20 Facts About Varig

Varig was an off-spring of the German trade company and airline Condor Syndikat, thus sharing the same origin as Syndicato Condor, later renamed Servicos Aereos Cruzeiro do Sul.

Varig inherited the route rights from Condor Syndikat which since 22 February 1927 had operated the service.

On 5 August 1942 Varig began its first international route from Porto Alegre to Montevideo using its de Havilland DH 89 Dragon Rapide.

In 1946, with the addition of Douglas DC-3 and later the Curtiss C-46 to its fleet, Varig was able to greatly increase its network by adding cities in the states of Santa Catarina, Parana, Sao Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro, facing fierce competition with Real Transportes Aereos, and SAVAG.

On 29 February 1952, Varig bought Aero Geral, a small airline with concessions to fly from Natal to Santos.

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In January 1956 Varig served 55 cities in Brazil and four abroad, being the second Brazilian airline in terms of passengers transported.

On 6 July 1959 Varig, Cruzeiro do Sul and VASP initiated the air shuttle services between Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont and Sao Paulo-Congonhas airports, the first of its kind in the world.

Between May and August 1961, after a lengthy battle for the Brazilian market, Varig took over the Consortium Real-Aerovias-Nacional, which was in serious economic difficulty.

Varig had been lobbying for European concessions for more than ten years, but after the sudden shutdown of Panair do Brasil by the Brazilian military government Varig was granted rights previously held by Panair and was ordered to immediately operate all scheduled services, including Panair's flight scheduled to depart that very night from Rio de Janeiro-Galeao to Recife, Lisbon, Paris-Orly and Frankfurt.

Still as a consequence of the 1973 oil crisis which caused many difficulties to airlines, on 20 May 1975 Varig acquired a controlling interest in Cruzeiro do Sul, which was in a particularly delicate economic situation.

Furthermore, with the end of the military regime and the return to democracy in 1985, Varig lost its intimate connection with the ruling powers.

Slowly Varig began to lose its financial health, aggravated by the early 1990s world recession and administration problems.

In 1988, a few years after the inauguration of Sao Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport, Varig decided to move its operational hub from Rio de Janeiro to Sao Paulo.

Varig developed an ambitious project to bring financial and operational health back to the company.

Varig was its sixth member airline, and first to join after it was launched only 5 months earlier.

Between 17 June 2005 and 2 September 2009, "old Varig" remained in Recovery Order in the 1st Business Court of Rio de Janeiro, under the leadership of Judges Luiz Roberto Ayoub and Miguel Dau.

In September 2006 "old" Varig sold its participation in PLUNA to the Uruguayan Government.

On 21 July 2006, the "new" Varig canceled all its flights, except for Rio de Janeiro-Sao Paulo shuttle service, which remained in operation through an agreement with "old" Varig.

Between September and November 2006, "new" Varig announced its intentions to gradually resume some international and domestic flights.

In June 2009, "new" Varig ceased to operate its own flights and started to use Gol's flight numbers.