Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Aerospace |
Founded | 1970 |
Founder | Nils Christensen |
Defunct | 2024 |
Fate | Merged into De Havilland Canada |
Headquarters | , Canada |
Key people | Brian Chafe (CEO) [1] |
Products | DHC-2T Turbo Beaver |
Number of employees | 575 [2] |
Parent | De Havilland Canada |
Website | vikingair |
Viking Air Ltd. was an operator and manufacturer of aircraft, as well as aircraft parts and systems, based at Victoria International Airport in North Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The company provides upgrades to the DHC-2 Beaver, spare parts for older de Havilland Canada aircraft, and components for Bell Helicopter Textron. The company operated as a subsidiary of De Havilland Canada until it was amalgamated into it in August 2024. [3]
The company was established in 1970 by founder, Norwegian-born Canadian aviation pioneer Nils Christensen, doing overhaul, maintenance and conversions to all types of aircraft but specializing in flying boats. [4] In 1983, Christensen acquired the exclusive rights from de Havilland Canada to manufacture spare parts and to distribute the DHC-2 Beaver and the DHC-3 Otter aircraft. He retired as president of Viking Air in 1987. [5]
The company is a subsidiary of Longview Aviation Capital, [6] which is owned by Sherry Brydson, granddaughter of deceased newspaper magnate Roy Thomson and cousin of David Thomson, parties of the largest family fortune in Canada. [7]
In May 2005, the company subsequently purchased the parts and service business for all the older de Havilland Canada aircraft from Bombardier Aerospace. [8] On 24 February 2006, Viking purchased the type certificates from Bombardier for all the discontinued de Havilland Canada designs: the DHC-1 Chipmunk, DHC-2 Beaver, DHC-3 Otter, DHC-4 Caribou, DHC-5 Buffalo, DHC-6 Twin Otter and DHC-7 Dash 7, giving Viking Air the right to manufacture new aircraft if a market should arise for such. [9]
On 2 April 2007, Viking announced that, nineteen years after being discontinued, with 27 orders and options in hand, it was restarting production of the Twin Otter with more powerful Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-34/35 engines. [10] The first flight of the Series 400 technical demonstrator took place on 1 October 2008 at Victoria International Airport. [11] In February 2010 the first new production Twin Otter Series 400 equipped with Honeywell's Primus Apex IFR digital flight deck and configured with a commuter interior took its first flight. [12] The DHC-6-400 series Twin Otter design has all around better performance, it includes more power, space, and now can haul up to 4,280 lbs of freight.[ citation needed ]
Viking Air also produces upgraded DHC-2 Beavers fitted with a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-34 turboprop engine called the DHC-2T Turbo Beaver. [13]
In December 2008, Viking Air indicated their intention to put the DHC-5 Buffalo series back into production in Canada at their home factory in North Saanich or in Calgary, Alberta. A potential new production Buffalo would have had Pratt & Whitney Canada PW150 turboprops, a glass cockpit, enhanced vision and night vision goggle capability. The company proposed the aircraft as a replacement for the Royal Canadian Air Force fleet of existing DHC-5As but the aircraft was not included in the final assessment in 2016 which chose the EADS CASA C-295. [14] [15]
In September 2017, Viking Air announced that it would begin talking to potential customers interested in the CL-415 "SuperScooper" Waterbomber aircraft, with the potential of the company reviving production of the aircraft if it finds demand. [6]
On March 31, 2022, De Havilland Canada Ltd. (under Viking Air) announced plans for the DHC-515 Firefighter Program. [16] Formerly known as the CL-515 program, the new water bomber aircraft builds upon the iconic CL-215 and CL-415 firefighting aircraft with modern features and improvements. Production and final assembly are to occur in Calgary, Alberta, where support for existing in-service CL-215 and CL-415 aircraft takes place. The company has signed letters of intent for the purchase of the first 22 DHC-515 aircraft by European customers. The program is expected to bring 500 jobs to Calgary. [17]
