 | |||||||
 Porcupine Caribou herd filming project in the Richardson Ranges - Inuvik, NT (July 2019) | |||||||
| |||||||
| Founded | Okanagan Helicopters (1947) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commenced operations | St. John's, Newfoundland (1987) | ||||||
| AOC # | Quebec: 11988[1] | ||||||
| Operating bases | AB, BC, MB, NB, NL, NT, NS, NU, QC | ||||||
| Fleet size | 88[2] | ||||||
| Headquarters | Les Cèdres, Quebec, Canada | ||||||
| Website | www | ||||||
Canadian Helicopters Limited, formerly a part of the Canadian operations of CHC Helicopter Corporation, operates 88[2] aircraft from 22[3] bases across Canada and provides a broad range of helicopter services to support the following activities: emergency medical evacuation; infrastructure maintenance; utilities; oil and gas; forestry; mining; construction; and air transportation. Canadian Helicopters also operates an advanced flight school; provides third party repair and maintenance services; and provides helicopter services in the United States in support of specialty operations including forest fire suppression activities and geophysical exploration programs.
History
Commercial helicopter flying began in British Columbia in the summer of 1947. Three former Royal Canadian Air Force officers, pilots Carl Agar and Barney Bent, and engineer Alf Stringer, were operating a fixed-wing charter company, Okanagan Air Services, out of Penticton. In July 1947 they raised enough money to purchase a Bell 47-B3 and pay for their flying and maintenance training.
Okanagan Air Services moved to Vancouver in 1949, was renamed Okanagan Helicopters and, by 1954, had become the largest commercial helicopter operator in the world.
Toronto Helicopters was founded by Len Routledge and Douglas Dunlop. It was a pioneer in air ambulance services in Ontario and operated helicopters for the Ontario Ministry of Health.[4][5][6]
Sealand Helicopters was founded by Newfoundland and Labrador businessman Craig Dobbin in February 1977.
In 1987, Dobbin headed a group that purchased Okanagan Helicopters and Toronto Helicopters and merged them with his own company, Sealand Helicopters to form Canadian Helicopters.[7]
Until November 2000, Canadian Helicopters was the domestic operating arm of Canadian Helicopters International, a wholly owned subsidiary of CHC Helicopter. In 2000, Canadian Helicopters was divested by way of a management buy-out. The company continued operations as Canadian Helicopters until it was renamed HNZ Group after acquiring that company. In December 2017, the company was taken private as Canadian Helicopters Limited.[8]
As of August 2025[update], Canadian Helicopters Limited has an air operator's certificate, 11988, in Les Cèdres, Quebec.[1][2]
Bases
As of August 2025[update] the following are bases in Canada:[3]
Heliports
Canadian Helicopters Limited operates the following heliports:[9]
- Chibougamau Heliport, Chibougamau, Quebec
- Montréal/Les Cèdres Heliport, Montreal, Quebec
- Sagard Heliport, Sagard, Quebec
- Smithers (Canadian) Heliport, Smithers, British Columbia
Fleet
As of August 2025[update], Transport Canada listed the following helicopter fleet as being registered to Canadian Helicopters Limited - Hélicoptères Canadiens Limitée of Quebec:[2]
| Aircraft | No. of aircraft | Variants | Notes[10][11] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aerospatiale AS 355 | 7 | AS 355-N | Twin engine, listed at Canadian Helicopters as an Airbus, 4 passengers | |
| Bell 206 | 4 | LongRanger | Single engine, 6 passengers | |
| Bell 212 | 8 | - | Twin engine | |
| Bell 407 | 6 | - | Single engine, 6 passengers | |
| Bell 412 | 3 | 412EP | Twin engine, not listed at the Canadian Helicopters site | |
| Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil (Aerospatiale AS350) | 48 | 34 - AS350 B2 14 - AS350 B3 | Single engine, listed at Canadian Helicopters as an Airbus, 5 passengers | |
| Eurocopter EC120 | 4 | EC120B Colibri | Single engine, listed at Canadian Helicopters as an Airbus, 4 passengers | |
| Eurocopter EC135 | 1 | EC135 T2+ | Twin engine, listed at Canadian Helicopters as an Airbus, 6 passengers | |
| Sikorsky S-61 | 3 | S-61N | Twin engine | |
| Sikorsky S-76 | 4 | 1 - S-76A 2 - S-76C 1 - S-76D | Twin engine, listed at Canadian Helicopters as S-76A++ (9 passengers), S-76C+ (8 passengers) and S-76D (8 passengers) | |
| Total | 88 | |||
Gallery
An early production Sikorsky S-76A used in the air ambulance role for the Ontario Ministry of Health
A Bell 206 JetRanger
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Footnotes
References
- 1 2 Transport Canada (29 August 2025), Civil Aviation Services (CAS) AOC. wwwapps.tc.gc.ca.
- 1 2 3 4 "Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: Quick Search Result for Canadian Helicopters". Transport Canada. Retrieved August 29, 2025.
- 1 2 "Our Locations". Retrieved August 29, 2025.
- ↑ "ATAC mourns the passing Len Routledge". Air Transport Society of Canada. Archived from the original on September 4, 2017. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
- ↑ "Leonard Victor Routledge Obituary". The Toronto Star. June 1, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ↑ "Douglas Weir Dunlop Obituary". The Toronto Star. April 29, 2014.
- ↑ "Canadian helicopter operators shake up" (PDF). flightglobal.com. May 23, 1987.
- ↑ HNZ Group Inc. "HNZ Group Inc. to be acquired by President and CEO Don Wall and PHI, Inc". www.newswire.ca. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
- ↑ Canada Flight Supplement. Effective 0901Z 27 November 2025 to 0901Z 22 January 2026.
- ↑ "Single Engine Aircraft". Retrieved August 29, 2025.
- ↑ "Twin Engine Aircraft". Retrieved August 29, 2025.
External links
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