HeliJet S76 landing at Vancouver Harbour

Helijet International is a helicopter

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in wh ...

and charter service based in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

, Canada. Its scheduled passenger helicopter airline services operates flights from heliports at

Vancouver International Airport Vancouver International Airport is an international airport located on Sea Island in Richmond, British Columbia, serving the city of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland region. It is located from Downtown Vancouver. It is the second busie ...

(YVR), downtown

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

, downtown

Nanaimo Nanaimo ( ) is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. As of the 2021 census, it had a population of 99,863, and it is known as "The Harbour City." The city was previously known as the "Hub City," which was ...

and downtown

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. It also operates a charter division (Helijet Charters) serving the film, television, aerial tour, industrial and general charter markets, as well as helicopter and jet

air ambulance Air medical services is a comprehensive term covering the use of air transportation, aeroplane or helicopter, to move patients to and from healthcare facilities and accident scenes. Personnel provide comprehensive prehospital and emergency and cri ...

services. Its head office and main hangar is

(YVR). Sightseeing harbour and city tours and scheduled services to

and

operate from the Vancouver Harbour Heliport located on the shores of

Burrard Inlet french: Baie Burrard , image = Burrard Inlet 201807.jpg , image_size = 250px , alt = , caption = Aerial view of Burrard Inlet , image_bathymetry = Burrard-Inlet-map-en.svg , alt_bathymetry ...

, adjacent to Waterfront Station. The actual

heliport A heliport is a small airport suitable for use by helicopters and some other vertical lift aircraft. Designated heliports typically contain one or more touchdown and liftoff areas and may also have limited facilities such as fuel or hangars. I ...

is a floating structure located in the harbour waters. Helijet is also British Columbia's largest air medical service provider, operating rotary wing, fixed wing medevac aircraft including Learjet and Hawker.

History

The airline was established in 1986 as Helijet Airways and started operations between Vancouver and

in November 1986 with one

Bell 412 The Bell 412 is a utility helicopter of the Huey family manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It is a development of the Bell 212, with the major difference being the composite four-blade main rotor. Design and development Development began in the ...

helicopter and 14 staff members. It was formerly known as Helijet Airways. During the past 30 years of operation, Helijet has grown from one aircraft in scheduled service with 14 personnel carrying just 22,000 passengers into a diversified company with 15 aircraft and 150+ employees carrying over 100,000 passengers per year. The company has an excellent record of aviation safety. With

US Helicopter US Helicopter () was an independent air shuttle service that operated regularly scheduled helicopter flights from Manhattan to Newark and JFK airports. Flights left from Downtown (JRB, near Wall Street) and Midtown (TSS, East 34th Street) Manh ...

now defunct in the New York City area since 2009, Helijet and

BLADE A blade is the portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with an edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are to be used on. Histor ...

Urban Air Mobility Inc. are the only scheduled passenger helicopter airline service in North America. In the past, Helijet provided scheduled passenger services with

Sikorsky S-76 The Sikorsky S-76 is a medium-size commercial utility helicopter designed and produced by the American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft. It is the company's first helicopter specifically developed for the civilian market. The S-76 ...

helicopters or

Beechcraft 1900 The Beechcraft 1900 is a 19-passenger, pressurized twin-engine turboprop regional airliner manufactured by Beechcraft. It is also used as a freight aircraft and corporate transport, and by several governmental and military organizations. With ...

turboprop fixed-wing aircraft to Seattle-

Boeing Field Boeing Field, officially King County International Airport , is a public airport owned and operated by King County, five miles south of downtown Seattle, Washington. The airport is sometimes referred to as KCIA (King County International Airpo ...

Abbotsford International Airport Abbotsford International Airport is located in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, southwest of the city centre. It is the second largest airport in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, after Vancouver International Airport (YVR), ...

, Langley Regional Airport, Victoria International Airport and

Campbell River Airport Campbell River Airport is located south of the city of Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada. The airport is classified as an airport of entry by Nav Canada and is staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency. CBSA officers at this airport ...

, all of which are still destinations accessible by Helijet Charters' services. Helijet has operated large, 19 passenger seat

Sikorsky S-61 The Sikorsky S-61L and S-61N are civil variants of the SH-3 Sea King military helicopter. It was developed and produced by the American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft. The commercial version of the Sea King was developed during the ...

helicopters as well including in scheduled service between Vancouver and Victoria. All scheduled passenger services between the company's heliports located in

downtown Vancouver Downtown Vancouver is the central business district and the city centre neighbourhood of Vancouver, Canada, on the northwestern shore of the Burrard Peninsula in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. It occupies most of the north shor ...

