MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Helicopter sales soar with mining industry in Chile

Helicopter sales in Chile are going up, up, up. Due to the dramatic growth of the mining and energy sectors, the country has tripled its sales of the aircrafts in the past three years. In 2005, the main provider of helicopters in the country sold only six units, while this year they have already sold 22.

More and more executives are opting to use helicopters as their means of transportation due to a lack of time combined with economic growth. This popularity, however, is relatively new, with the increase taking place in the past four years. "The Chilean industry has had an explosive growth in the last few years as a result of increased economic activity and distances," said Bernhard Brenner, general manager of Eurocopter in Chile. He said this growth is not being seen in other Latin American countries like Argentina. In 2004, Eurocopter, the main vendor of helicopters in Chile (which makes up 92 percent of the market) sold only two units. This year, however, the company has already surpassed sales of 100 million US dollars, which is double what they sold in 2007. The six major companies that rent helicopters in Chile have rates that run from 600 to 2,000 US dollars an hour. These rental copters are used mainly to transport people to and from work in the mining sector. "The boom in copper and energy projects has increased the demand for helicopters," said Eduardo Ergas, president of EcoCopter, a local helicopter rental company. "It has created the need to transport cargo and personnel to places quickly." The demand has been so explosive that the company is renting some 70 helicopters every month". The Santiago Times