Harbour Air suspends service between Vancouver, Sunshine Coast, Vancouver Island, citing low demand

Seaplane operator Harbour Air says it is cancelling one of its routes between Vancouver and Vancouver Island, and temporarily suspending some flights to the Sunshine Coast, due to decreasing ticket sales.

Seaplane operator Harbour Air says it is cancelling one of its routes between Vancouver and Vancouver Island, and temporarily suspending some flights to the Sunshine Coast, due to decreasing ticket sales.

In a statement to CTV News, the Richmond, B.C., company says the "difficult decision" to scale back its operations was not made lightly, but was necessary due to a "persistent softening in demand."

The float plane carrier will cease all flights between Vancouver and Maple Bay on Oct. 5, the company said Thursday.

It will also suspend flights from Vancouver from Sechelt starting on Oct. 8 until the spring of 2025.

"We understand that network decisions impact our guests' transportation options, and we apologize for the inconvenience and thank our guests for their patronage and support," the statement said.

Harbour Air says passengers looking to travel between Vancouver and the Maple Bay area, northeast of Duncan, will instead have to fly through either Nanaimo or Victoria. Guests with existing bookings to or from Maple Bay after Oct. 5 will be refunded for their trip, the operator said.

"Obviously, we were very disappointed when we learned that the service was going to be suspended," David Messier, owner of the Maple Bay Marina, said Thursday, noting the floatplanes have been operating in the Cowichan-area marina for more than 30 years.