, B.C. and downtown Victoria, B.C. have been operated for many years with twin engine,

Instrument Flight Rules In aviation, instrument flight rules (IFR) is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other is visual flight rules (VFR). The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ''Instrument F ...

(IFR) capable Sikorsky S-76 helicopters flown by two pilots. During the 2013 summer season, all scheduled service between Vancouver and Victoria was being operated with

Bell 206 The Bell 206 is a family of two-bladed, single- and twin-engined helicopters, manufactured by Bell Helicopter at its Mirabel, Quebec, plant. Originally developed as the Bell YOH-4 for the United States Army's Light Observation Helicopter prog ...

L-3 LongRanger III turbine powered

rotorcraft A rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft with rotary wings or rotor blades, which generate lift by rotating around a vertical mast. Several rotor blades mounted on a single mast are referred to as a rotor. The Internat ...

. However, with the advent of the 2013 fall season, Helijet was once again operating Sikorsky S-76 helicopters between Vancouver and Victoria and is currently doing so. Helijet International operates the Vancouver and Victoria Harbour Heliports under its wholly owned subsidiary, Pacific Heliport Services.

Destinations

As of August 2019, Helijet operates scheduled services to the following destinations:Schedule
/ref> *

( Nanaimo Harbour Heliport) *

( Vancouver Harbour Heliport) *

( Victoria Harbour (Camel Point) Heliport at Ogden Point) Helijet operates

at the following heliports/airports in British Columbia, Canada: * Prince Rupert/Seal Cove, in

Prince Rupert, British Columbia Prince Rupert is a port city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Its location is on Kaien Island near the Alaskan panhandle. It is the land, air, and water transportation hub of British Columbia's North Coast, and has a population of 1 ...

(YVR) - home base and corporate headquarters Helijet also operates a year-round base at Sandspit Airport and provides helicopter services between Masset Airport and numerous fishing lodges in the

Haida Gwaii Haida Gwaii (; hai, X̱aaydag̱a Gwaay.yaay / , literally "Islands of the Haida people") is an archipelago located between off the northern Pacific coast of Canada. The islands are separated from the mainland to the east by the shallow Heca ...

area during the BC fishing season. The fishing lodges have an operating helipad to facilitate this service, which includes passenger and cargo transfers. On March 11, 2015, Helijet began operating new scheduled passenger service utilizing Sikorsky S-76 helicopters with seven roundtrip flights every weekday between the company's downtown heliport located in Vancouver Harbour and the Nanaimo Harbour Heliport located at the Nanaimo Cruise Ship Welcome Centre.

Fleet

Current

The Helijet fleet consists of the following aircraft types (as of August 2019): In addition the Transport Canada list shows two

Robinson R22 The Robinson R22 is a two-seat, two-bladed, single-engine light utility helicopter manufactured by Robinson Helicopter Company. It was designed in 1973 by Frank D. Robinson, and has been in production since 1979. Development The majority of fl ...

Beta Beta (, ; uppercase , lowercase , or cursive ; grc, βῆτα, bē̂ta or ell, βήτα, víta) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 2. In Modern Greek, it represents the voiced labiod ...

but with cancelled certificates.

Former

HeliJet has operated the following fixed wing turboprop and helicopter types:Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: History Search Result
/ref> *

Aérospatiale Aérospatiale (), sometimes styled Aerospatiale, was a French state-owned aerospace manufacturer that built both civilian and military aircraft, rockets and satellites. It was originally known as Société nationale industrielle aérospatiale ...

Eurocopter AS355 Airbus Helicopters SAS (formerly Eurocopter Group) is the helicopter manufacturing division of Airbus. It is the largest in the industry in terms of revenues and turbine helicopter deliveries. Its head office is located at Marseille Provence A ...

( AS355 F1) *

( 1900D) *

Beechcraft Super King Air The Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin- turboprop aircraft produced by Beechcraft. The Model 200 and Model 300 series were originally marketed as the "Super King Air" family; the "Super" designation was dropped in 1996 ...

( S-61N)

References

External links

Helijet
{{Airlines of Canada Regional airlines of British Columbia Helicopter airlines Transport in Richmond, British Columbia Airlines established in 1986 1986 establishments in British Columbia