Harbour Air is running a new 19 passenger flight service from Vancouver to Tofino all winter.
The new route between Vancouver International Airport’s South Terminal (YVR) and Tofino-Long Beach Airport (YAZ) offers four weekly departures on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, with one-way fares starting at $139. (People living in the west coast region are eligible to receive a 20 per cent discount with a valid ID; use promo code TOFINOLOCAL20.)
“What a fantastic day,” said Chris Fordyce, Harbour Air’s chief commercial officer, after the inaugural 45-minute flight touched down on a balmy Oct. 27 afternoon.
“It’s like we were blessed on our launch. My only experience of Tofino up until now has been rain so I almost couldn’t believe it was sunny,” said Fordyce.
Donning aviator sunglasses and a black Tribal Parks Guardian bomber jacket, Gisele Martin welcomed guests to Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation traditional territory. She introduced the group to the ʔiisaak Pledge (ii-saak), which includes the teachings of respect for natural law, speaking truthfully and acting honourably, building community and leaving no trace.
“If we think of the time span of Indigenous nations on the coast, there are some elders who spoke of Indigenous history not only in human generations, but 20 cedar tree generations ago and a cedar tree can be 2,000 years old, so in that timespan of thousands of years, Canada is a tiny blip of time,” said Martin.
“We are in early contact, right now, as we speak,” she continued. “Thank you for arriving today. We look forward to your service and safe travels back and forth.”
Tofino mayor Dan Law spoke about how beautiful the region is every season of the year. He noted how the additional transportation service will benefit not only visitors, but residents too.
“This is a tremendous service for our residents who want to get out of town for any medical reasons or whatever you need,” said Law.
Fordyce said Harbour Air supports Hope Air, a charity offering free transportation to Canadians in financial need who must access medical care away from home.
He said they are also looking at ways to support Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Parks.
“For over 40 years we’ve been serving communities like Tofino. It’s all about connecting the communities, connecting tourism and helping British Columbians to explore the beautiful part of the world we live in,” said Fordyce.
Harbour Air’s new wheeled-flight complements their summer floatplane service, which leaves from Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet and docks at Tofino Resort + Marina.
Pacific Coastal Airlines also has regular flights from Vancouver to Tofino-Long Beach Airport, scheduled four to five times a week over the coming months.
Fordyce says Harbour Air’s latest Tofino winter offering is “just the beginning” of expansions for the Canadian company and North America’s largest seaplane airline owned by Birch Hill Equity Partners.
“Next summer we will be operating 200 flights a day including new destinations like Campbell River to Ucluelet, Victoria to Seattle and increasing our services to Vancouver and Seattle,” said Fordyce.
The current capacity of Tofino-Long Beach Airport is 100 people, but expansion plans for a new terminal are in the works along with a refreshed communications strategy as part of the long-term protocol agreement between Tla-o-qui-aht and Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District (ACRD), who took over management of the airport in 2000.
The Government of Canada built the original YAZ runways in 1942-1943 for the Second World War.
