Brazilian startup FlyBIS has signed a letter of intent to purchase 40 eVTOLs from Eve Air Mobility.
Based in Brazil’s mountainous southern region, startup FlyBIS is looking to launch its urban air mobility (UAM)-focused airline service in 2026 using electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles sourced from Eve Air Mobility.
The Caxias do Sul-based company gained attention after announcing a letter of intent in December to purchase 40 aircraft from Eve Air Mobility. In addition to the order, the two companies announced a partnership aimed at collaborating to build out advanced air mobility (AAM) services in the South of Brazil.
FlyBIS is also backed by Brave Aviation, the Brazilian aircraft management company with a fleet of Embraer Phenom 100s, Piper Meridians and Cirrus SR22s.
Speaking to the AAM Report, FlyBIS co-founder and CEO Gustavo Zanettini said that Southern Brazil has many congested cities such as Porto Alegre and Florianópolis, which despite their relatively modest sizes compared to Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, “have huge problems with traffic that can be a real nightmare for tourists and for businesses.”
While some other operators are initially targeting the airport commute market, Zanettini said that FlyBIS is focused mainly on pure UAM and relieving traffic in underserved cities, as well as shorter, regional routes that can be flown within the 100-km range of Eve’s namesake eVTOL aircraft.
“We’ve identified some routes where, depending on time and season, traveling 30 kilometers by car can take more than an hour and a half because of the traffic—so that’s very suitable for substitution with an eVTOL,” Zanettini said.
Zanettini said FlyBIS should benefit from its proximity to its fellow Brazilian partner company Eve—which was spun off from Embraer in late 2021—as well as the flexibility offered by its startup status and minuscule size relative to some of Eve’s other partners like United Airlines or Blade Air Mobility. He also said that Eve’s focus on infrastructure–the company is developing a vehicle-agnostic urban air traffic management software solution–was also a motivating factor behind the decision to partner.
The FlyBIS CEO expressed optimism that Eve’s aircraft will be certified by 2026, in line with the OEM’s projections, despite the fact that no production-conforming prototype has yet been flown. He also said he is confident that Brazil’s government and civil aviation regulator, ANAC, will enact and implement rules for eVTOL operations and vertiports in a timely manner that does not delay the startup’s own plans to launch service in 2026.
“It’s really nice how Eve is allowing small startups like us to come in and be a player in this space too, not just the big customers,” Zanettini said. “We’re not just a client–we’re really a partner, and that makes a huge difference.”
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