Abstract: A vane pump particularly adapted for pumping cryogenic liquids has a plurality of vanes, each of which comprises a composite of at least two vane plates mounted in slots of a rotor of the pump, and sealingly pressed toward one another by the pressure differential existing on the opposite sides of the vanes, while the vanes are under pumping load. Each plate of the vanes comprises at least two parts which are mounted to one another and incorporate a biasing device, such as a spring, which urges the parts away from one another in a direction substantially parallel with the rotational axis of the rotor, and into sealing relationship with the end walls of a stator chamber in which the rotor is rotating. As an additional feature, the interior surface of the stator chamber, has a circular cross section in the area where the vanes move under a pumping load.