Snarled Brazilian Street Traffic Has Helicopter Sales Soaring

Seeking to avoid some of the world’s worst traffic, wealthy Brazilians and company executives here are taking to the air.

Brazil’s helicopter market has emerged as the seventh largest in the world as upscale commuters flee chaotic traffic jams and precarious public transportation.

“Buying a helicopter is similar to buying a cellular phone in Latin America,” said Patrick de La Reveliere, commercial director at Helicopteros do Brasil SA, or Helibras. “Our clients want to bypass bad infrastructure.”

The country’s commercial helicopter fleet grew 12% last year to 560, or more than twice as fast as Brazil’s economic growth of 4.2%. Such sales have put Brazil in a league with France and Britain, say analysts.

“Our market is in the explosion phase,” says De La Reveliere, whose company is partly owned by Eurocopter, a joint venture between France’s Aerospatiale and Daimler Benz Aerospace.

Companies such as Eurocopter and Textron Inc., the maker of Bell helicopters, are profiting from the demand. Brazil is already the top market for Bell helicopters outside the United States.

Bell’s orders surged last year to 44 units from nine a year earlier, said Fernando Teixeira, spokesman at Lider Taxi Aereo SA, Bell’s Brazilian sales representative.

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Anyone traversing the sprawling city of Sao Paulo during a business day can see why some opt for the quicker, albeit more expensive helicopter ride (an hour can cost up to $1,000). About 70% of Brazil’s fleet is in the metropolis of 18 million.

As the capital’s old center--once the seat of many banks and government offices--has drifted into decay in recent decades, many firms have migrated to formerly residential avenues in Sao Paulo’s sprawling southern zone.

Skyscrapers sprouted up in areas lacking subway service. Spurred by rising automobile sales--Brazilians bought 18.8% more cars in 1995 from a year earlier--traffic jams have become a virtual round-the-clock phenomenon.

“Sao Paulo and Rio both have crazy traffic, turning the helicopter into a tool for executives,” said Jose Brito, director of the Jornal do Brasil media group, who rents helicopters to shuttle between business meetings.

Traffic is so bad that state lawmakers voted this week to limit vehicle circulation one day a week in greater Sao Paulo. The move, which follows similar measures adopted by Mexico City and Santiago, is expected to remove 900,000 vehicles from Sao Paulo’s clogged thoroughfares.

The country now has the world’s seventh-largest fleet of helicopters after the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Britain and Australia, according to figures from Avmark, Inc., a Lexington, Va.-based aviation consulting firm.

“It’s no surprise that Brazil has had rapid helicopter sales,” said Dennis Finch, an analyst at Avmark. “Its cities are big and the economy solid. Brazil has room for more growth too, in areas like off shore oil production.”

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United Technologies Corp.’s Sikorsky Aircraft division has sold 12 helicopters that are used for commuting on Petrobras’ off-shore platforms, said Marcos de Souza Dantas, a director of Sikorsky in Brazil.

Aside from the off-shore use, Sikorsky has sold 16 other helicopters in Brazil, which are used by businessmen, health care companies and the Brazilian Navy.

Another Brazilian company betting on the domestic market is Helibras, whose sales last year grew almost 30% to 18 units. Each of the Helibras’s helicopters costs between $1.2 million and $1.8 million (U.S.).

Founded in 1978 as South America’s first helicopter maker, Helibras is jointly owned by Eurocopter, the government of Minas Gerais state and Bueninvest, a Brazilian investment group.

Helibras sees sales rising even as Brazil plans to expand subways and freeways and fill potholes.

A new heliport planned along the Pinheiros River, in one of Sao Paulo’s booming new business zones, should provide some relief.

The only trouble business executives may have is trying to reach the heliport by car.