Alerts Sign-up
A 54-year-old De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter recently completed a demanding 4,000-mile ferry flight across the North Atlantic Ocean to join the fleet of Isles of Scilly Skybus in the United Kingdom. The aircraft, registered as C-GDXB for the journey, is set to be re-registered as G-NETS and will operate for Aurigny, serving lifeline routes from Guernsey to Alderney and Southampton starting next month.
The need for this transfer arose when Isles of Scilly Skybus sought to add another Twin Otter to fulfill an agreement with Aurigny. The chosen aircraft had previously served various operators since its first flight in 1971, including PIA, Air Alpes, Publi Air, Syd-Aero, Coast Air, Northern Thunderbord Air, Era Aviation, Rocky Mountain Aircraft, and Aviastar. After being withdrawn from service by Aviastar in 2017 and stored in Papua, Indonesia for five years, it was shipped to Alberta, Canada in 2022 for a rebuild that lasted three years.
Following its restoration and a test flight on September 16, the aircraft began its transatlantic journey on September 29. It departed Calgary (YYC) for Thompson (YTH), then continued to Iqaluit (YFB), before undertaking its longest leg—seven hours and thirty minutes—to Reykjavík Keflavík Airport (KEF) in Iceland. Weather conditions played a significant role during the trip; as Isles of Scilly Skybus Managing Director Jonathan Hinkles noted on LinkedIn: "the crew 'were held up in Iceland for two days, although the tail end of Storm Amy brought strong tailwinds which enabled them to complete the Keflavik-Cardiff leg in 2h30 less than planned.'"
