The Allplane Podcast #71 - eVTOLs in Latin America, with Felipe Varon

Felipe Varon started thinking about drones more than 20 years ago when it was far from being a fashionable topic. A lot has changed since then and nowadays there is no shortage of startups working in the field of advanced air mobility (AAM).

While there is no shortage of startups designing new cool eVTOL aircraft, Varon, the firm that Felipe leads, is looking at the broader picture.

In its holistic approach, Varon aims to build the value chain that should allow eVTOLs to take off in Latin America, a region where the potential is notorious, due to the deficiencies in physical transport infrastructure as well as the complicated orography of some countries, like Felipe’s native Colombia.

Varon aims to set the basis of the ecosystem that will need to be in place for advanced air mobility services to become a reality and this is the reason that Felipe defines his project primarily as an infrastructure firm.

In this vertically integrated approach Varon would operate both the vertiports and the fleets that will move people around in several Colombian cities, starting by the seaside city of Cartagena and from there expanding to the rest of the continent. The aircraft would be provided by partner OEMs such as, for example, Jaunt Air Mobility. Tourism would provide the vector for the introduction of eVTOLs, before moving progressively onto other use cases.

In this episode of the podcast, Felipe shares his vision of a Latin America in which advanced air mobility helps sort out many of the regional chronical issues with the lack of adequate infrastructure and we talk about how he plans to do it.

Tune in to zoom into one of the regions of the world that aims to benefit the most from the eVTOL revolution!

Download this episode from:

Apple Podcasts / iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts or Stitcher

Things we talk about in this episode:

  • Felipe’s background in aviation and AAM

  • Why eVTOLs are particularly suited to Latin America

  • What is Varon and what it aims to build

  • Why Varon defines itself primarily as an infrastructure firm

  • Why the tourism market may be the first to use eVTOLs in Latin America

Interview Transcript:

(please note that, although we strive to make it as close as possible to the original recording, the transcript may not be 100% accurate)

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