Viking Air Ltd. is a manufacturer of aircraft, as well as aircraft parts and systems, based in Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

. The company produces new versions of the DHC-6 Twin Otter

De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter

The DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian 19-passenger STOL utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada and currently produced by Viking Air. The aircraft's fixed tricycle undercarriage, STOL abilities and high rate of climb have made it a successful cargo, regional passenger airliner and MEDEVAC...

, upgraded versions of the DHC-2 Beaver

De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver

The de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver is a single-engined, high-wing, propeller-driven, STOL aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, primarily known as a bush plane. It is used for cargo and passenger hauling, aerial application , and has been widely adopted by armed forces as a utility aircraft...

, spare parts for older de Havilland Canada

De Havilland Canada

The de Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd. company was an aircraft manufacturer with facilities based in what is now the Downsview area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada...

 aircraft, and components for Bell Helicopter Textron

Bell Helicopter Textron

Bell Helicopter is an American rotorcraft manufacturer headquartered in Hurst, Texas, near Fort Worth. A division of Textron, Bell manufactures military helicopter and tiltrotor products in and around Fort Worth, as well as in Amarillo, Texas, and commercial rotorcraft products in Mirabel, Quebec,...

.

History

The company was established in 1970 as an aircraft modification, sales, and repair facility in Victoria.

Viking acquired the exclusive rights to spare parts manufacturing and distribution for the DHC-2 Beaver and the DHC-3 Otter

De Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter

The de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter is a single-engined, high-wing, propeller-driven, STOL aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada. It was conceived to be capable of performing the same roles as the earlier and highly successful Beaver, but was overall a larger aircraft.-Design and...

 aircraft in 1983. The company subsequently purchased the parts and service business for all the older de Havilland Canada aircraft from Bombardier.

On February 24, 2006, Viking purchased the type certificate

Type certificate

A Type Certificate, is awarded by aviation regulating bodies to aerospace manufacturers after it has been established that the particular design of a civil aircraft, engine, or propeller has fulfilled the regulating bodies' current prevailing airworthiness requirements for the safe conduct of...

s from Bombardier for all the discontinued de Havilland Canada designs including

• DHC-1 Chipmunk
• DHC-2 Beaver
  De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver
  The de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver is a single-engined, high-wing, propeller-driven, STOL aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, primarily known as a bush plane. It is used for cargo and passenger hauling, aerial application , and has been widely adopted by armed forces as a utility aircraft...
  
  
• DHC-3 Otter
  De Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter
  The de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter is a single-engined, high-wing, propeller-driven, STOL aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada. It was conceived to be capable of performing the same roles as the earlier and highly successful Beaver, but was overall a larger aircraft.-Design and...
  
  
• DHC-4 Caribou
  De Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou
  The de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou is a Canadian-designed and produced specialized cargo aircraft with short takeoff and landing capability...
  
  
• DHC-5 Buffalo
  De Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo
  The de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo is a short takeoff and landing utility transport, a turboprop aircraft developed from the earlier piston-powered DHC-4 Caribou...
  
  
• DHC-6 Twin Otter
  De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter
  The DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian 19-passenger STOL utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada and currently produced by Viking Air. The aircraft's fixed tricycle undercarriage, STOL abilities and high rate of climb have made it a successful cargo, regional passenger airliner and MEDEVAC...
  
  
• DHC-7 Dash 7
  De Havilland Canada Dash 7
  The de Havilland Canada DHC-7, popularly known as the Dash 7, is a turboprop-powered regional airliner with STOL capabilities. It first flew in 1975 and remained in production until 1988 when the parent company, de Havilland Canada, was purchased by Boeing and was later sold to Bombardier...
  
  

but excluding the DHC-8 Dash 8, which is still produced by Bombardier Aerospace

Bombardier Aerospace

Bombardier Aerospace is a division of Bombardier Inc. and is the third-largest airplane manufacturer in the world. It is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada.- History :...

.

Since 2008 Viking has been producing both the Beaver and Twin Otter.

The ownership of the certificates gives Viking the exclusive right to manufacture new aircraft.

New production

On April 2, 2007 Viking announced that with 27 orders and options in hand, it was restarting production of the Twin Otter with more powerful Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-34/35

Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6

The Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 is one of the most popular turboprop aircraft engines in history, and is produced by Pratt & Whitney Canada. The PT6 family is particularly well known for its extremely high reliability, with MTBO's on the order of 9000 hours in some models. In US military use, they...

 engines. The first flight of the Series 400 technical demonstrator took place on October 1, 2008 at Victoria International Airport

Victoria International Airport

Victoria International Airport serves Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is north northwest of the city, in North Saanich, quite close to the town of Sidney on the Saanich Peninsula...

. In February 2010 the first new production Twin Otter Series 400 equipped with Honeywell's

Honeywell Aerospace

Honeywell Aerospace is a major provider of aircraft engines, APUs, avionics, and other systems in the aerospace industry. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, it is a division of the Honeywell International conglomerate.-Aircraft engines:...

Primus Apex IFR digital flight deck and configured with a commuter interior took its first flight.

Viking Air also produces upgraded DHC-2 Beavers called the DHC-2T Turbo Beaver. 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.

External links

• Official Site
• Company Profile at Industry Canada
• "The Rebirth of a Canadian Icon", The Globe and Mail, 14 May 2010

External reading

• Sean Rossiter The Immortal Beaver: The World's Greatest Bush Plane , Douglas & McIntyre, 2005 ISBN 1550547240,