Originally Posted by
double_barrel
In that sense, are floatplanes comparable to helicopter operations ?
In my GA experience, yes and no.
Usually the helos operate on the dead side of an airfield with a lower circuit height for deconfliction with fixed wing traffic
Away from base, they do what they are designed to do, but not usually focussed on one landing area for many machines.
Events such as the Silverstone GP, there are (or were) slot times and arrival departure routes to regulate the situation.
From the foregoing post, it seems that the floatplane operations fall somewhere short in this regard, especially where there are several commercial aircraft and operators using the same area of water.