name, but oh my gosh. He was very innovative. I think it was the day before the federal election, and he had his way of, you know, having a survey of what people were thinking in a very diplomatic way. So say hello to him for me.

Cathy Nyfors: Well, thank you so much, Donna.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: So have a great rest of the day. Thank you very much. And we'll talk again soon.

Cathy Nyfors: That sounds wonderful. Thank you very much, Donna. We'll talk to you soon.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Yeah. Thanks, Cathy. Take care now.

Cathy Nyfors: Take care. Bye bye.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLC, ACSP, MBA: Bye bye.

Podcast Commentator: Donna wants to hear from you and invites you to write to her at Donna at gmail.com. Until next time.