Orca Airways

Orca Airways is a commercial airline in British Columbia offering scheduled domestic services.

= History = Orca Air Taxi was established in 1979 as an ad-hoc air taxi service operating out of Boundary Bay, Delta with a single Cessna 180. After the bankruptcy of Island International Airways in 1988, Orca acquired their two DHBC-1 Doves and began scheduled seasonal charter flights from XVR to Tofino for surfers, in addition to continuing the ad hoc services. In 1990, the Tofino route was made a permanent scheduled operation, and service was expanded with the introduction of a scheduled flight between Tofino and Victoria and between Port Alberni and Vancouver and Victoria.

In 1998 a single Swearingen Metro II was purchased, and the network was expanded to Pemberton in 2003 and to Qualicum Beach in 2006; ad hoc air taxi service operations were discontinued in 2009. In 2020, three Beech 99 were bought after they were withdrawn from service by Kootenay Airways, replacing the Metroliner and one of the Doves; the other Dove is kept operational as a heritage aircraft - it is the last flying BC-made Dove in the world - and flies several flights a week on the Vancouver–Port Alberni route in the summer months.

= Fleet =

Current

 * Beech 99 - 3 (2020 to date), acquired second-hand
 * DHBC-1 Dove 1 (1988 to date), acquired second-hand

Historic

 * Cessna 180 - 1 (1979–2009)
 * DHBC-1 Dove - 1 (1988–2021), acquired second-hand
 * Swearingen Metro II - 1 (1998–2020), acquired second-hand

= Routes =