The Twin Otter was and is used by dozens of airlines and militaries around the world, and was produced in three main series (100, 200, 300) until 1988.
As of 2006, over 40 years after design and manufacturing work on the original DHC-6 began, more than 500 of this aircraft were still flying. In that year Viking Air purchased the type certificate for the DHC-6 and announced its intention to offer a new build Series 400 Twin Otter.
Current civil operators
In 2016, there were 281 Twin Otters in airline service with 26 new aircraft on order: 112 in North/South America, 106 in Asia Pacific & Middle East (16 orders), 38 in Europe (10 orders) and 25 in Africa.
A total of 270 Twin Otters were in airline service in 2018, and 14 on order: 111 in North/South America, 117 in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East (14 orders), 26 in Europe and 13 in Africa.
In 2020, there were a total of 315 Twin Otters worldwide with 220 in service, 95 in storage and 8 on order. By region there were 22 in Africa, 142 in Asia Pacific (8 orders), 37 in Europe, 4 in the Middle East and 110 in the Americas.
As of February 2023, there were 108 Twin Otters registered in Canada.
Historical civil operators
♠ original operators
Former operators are listed where possible.
Leeward Islands Air Transport (LIAT) ♠ - former operator
Aeropelican
Air Queensland
Flight West Airlines
MacRobertson Miller Airlines
Skywest Airlines
Sunstate Airlines
Trans Australia Airlines
AirWest Airlines (Canada) Athabaska Airlines ♠ Austin Airways Bradley Air Services - (now First Air)
Calm Air International
Georgian Bay Airlines ♠
Kenn Borek Air
Labrador Airways
Midwest Airlines ♠
Ministry of Natural Resources (Ontario) ♠ - forest firefighting
NorOntair
Northwood Airlines ♠
Pacific Western Airlines (PWA) - former operator
Ptarmigan Airways - former operator (merged into First Air) Sabourin Lake Airways Sander Geophysics Transport Canada - former operator, 15 aircraft Time Air Wardair Canada ♠ - former operator
TACV Cabo Verde Airlines
ACES Colombia
Lina Congo
Air Djibouti
Air Alpes ♠
Air Calédonie
Air Caraïbes - a DHC-6-300 crashed in March 2001 near Saint Barthélemy airport
Air Guadeloupe
Air Polynesie (now Air Tahiti)
Delta Air
DLT
HADAG Air
Guyana Airways
Merpati Nusantara Airlines ♠
SkyKef
Ayit Aviation and Tourism
Aeralpi
Lao Air
Air Madagascar
Maldivian
Air Mali
Aeronaves de Mexico♠ and successor Aeromexico
Transportes Aereos Terrestes♠
Widerøe♠ - former operator
Pakistan International Airlines - former operator
Ansett Airlines of Papua New Guinea - former operator
Spantax ♠
Air Commuter ♠ - former operator
Air New England
Air North
Alaska Aeronautical Industries (AAI) Air Wisconsin ♠ - former operator Crown Airways Frontier Airlines Golden West Airlines Hawaii Jet-Air ♠ - former operator Northern Consolidated Airlines (NCA) ♠ - former operator (acquired by Wien Air Alaska which in turn continued to operate these DHC-6 aircraft). Pilgrim Airlines ♠ - former operator (acquired by Business Express) Rocky Mountain Airways Trans East International ♠ - former operator
Military and government operators
Including police users.
Argentine Air Force (Marambio Base) / LADE
Argentine Army
Argentine Navy
2 Australian Antarctic Division - leased from Kenn Borek Air
3 Australian Army - former operator, leased aircraft with civil registration
2 Northern Territory Aerial Medical Service - former operator, leased from Trans Australia Airlines
1 Benin Air Force
4 Royal Canadian Air Force (formerly Canadian Forces) - CC-138s (DHC-6-300s) - Operated by 440 Transport Squadron in Yellowknife, NT 1 Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources - former operator 1 Ontario Provincial Police - former operator 1 Transport Canada - former operator
11 Chilean Air Force
Colombian National Police
2 Home Guard (Denmark) to be in delivered in 2024
2 Ecuadorian Air Force (TAME)
2 Ethiopian Air Force loaned from Army
5 French Air and Space Force
1 Haitian Air Force
? (retired) Jamaica Defence Force
? (retired) Nepalese Army Air Service
Nepalese Royal Flight
Royal Norwegian Air Force (Retired from active service)
Panamanian Public Forces 1 (Army until 1988) National Air and Naval Service of Panama