Kenmore Air

The airline was established as Kenmore Air Harbor and started operations on March 21, 1946. It was founded by Robert Munro, Reginald Collins and Jack Mines and began operations with a single Aeronca Model K seaplane and a hangar at a location formerly occupied by a lumber mill on north Lake Washington. The airline is still at its original location. After a short term partnership Munro continued alone with the company until his death in October 2000.[5][6]

The company was originally named Mines Collins Munro but was changed to the current name Kenmore Air a few months later to reflect its ties to the town of Kenmore, Washington where its operations were located both then and now. After beginning operations with its Aeronca Model K, it purchased three more aircraft a few weeks later.[6]

Kenmore Air originally made its money by accessing remote and sometimes dangerous locations during its early years. In July 1946, pilot Jack Mines was killed while flying supplies to a search and rescue team in the nearby Cascade mountains; as a result, Collins and Munro became the two owners of Kenmore Air. Munro soon became the sole owner of Kenmore Air when Collins moved to California after accepting a job there.[6]

From the start, Kenmore Air's seaplane maintenance and restoration service was an important part of the company. In the late-1940s, Kenmore Air became a Republic Seabee dealer for the Northwest and this became a success for Kenmore Air. At one point, 40 Seabees were based at Kenmore Air Harbor, though Kenmore Air themselves owned just one of these amphibian aircraft. Kenmore became experts in maintenance and repair of the aircraft and developed several modifications to improve the aircraft's performance.[7] Kenmore Air also became an official aircraft and parts dealer for Cessna by the end of the 1950s, further expanding its aircraft maintenance business.[6][8]

In the 1950s, Kenmore Air began its charter business by offering flights to fishing and hunting spots in the Pacific Northwest. Kenmore Air also leased an aircraft to the US government for survey flights in Alaska. This led to a series of contracts with the US Navy which continues today. In 1953, a Canadian mining company hired Kenmore to help fly in equipment and tools to build a mining camp on Leduc Glacier, fifty miles north of Ketchikan, Alaska. Kenmore Air used two Noorduyn Norseman and a Seabed to fly in equipment over a two-month period. The aircraft flew in several pieces of large equipment to the glacier, including diesel engines, railroad cars, and tractors.[6][8]

In the 1960s, Kenmore Air expanded its maintenance services to include the de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver seaplane. They purchased their first Beaver in 1963 and the Beaver soon became a centerpiece of Kenmore Air's fleet, and they created a rebuilding and modification program around the seven-passenger aircraft. After the Beaver ceased production in 1967, Kenmore Air began to establish itself as a leading refurbisher of the seaplane. They modified and rebuilt Beavers to such an extent that such aircraft modified by the company has become known as "Kenmore Beavers" by the global aviation community.[6] Kenmore Air has rebuilt a total of 125 Beavers since then. To accommodate their expansion, the company built a new hangar and office building during the 1960s.[9]

In the early 1970s, in a contract with the US Navy, Kenmore Air transported unarmed torpedoes to a joint US-Canadian testing facility near Vancouver Island.[6] For five years during this decade, Kenmore Air transported scientists and supplies for the U.S. Geological Survey to a glacier in the North Cascade Mountains, South Cascade Glacier, in which the seaplanes had to take off and land on a glacier 6,500 feet above sea level. The airline also expanded its charter service in the 1970s, offering round-trip flights to fishing resorts in British Columbia.[10]

In the mid-1980s Kenmore Air purchased Otter Air, an airline that offered seaplane service from Seattle to Victoria, BC. The Seattle-Victoria route was operated for two years before it was sold to its competitor Lake Union Air in 1988. Kenmore Air also added two Turbo Beavers (a modified Beaver with its radial engine replaced with a turboprop engine) in the late 1980s and purchased its main competitor Lake Union Air in 1992. With this purchase, Kenmore Air acquired a seaplane terminal on Lake Union. They converted one of Lake Union Air's de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otters into a Turbo Otter and later purchased several more Turbo Otters.[6]

Kenmore Air DHC-3T Turbine Otter N3125S arriving at Victoria Harbor in 1998

Kenmore Air acquired Lake Union Air Service in 1993;[11] in 1997 planned to begin operating service from Elliott Bay, a body of water on Puget Sound where Seattle's downtown waterfront is located. In 1998, Kenmore Air gained a federal permit allowing them to begin operations there, pending approval from Seattle's city council. The company later abandoned its plans in fall 1999 after encountering resistance from members of the local community.

In October 2000, Robert Munro, the company's founder, and owner, died at age 83 after an extended illness. Ownership was passed to Munro's son, Gregg Munro, while several other family members, also held management positions at Kenmore Air.[6]

Residents in both Seattle near their Lake Union seaport [12] and in Victoria have been growing increasingly concerned about noise and safety on the water. In Sept 2011 Victoria the St. James Community commissioned a report [13] that calls for "serious restrictions on seaplane businesses" (which include other services like helicopters). Kenmore Air has responded by encouraging their pilots to follow limited flight paths in Seattle [14] In 2013 when new high rise condos were proposed by Vulcan in South Lake Union neighborhood, Kenmore requested that an easement be placed on new residents to prevent them from filing noise complaints.

Kenmore Air and Harbour Air started a new seaplane service between Downtown Vancouver, BC and Downtown Seattle, WA on April 26, 2018.

Kenmore Air has four aircraft painted in special liveries:

• N57576, a DHC-2 Beaver, painted as "Rocky's Flying Beaver",
• N50KA, a DHC-3 Turbine Otter, Painted in Evening Magazine promotional livery
• N606KA, a DHC-3 Turbine Otter painted in Wild Orca livery
• N32GW, a DHC-2 Turbine Beaver Painted in Fisherman's Landing BC livery

Kenmore Air's DHC-2 Beaver N9866Z appears in the mission "San Juan Island Run" in Microsoft Flight Simulator X. A Kenmore Air Cessna 208 Caravan also appears in "Sitka Approach", as well as "Whiteout". Kenmore Air's livery also appears in Microsoft Flight Simulator X on the Cessna 208 Caravan and de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver.

Kenmore's livery also appears in the popular mobile flight simulator Infinite Flight on the C208.

A Kenmore Air turbo beaver appears in the 1992 film "Singles".