The Vancouver Harbour Air Control Tower, which serves

Vancouver Harbour Water Airport Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre, Vancouver Harbour Water Aerodrome or Vancouver Coal Harbour Seaplane Base , is a registered aerodrome located at Coal Harbour in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The flight centre is within walking distance of ...

(CYHC), is placed on top of the skyscraper

Granville Square Granville Square is a prominent tower located at 200 Granville Street in the Financial District within the city's downtown core of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Completed in 1973, the building stands at 138.4 metres (454 feet) tall. The to ...

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

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, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Built in 1973 it remains the highest air traffic

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airsp ...

in the world, in the city with one of the world's highest levels of

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

activity.Vancouver Harbour ATC
/ref> In 2009 the tower handled 54,741 aircraft movements, the 32nd busiest control tower in Canada. It is also the 8th busiest

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

in BC and the busiest water aerodrome in Canada. Itinerant aircraft movements (from one airport to another) for the aerodrome were 54,711 while local movements were 30.Transport Canada Total aircraft movements by class of operation — NAV CANADA towers
/ref> The small number of local movements is because float training and circuits are discouraged in the busy

Vancouver Harbour 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 ...

. The major

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

operators are

Harbour Air A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harb ...

and

Seair Seaplanes Seair Seaplanes is a scheduled and charter airline based in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. The airline flies routes between the Vancouver International Water Airport and the Nanaimo Harbour Water Airport, as well as other Gulf Islands in ...

. Both of these operators offer scheduled passenger service to Victoria Harbour and Nanaimo Harbour on Vancouver Island. In addition, they fly charters to many small communities and harbours along the

BC coast , settlement_type = List of regions of Canada, Region of British Columbia , image_skyline = , nickname = "The Coast" , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Provinces and ...

. Other floatplane operators in Vancouver Harbour include

Salt Spring Air Salt Spring Air (also known as Saltspring AirSalt Spring Air
- Retrieved on June 6, 2016) part of Harbour Air Seapl ...

, Whistler Air and Kenmore Air Services. Floatplanes commonly seen in Vancouver Harbour include de Havilland Beavers (DHC2), de Havilland Turbine Otters (DH3T) and de Havilland Twin Otters (DHC6). Helicopter activity is also extensive in Vancouver Harbour with the floating Vancouver Harbour Heliport located on the waterfront, east of the control tower. One of the busiest public heliports in Canada, the Harbour Heliport is used by

Helijet Helijet International is a helicopter airline and charter service based in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. Its scheduled passenger helicopter airline services operates flights from heliports at Vancouver International Airport (YVR), downto ...

and other helicopter operators such as Talon Helicopters and Blackcomb Helicopters. Helijet offers scheduled passenger service to Victoria Harbour Heliport and Nanaimo Harbour using 12-passenger

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 w ...

helicopters. Aviation activity in Vancouver Harbour also includes many overflying aircraft. These include recreational scenic flights, photo flights, banner tows, traffic watch aircraft and police aircraft.

References

{{coord, 49, 17, 11, N, 123, 06, 44, W, type:airport, display=title Buildings and structures in Vancouver