The airline was established and started operations in 1982 as
Windoak Air Service to provide seaplane charter services for the
forestry industry in
British Columbia. In 1993, Harbour Air purchased
Trans-Provincial Airlines, added charter flights to resorts, and increased scheduled services. Today, Harbour Air refers to itself as the ''world's largest all-seaplane airline'' and became North America's first
carbon neutral airline. A small subsidiary, ''''
, was set up in June 2007, and a DHC-3 Turbo Otter floatplane is permanently based in Valletta, Malta for scheduled flights to Gozo and sightseeing trips around the islands. Harbour Air Magazine'' is the official in-flight magazine of Harbour Air. In 2007, Harbour Air became the first airline in North America to achieve complete carbon neutrality in both flight services and corporate operations. Teamed up with Vancouver-based
Offsetters, the airline started to include a
carbon offset on each ticket used to mitigate the environmental impact of the
greenhouse gas emissions (GHG's) associated with the flight. The funds are invested in
renewable energy projects. On February 16, 2010,
Deloitte Canada announced that Harbour Air was a winner of a 2009 Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies Award. This national award is sponsored by Deloitte,
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce,
National Post and
Smith School of Business. On March 31, 2010, Harbour Air completed the acquisition of
West Coast Air and consolidated their terminal services. On May 20, 2011, Harbour Air grounded its service from
Victoria Harbour to
Langley Regional Airport due to low passenger numbers and fuel price surges. On May 9, 2012, Harbour Air purchased
Whistler Air. In September 2013, Harbour Air launched a land-based charter carrier, '''''', which operated one
Cessna 182 Skylane as
ICAO airline designator TTU, and
telephony TANTALUS. In November 2015,
Salt Spring Air was purchased by the Harbour Air Group. Salt Spring Air's fleet now joins Harbour Air, West Coast Air and Whistler Air and now claims to be largest seaplane airline in the world. Harbour Air and
Kenmore Air started a new seaplane service between
Downtown Vancouver, and
Downtown Seattle on April 26, 2018. In March 2019, Harbour Air announced a partnership with
magniX to electrify the entire Harbour Air fleet over the long term. The first converted aircraft was a DHC-2 Beaver which serves as the
test prototype for the magniX motor, energy storage, and control systems. The prototype flew for the first time on December 10, 2019. The company hopes to have the aircraft certified for commercial use by 2021.
Electric aviation In March 2019, Harbour Air announced plans to convert an aircraft to run on
electricity, which would serve as a
test prototype during a two-year duration
regulatory approval process, and eventually hoped to convert its entire fleet to electric propulsion. The first plane to be converted was a
de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver. The electric prototype made its first flight over 4 minutes off the
Fraser River near
Vancouver on December 10, 2019. The
Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior piston engine of the six-passenger ePlane was replaced by a ,
magni500, with swappable batteries allowing 30 minute flights plus 30 minutes of reserve power. Harbour Air wants to convert all its aircraft, including Beavers and
Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6-powered
Otters and
Twin Otters. Three years later, the plane completed its first point-to-point test flight, from Vancouver to
Victoria Airport Water Aerodrome near
Sidney on
Vancouver Island, on August 18, 2022, travelling in 24 minutes. The aircraft was displayed at the
British Columbia Aviation Museum open house on August 20 the same year. == Awards and accolades==