The flying-boat shop

Viking Air was founded in 1970 at North Saanich, on Vancouver Island, by Nils Christensen, a Norwegian-born Canadian aviator. For decades it was an overhaul and conversion shop specialising in flying boats, and it became known for keeping de Havilland Canada bush planes such as the Beaver and Otter flying, including turbine-engined DHC-2T Turbo Beavers with the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-34.

The Twin Otter returns

On 24 February 2006 Viking bought from Bombardier the type certificates for every out-of-production de Havilland Canada design, from the Chipmunk and Beaver to the Twin Otter and Dash 7. At Farnborough that July it announced the Twin Otter Series 400, and in April 2007, with 27 orders and options in hand, restarted production. The demonstrator flew on 1 October 2008, the first new-build aircraft flew at Calgary on 16 February 2010, and Zimex Aviation of Switzerland took delivery that July. About 100 had been delivered by July 2016.

Becoming de Havilland

In 2016 Viking also took over the CL-215 and CL-415 water-bomber programme from Bombardier. Its owner, Sherry Brydson’s Longview Aviation Capital, had meanwhile bought the Dash 8 programme and the de Havilland Canada name, and in February 2022 Viking, Longview Aviation and Pacific Sky Training were consolidated as De Havilland Aircraft of Canada. Viking built 156 Twin Otters, which took the type to 1,000 in 2026.

מפעלים

• Victoria International Airport works · North Saanich, British Columbia — Headquarters; Series 400 demonstrator flew here
• Calgary plant · Calgary, Alberta — Twin Otter final assembly

אֲנָשִׁים

• Nils Christensen · מייסד
• Sherry Brydson · owner of Longview Aviation Capital