A Harbour Air, de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter and a Kenmore Air, de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter

A side-by-side photograph of a Harbour Air de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter and a Kenmore Air de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter captures two of the Pacific Northwest's most storied floatplane operators sharing the ramp, and serves as a striking illustration of de Havilland Canada's enduring dominance in short-haul water-based commercial aviation. Harbour Air, headquartered in Richmond, British Columbia, operates one of the world's largest all-floatplane scheduled airline fleets, with the Twin Otter serving as a backbone aircraft for its routes connecting Vancouver, Victoria, and coastal British Columbia communities. Kenmore Air, based at Lake Union in Seattle and Kenmore on Lake Washington, has operated continuously since 1946 and remains one of the oldest floatplane carriers in North America, running scheduled and charter service throughout the Puget Sound region and San Juan Islands.

The Kenmore Air DHC-3 Otter in the photograph, built in 1960, represents a remarkable operational longevity story. At well over six decades of service life, the aircraft is a testament to the structural robustness of de Havilland Canada's designs and to the demanding airworthiness maintenance culture that defines serious floatplane operators. The DHC-3 Otter entered production in 1951 and saw 466 airframes constructed through 1967; surviving examples operating commercially today have typically undergone turbine conversions — most commonly to the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A series — replacing the original R-1340 Wasp radial powerplant. For Part 135 operators maintaining aging piston and turbine airframes, the operational history of aircraft like this Kenmore Otter underscores the viability of sustained airworthiness investment as an alternative to fleet replacement when certified replacements are scarce or economically prohibitive.

The pairing of the DHC-3 and DHC-6 also highlights the practical progression of floatplane fleet evolution in commercial operations. The Twin Otter, introduced in 1966, offered operators a 19-passenger, twin-engine platform with substantially improved safety margins and payload over the single-engine Otter, and its production was eventually revived under Viking Air and subsequently de Havilland Canada (now part of Longview Aviation) as the Series 400, reflecting continued market demand. Harbour Air's modern Twin Otter fleet operates alongside its legacy of experimenting with zero-emission propulsion — the operator conducted the world's first electric commercial aircraft flight using a modified de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver in 2019 in partnership with MagniX — positioning the carrier at the intersection of legacy airframe utilization and emerging propulsion research relevant to the broader industry.

For professional pilots operating in the floatplane and bush environment, both aircraft in the photograph represent operational disciplines that differ substantially from conventional land-based Part 121 or corporate flight department work. Water operations demand proficiency in step taxiing, glassy water and rough water takeoff and landing techniques, and dock maneuvering, all conducted under Part 135 or Canadian equivalent regulatory frameworks that place significant responsibility on individual pilot judgment. The continued commercial service of a 1960-vintage Otter alongside a modern turboprop twin reflects the spectrum of equipment and operating environments that define this segment of aviation, where certified type experience and sea rating currency remain differentiated professional qualifications with meaningful demand in both the U.S. and Canadian markets.