In 2006, Viking Air acquired the type certificate for the Trident TR-1 Trigull since 2006, along with the three prototypes built. [18] On 20 June 2016, Viking announced the acquisition of the worldwide amphibious aircraft program from Bombardier, including the type certificate for the CL-215, CL-215T and CL-415 Waterbombers. [19] [20] The acquisition was finalized on 3 October. [21] On 29 May 2018, five CL-415 EAF were sold to US firefighting company Bridger Aerospace, Longview then expected to recruit 200 workers in Calgary for the conversions. [22]
On 8 November 2018, Viking Air parent Longview Aviation acquired the Bombardier Dash 8 program and the de Havilland brand from Bombardier to continue Q400 production, in Downsview until the lease ends in 2021, in a deal that closed in the second half of 2019, bringing together all of the DHC type certificates under one umbrella once again. [23] Bombardier announced the sale was for $300 million, [24] and expects $250 million net. [25] After the deal, Longview will have $1 billion (US$670 million) in annual sales and 1,800 workers in Victoria, Calgary and Toronto. [26] By November 2018 the sales of the higher-performance Q400 were slower than the cheaper aircraft from competitor ATR. [27]
In January 2019, parent company Longview announced that it would establish a new company in Ontario, under the De Havilland Aircraft Company of Canada name, to continue production of the Bombardier Dash 8 line. [28] The Dash 8 acquisition will vault Longview from 600 to 700 employees to up to 2,000 including the CL-415 new production. After Bombardier sold the Q400 plant in Downsview, Ontario, Longview has three years to find a new location in Ontario where production should stay with 1,000 people. [29]
In February 2022, Longview consolidated its activities, with Viking Air, Longview Aviation, Pacific Sky Training and De Havilland Canada all being rebranded as De Havilland Aircraft of Canada. [30]
As of February 2023, Viking Air has the following aircraft listed with Transport Canada and operate as ICAO airline designator VKN, and call sign TRUE NORTH. [31] [32]
Aircraft | No. of aircraft | Variants | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk | 1 | ||
de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver | 6 | MK. I | |
de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter | 2 | Series 300, Series 310 | |
Trident TR-1 Trigull | 2 | Viking Air owns the two remaining prototype aircraft, serial # 1 and 3. In 2003 Viking Air indicated an interest in producing the Trigull as a turbine-powered amphibious aircraft, with a price at that time estimated at US$400,000, but since then no further news has been released. [18] [33] [34] [35] [36] | |
Viking DHC-6 Twin Otter | 10 | Series 400 | |
Total | 21 |
Bombardier Aviation is a division of Bombardier Inc. It is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada. Its most popular aircraft included the Dash 8 Series 400, CRJ100/200/440, and CRJ700/900/1000 lines of regional airliners, and the newer CSeries. It also manufactured the Bombardier 415 amphibious water-bomber, and currently makes the Global Express and the Challenger lines of business jets.
The Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 is a turboprop aircraft engine produced by Pratt & Whitney Canada. Its design was started in 1958, it first ran in February 1960, first flew on 30 May 1961, entered service in 1964, and has been continuously updated since. The PT6 consists of two basic sections: a gas generator with accessory gearbox, and a free-power turbine with reduction gearbox. In aircraft, the engine is often mounted "backwards," with the intake at the rear and the exhaust at the front, so that the turbine is directly connected to the propeller. Many variants of the PT6 have been produced, not only as turboprops but also as turboshaft engines for helicopters, land vehicles, hovercraft, and boats; as auxiliary power units; and for industrial uses. By November 2015, 51,000 had been produced, which had logged 400 million flight hours from 1963 to 2016. It is known for its reliability, with an in-flight shutdown rate of 1 per 651,126 hours in 2016. The PT6A turboprop engine covers the power range between 580 and 1,940 shp, while the PT6B/C are turboshaft variants for helicopters.
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Viking Air: VKN, TRUE NORTH