[3] In the early 1990s, the owner of Tofino Air, and a lifelong resident of British Columbia's Sunshine Coast, started a small regional airline called Midcoast Air, to better assure safety and dependability for himself and his co-workers as they travelled from the logging and fishing camps on BC's west coast, to their homes on the Sunshine Coast.

In April 2011, Tofino Air moved from its location in Departure Bay to the Nanaimo Harbour Water Aerodrome where it began to offer scheduled flights between Nanaimo and Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre.

In December 2014, Tofino Air started a new subsidiary airline called Gulf Island Seaplanes[4] to service the Gabriola Island Silva Bay to Vancouver International Water Airport using de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver aircraft from Tofino Air.

The Tofino Air website does not list the de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter,.

[6] The Tofino Air fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of September 2019):[2] Transport Canada lists two more de Havilland Beavers, both with cancelled registration certificates.