YVR is the IATA code for the Vancouver International Airport. The initial Y is a big clue that it's an IATA code for a Canadian airport. Presumably people are abbreviating the city to the code associated with that airport.

The airport code YVR follows a naming convention established by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) specifically for Canadian airports. In the early days of aviation radio, Canadian weather stations were assigned codes starting with the letter "Y" (standing for "Yes") to indicate the presence of a weather reporting station at the site. When three-letter airport codes became the global standard in the 1940s, Canada chose to retain the "Y" prefix for all its major airports to maintain consistency with its existing radio and weather infrastructure. The "VR" in YVR is simply a shorthand for Vancouver. This is why most major Canadian airports have codes that start with Y, such as YYZ for Toronto (the YZ being the code for the nearby station in Malton) or YUL for Montreal. While it may seem counterintuitive compared to codes like LAX (Los Angeles) or LHR (London Heathrow), the "Y" remains a proud, if somewhat technical, symbol of Canadian aviation heritage.