When Harbour Air's de Havilland Beaver seaplane first lumbered into the skies in 1956, Elvis' Heartbreak Hotel topped the charts, President Dwight Eisenhower was in the White House, and flying icons such as the Boeing 747 hadn't yet been invented.

Sixty-three years of bush flying, commuter travel and made-for-Instagram sightseeing later, the aircraft has received a trailblazing retrofit. Earlier this month Harbour Air, a seaplane operator based in Vancouver, Canada, swapped the six-seater's gas-guzzling, exhaust-emitting engine for a modern, battery-powered electric one. The move gives the vintage plane a new and sustainable lease on life.