Vancouver's airport, which aims to be a larger hub of traffic from around North America to Asia, is being held back by Canada's restrictive air agreements.
For example, Singapore Airlines wants to add direct daily service between Vancouver and Singapore (in addition to its current service via Seoul), but can't because of government rules, according to the Vancouver Sun. Instead it may have to add service to Seattle, which is covered by a U.S. treaty that allows unlimited flights to Singapore.
"We don't want to do that, but that's just the business reality," an airline vice president told the paper. "We want to be here another 20 years, but if we're still restricted to three times a week, where do we go to grow?"
One victim of looser rules would be Air Canada, which benefits from restrictions on premium foreign carriers. The article points out that Vancouver's long-term advantages include room to expand and lack of visa hassles that hinder travelers going from Asia to Latin America through a U.S. airport.