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Getting a rush out of rush hourBrazilian business travelers join the 'rotory club'
 Helicopters are the best way to beat the rush hour blues in Sao Paulo. QUICKVOTEBUSINESS TRAVELLER
HAVE YOUR SAY
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSSAO PAULO, Brazil (CNN) -- For business folk forced to commute in gridlocked cities, the fastest thing about their journey is usually the taxi meter. But for a new breed of airborne executive, even trips at the height of rush hour are, well, a rush. In the sprawling Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, scores of helicopters flit effortlessly from building to building, carrying people high above the chronic traffic jams that have forced them to take to the sky. For wealthy commuters such as Rogerio Andrade, they are the workhorses of Brazil's industrial and financial center, transforming a one-hour road trip into a 10-minute ride. Andrade has a particular interest in using a chopper to get to work -- he owns Helisolutions, a company that sells fractional ownership of helicopters to both local and international businessmen. "Sao Paulo, is the city where this model works," he told CNN. "There are traffic and security issues, so you can imagine, this place is really special for this kind of business." While the cost of owning your own helicopter is prohibitively expensive for most executives, sharing the aircraft leads to a more down to earth price. "For a private helicopter owner it's very expensive, so only one percent of the population can have it. But when you think about shares, you have to agree that many, many more people can have it. The cost can go down by 90 percent," adds Andrade. But with the cost of owning a shared helicopter averaging about $90,000, plus a one-off entry fee of $50,000, the concept remains as pie in the sky for most Sao Paulo commuters as it does for those in other traffic-snarled cities around the world. This is where London-based designers Avcen hope to step in. In a creation that owes more to sci-fi visions of the future than current whirlybirds, Avcen is creating the "Jetpod", a swift and near-silent miniature aircraft that could actually operate as a reasonably economical taxi service. Capable of taking off on a runway of just 125 meters, the Jetpod would be able to make the short-hop journeys usually made by people moving within a large city, for a price that compares favorably with taxi fares in cities such as London and New York. According to Avcen managing director Mike Dacre, the aircraft could be in full operation in less than four years. "It has really captured people's imagination, we have been bombarded with queries," he told CNN. Although the aircraft has attracted military interest and could also be used as an air ambulance, Dacre is confident Jetpod taxis, capable of carrying seven passengers at a time, will be plying the skies within a decade. CNN's Shantelle Stein contributed to this report. 
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