De Havilland Canada

Original Company (1928–1986)

The de Havilland Canada name was originally used by the de Havilland Aircraft of Canada, Limited, which was established as a subsidiary of de Havilland Aircraft (UK) in 1928. It was first located at De Lesseps Field in Toronto, before moving to Downsview in 1929. The company was founded to build Moth aircraft for the training of Canadian airmen.

Following the Second World War, de Havilland Canada began to build its own designs uniquely suited to the harsh Canadian operating environment. The company also continued production of several British de Havilland aircraft and later produced a licence-built version of the American-designed Grumman S2F Tracker. In 1962 the Avro Canada aircraft production facility was transferred to de Havilland Canada by their then-merged parent company, UK-based Hawker Siddeley.

In the 1980s, the Government of Canada privatized DHC and in 1986 sold the aircraft company to then Seattle-based Boeing.[10][11] Boeing discontinued several popular product lines including the DHC-6 Twin Otter and the DHC-7 Dash 7, before putting the company up for sale. DHC was eventually acquired by Montreal-based Bombardier Aerospace in 1992 and incorporated into the Bombardier group of companies.[12] During this time, the Dash 8 line remained in production, with the product line being expanded to four models, with the largest being the Q-400.

Purchase of Type Certificates

On 24 February 2006, Viking Air of Victoria purchased the type certificates from Bombardier Aerospace for all the original de Havilland designs,[13] including:

The ownership of the certificates gave Viking the exclusive right to manufacture new aircraft; previously, Viking had purchased in May 2005 the right to manufacture spares and distribute the de Havilland heritage aircraft product line.[9]

In addition to the de Havilland type certificates, Viking Air also acquired the Canadair CL-415 program in October 2018.[14]

• DHC-1 Chipmunk
• DHC-2 Beaver
• DHC-3 Otter
• DHC-4 Caribou
• DHC-5 Buffalo
• DHC-6 Twin Otter
• DHC-7 Dash 7

Formation

In November 2018, Viking Air parent Longview Aviation Capital acquired the Bombardier Dash 8 program and the de Havilland brand from Bombardier, in a deal that was expected to close by the second half of 2019.[15] In January 2019, Longview announced that it would establish a new company in Ontario, De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited, to continue production of the Q400 model and support the Dash 8 range.[16] The deal closed on 3 June 2019; the newly formed company inherited an order book of 51 Q400s.[17] Longview did not intend to merge Viking Air and De Havilland. Some 1200 Bombardier staff transferred to the new De Havilland company, which intended to continue Dash 8-400 production at Downsview until a lease expires in 2023 and hopes to negotiate an extension to that date. Other Dash 8 variants are also under consideration, in particular to target the North American 50-seater market.[18]

In 2019, the company acquired the Short C-23 Sherpa. DHC currently has interest in restarting the program for the defense and firefighting markets, and is looking to the feasibility of doing so.[19][20]

In February 2022, Longview consolidated its activities, with Viking Air, Longview Aviation, Pacific Sky Training, De Havilland Canada, and Longview Aviation Capital itself all being rebranded as De Havilland Aircraft of Canada.[21] In June 2022, after a celebration with 10 DHC types present, from a 1942 Tiger Moth to a 2019 DHC-8-400, the last DHC aircraft left the Downsview site[22] and the offices were relocated to nearby Mississauga.[23]

In September 2022, DHC announced its plans to construct a new manufacturing facility, De Havilland Field, in Wheatland County, Alberta. The new facility is intended to merge its two manufacturing facilities and produce the Twin Otter and Dash 8 planes, as well as the new DHC-515 firefighting aircraft. First production at the new site is planned to begin in 2025.[24]