Helisul Linhas Aéreas

On October 5, 1972, Tropical Táxi Aéreo was founded in Foz do Iguaçu. It was a subsidiary of Tropical Hotéis, a company part of the same holding that owned Varig. This was later bought by Eloy Biesuz and the name changed to Helisul Táxi Aéreo Ltda.

As part of its growing activities, Helisul Taxi Aéreo founded on May 16, 1994 Helisul Linhas Aéreas, as a charter airline operating regular flights and with operations concentrated at Curitiba-Bacacheri Airport linking Curitiba to other cities in Paraná state. On January 1, 1995 its license was updated to one of a regional carrier.

On July 1, 1996 Helisul was sold to TAM Airlines and it began operating feeder services to TAM. Later, in December of the same year, as Brasil Central Linhas Aéreas was rebranded as TAM-Meridional, Helisul was also rebranded as TAM Express and received the entire Caravan fleet of Brasil Central to operate its former network. In 1998 it was completely incorporated by TAM.

Helisul Táxi Aéreo still operates helicopter flights in Rio de Janeiro and Foz do Iguaçu and has certified maintenance plants at Curitiba-Bacacheri Airport.

Helisul served the following cities:

Blumenau – Quero-quero Airport

Campo Mourão – Cel. Geraldo Guias de Aquino Airport

Cascavel – Adalberto Mendes da Silva Airport

Accidents and incidents

13 September 1996: an Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante registration PT-WAV operating a cargo flight from Porto Alegre to Joinville collided with a hill and crashed during final approach to land at Joinville. The crew of two died.