62 Aviation News incorporating Jets May 2018T
he 1920s and 1930s were the
heyday of large-scale commercial
seaplane operations, but as
demand for longer ights and
higher capacities grew, the oatplane largely
gave way to conventional airliners. However,
there are certain areas of the world that still,
even today, have the need for water-borne
operations. Harbour Air of British Columbia
in Western Canada can truly call itself an
air/sea operator, with virtually all services
landing on water.
Its primary route links Victoria Harbour
on Vancouver Island with the nearby
Vancouver Harbour Airport on the
mainland – both being very close to the
respective business districts and centres of
government.
The carrier also has what it calls ‘full
service’ terminals at Nanaimo and South
Vancouver, plus other smaller buildings at
Whistler and Comox, plus it ies to a numberof other scheduled destinations with even
simpler handling facilities. It advertises that
“a pick-up and drop-off service is available
to and from the Gulf Islands, and other
charter destinations are limited only by the
customers’ imagination”. Operations are not
restricted to landing on the sea, as any large
area of water, including lakes and rivers – of
which there are many in Western Canada –
can be used.
The South Vancouver hub (co-located
with the ‘Flying Beaver Bar and Grill’ that
offers excellent views of the arrivals and
departures) is on the bank of the Fraser
River that ows next to the south terminal
of Vancouver International Airport. Here
the aircraft can be towed via a taxiway to a
maintenance hangar for routine servicing.
However, as the eet comprises seaplanesthat don’t have wheels, an ingeniously
modi ed pick-up truck is used. The aircraft
simply taxies close to a wood ramp and the
vehicle picks it out of the water in the same
manner as loading a boat onto a trailer.
Passengers on scheduled services here
can use a dedicated bus shuttle to the main
airport or to the south terminal to connect
with regional routes.AIRCRAFT
Harbour Air primarily uses a eet of de
Havilland Canada aircraft comprising 14
DHC-2 Beavers, 22 DHC-3T Turbo Otters
and three DHC-6 Twin Otters, a Cessna
Grand Caravan EX and a Cessna 180.
The ve- or six-seat Beavers are used
for seaplane tours, on routes to smaller
communities and for charter operations,
while the two 18-seat Twin Otters are utilised
on the peak time services between the main
hubs. The carrier used to have more ofHARBOUR AIR
NO RUNWAY?
NO PROBLEM!
Tony Dixon examines Canada’s Harbour Air seaplane operations.
Above: Harbour Air employs the DHC-6 Twin
Otter 100 on its busiest routes. All photos
Tony Dixon unless stated62-65_harbour_airDC.mfDC.mfDC.mfDC.mf.indd 62 06/04/2018 17:37