Case study # Hosting and care for De Havilland Canada's websites Updated November 15, 2026 Digital Infrastructure Website Development Software Development De Havilland Aircraft of Canada builds the Twin Otter, the Dash 8 and the DHC-515 firefighter. Since 2025 we've hosted and looked after its websites. We moved them to a new host, cut the main site's bandwidth by about 85%, and built a small tool that brings intranet news to staff. [See the Site ](https://dehavilland.com) ![A De Havilland DHC-515 firefighter dropping water over a forest, with dehavilland.com in a browser window](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/6fb2b16530465d707d7165addaeb6369e177d437-3840x2160.png) Detail ## A new home for two sites In spring 2025 De Havilland asked us to take over dehavilland.com and dehavilland.events. We took the backups, set both sites up on WP Engine behind Cloudflare, and worked with De Havilland's IT team on the DNS cutover in June. We left the design alone. The job was to host both sites and look after them every day. ![Diagram: visitors reach Cloudflare, then WP Engine, which hosts dehavilland.com and dehavilland.events, with a video CDN for homepage videos](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/a1b6f1562abb4bb974a58d0c424d5be0cbd55612-3200x2400.png) Field note ## What we look after We update plugins every day and sort out any that fail. We watch security, keep the forms delivering and fix what breaks. ![Bar chart: monthly bandwidth fell from 1,316 GB in June 2026 to 203 GB in October 2026](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/5fb8a5dc58ef0a268549a7d61a02d03cb2e4cd01-3200x2400.png) Field note ## Lighter pages The homepage opens on full-screen aircraft video, and many new uploads were large files. Our first pass in July 2025 cut image sizes by about 60% and the homepage video by about half. By June 2026 new uploads had pushed the site to 1,316 GB of bandwidth a month, almost nine times its hosting plan. In July we went back through the media library and compressed the heavy files. By October monthly bandwidth was down to 203 GB, with the same number of visits. Measured outcomes ## The numbers less monthly bandwidth from June to October 2026, with traffic unchanged 0185% sites moved to WP Engine with De Havilland's IT team 022 between intranet news syncs to the staff page 0330 min malicious requests blocked in October 2026 0432,732 ![Diagram: news from the company intranet goes through a sync plugin to a staff news page every 30 minutes](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/6c68c7762927e6a622ff49c30541bc647a09e49b-3200x2400.png) Field note ## Staff news from the intranet De Havilland wanted one simple place where staff could read company news. In about two days we built a small WordPress plugin. Every 30 minutes it pulls news and announcements from the intranet and posts them to a staff page in De Havilland's colours, hidden from search. ![The dehavilland.com homepage on desktop](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/9bfa7d16eff5772d273ca497e822876f5bf31ad1-3200x2400.png) ![The dehavilland.com homepage on a phone](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/42ee84048a9ed02d634120907d860bfebf342aac-3200x2400.png) ![The DHC-515 page on dehavilland.com](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/965003bd58e2ad8dd3ff33342b8e42f84d95e87d-3200x2400.png) ![The Dash 8-400 page on dehavilland.com](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0838mkru/production/0e9049cbddb64743647b7eef275c077341a69d16-3200x2400.png) Detail ## Requests and fixes Most of the job is quiet. When something does come up, like a popup that stopped showing on one page or new forms for two companies De Havilland had just acquired, we often have it done the same day. 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