Brazil’s Economic Crisis Is Destroying the World’s Busiest Helicopter Market

Visitors look at a helicopter made by Helicopteros do Brasil SA (Helibras) during the Latin American Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (LABACE) in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014. A rebound in sales of business jets that began with the biggest, longest-range planes is spreading to small- and mid-size models as Embraer SA puts its newest aircraft into service. Photographer: Paulo Fridman/Bloomberg
Visitors look at a helicopter made by Helicopteros do Brasil SA (Helibras) during the Latin American Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (LABACE) in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014. A rebound in sales of business jets that began with the biggest, longest-range planes is spreading to small- and mid-size models as Embraer SA puts its newest aircraft into service. Photographer: Paulo Fridman/Bloomberg

Chalk up another casualty of Brazil’s economic crisis: the world’s busiest helicopter market.

Flights are down by a third in Sao Paulo, where rooftop helipads dot business and residential districts. For the first time in three decades, Brazil’s fleet is poised for an annual decline. And flight schools are full of trainees who may never find a job in a commercial cockpit.

Rotorcraft travel is being cast aside as Brazil slides into a recession projected to be the nation’s deepest since the 1930s. For helicopter companies, the pullback follows a five-year surge driven by offshore oil exploration and demand from millionaires to soar above Sao Paulo traffic and street crime.

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