Varig

VARIG – Viação Aérea Rio-Grandense S.A.

IATA ICAO Callsign RG VRG VARIG
Founded	7 May 1927; 97 years ago (1927-05-07) Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Ceased operations	20 July 2006; 17 years ago (2006-07-20)
Hubs	Rio de Janeiro/Galeão International Airport
Frequent-flyer program	Smiles
Alliance	Star Alliance (1997—2007)
Subsidiaries	Cruzeiro PLUNA Rio Sul Nordeste
Headquarters	Rio de Janeiro
Key people	Key People List Otto Ernst Meyer Ruben Berta Erik de Carvalho Hélio Smidt Fernando Pinto

VARIG (acronym for Viação Aérea RIo-Grandense, Rio Grandean Airways) was the first

History

Formation and early years (1927–1943)

Sociedade Anônima Empresa de Viação Aérea Rio-Grandense – VARIG was the first national airline established in Brazil. It was founded on 7 May 1927, in

The first aircraft of VARIG was a ten-passenger

VARIG slowly but consistently in spite of difficulties added aircraft and destinations to its network initially focusing on the state of Rio Grande do Sul. On 5 August 1942, Varig began its first international route from Porto Alegre to Montevideo using its de Havilland DH 89 Dragon Rapide.^[3]

In 1941, as the United States declared war against the Axis and joined the Allies in the conflict, aviation supplies became scarce, particularly in terms of petrol and replacement parts. Because it used mostly German equipment and had a German manager-director (president), Varig faced particular difficulties. For this reason, Varig's first manager-director Otto Ernst Meyer resigned on 24 December 1941 and shareholders decided that the next manager-director had to be a native-born Brazilian. Érico de Assis Brasil was chosen but he died on an aircraft accident shortly after. It was in 1943 that Varig's first employee, Ruben Martin Berta, a descendant of Hungarian and German grandparents, was chosen as manager-director, a post he would retain until his death in 1966.^[4]

Expansion (1943–1966)

One of the first decisions of Ruben Berta was to pursue an expansion plan and to unify the fleet around only one type of aircraft. The chosen one was the Lockheed L-10 Electra. Another ground-breaking suggestion was made on 29 October 1945, when, based on social ideas found on the papal encyclicals Rerum novarum and Quadragesimo anno and on Jean-Jacques Rousseau's The Social Contract, Berta proposed and the assembly approved the transfer of 50% of Varig's shares to a not-for-profit foundation belonging to the employees. The aim of the foundation was to provide health, financial, social and recreational benefits to its employees. Decades later, this foundation would be called Fundação Ruben Berta [pt].^[5]

In 1946, with the addition of

In 1954, sensing the need for more modern aircraft, new Convair 240s were purchased. The addition of the Lockheed Super Constellation and the Convair 240 provoked a deep change of mentality in the culture of Varig, with the introduction of a more cosmopolitan corporate image that would remain until 1996.^[7]

On 6 July 1959, Varig,

On 19 December 1959, Varig started to fly their new 35-seat Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle I between Brazil and New York–Idlewild, stopping at Belem, Trinidad and Nassau; on 2 July 1960, the Caravelles were replaced by the Boeing 707-441, which could fly from Rio de Janeiro–Galeão to New York–Idlewild nonstop. The Caravelles were switched to operate trunk routes within Brazil and to Buenos Aires–Ezeiza and Montevideo.^[9]

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. This purchase not only made Varig the largest airline in South America but also granted rights to other cities in Latin America, Miami, the West Coast of the United States and to Japan.^[10]

On 14 December 1966, Rubem Berta died of a heart attack. The following day the administrative board elected Erik Oswaldo Kastrup de Carvalho, Berta's right-hand and former Panair employee, as Varig's fourth Director-President.^[citation needed]

Consolidation (1966–2000)

The 1973 oil crisis brought to Varig the need to replace its older generation aircraft with newer ones. For international flights, the chosen type was the Douglas DC-10, which had its first flight with Varig on 1 July 1974, and this aircraft had the range to serve European destinations including Paris without a refuelling stop en route. In the domestic arena, gradually the Boeing 737-200 became the work-horse.^[13]

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. Cruzeiro do Sul was fully integrated into VARIG on 1 January 1993.^[14]

On 11 November 1975, the Brazilian Federal Government created the Brazilian Integrated System of Regional Air Transportation and divided the country in five different regions, for which each of five newly created regional airlines received a concession to operate air services.

In June 1995, Varig bought 49% of the shares of Pluna Uruguayan Airlines.

In an attempt to solve its increasing problems, Carlos Willy Engels became president in 1995, and in 1996 he was succeeded by Fernando Abs da Cruz Souza Pinto, who would be the last president of the consolidation phase in the history of the company. He developed an ambitious project to bring financial and operational health back to the company.^[17] The two most visible milestones of this project were the new corporate image launched on 15 October 1996 - the first change since 1955 - and the membership of Varig in Star Alliance as of 22 October 1997. Varig was its sixth member airline, and the first to join after it was launched only five months earlier.^[18]

In spite of some success in the re-organization of the company, Pinto did not have full support of the Ruben Berta Foundation, the controller of Varig and, as a consequence, he left the Presidency of Varig on 28 January 2000.

The administration of Ozires Silva, which lasted for only 2.5 years, started with major restructuring in the company, aiming at making Ruben Berta Foundation more powerful and the President-Director weaker. Also, on 28 January 2000, all cargo operations were united under a new airline named VarigLog.

Despite the reforms, Varig posted a net loss for first time in its history: R$148.6 million by the end of 2000, and then R$523 million in the following year.^[20]

In 2001, low-cost airline

In 2002, Ruben Berta Foundation merged the administration of Varig and its subsidiary Rio Sul Serviços Aéreos Regionais (which included the brand Nordeste Linhas Aéreas Regionais). The three brands were used separately with Rio-Sul and Nordeste providing feeder services to Varig.

Year-long discussions to merge Varig with

VARIG applied to the Commercial Bankruptcy and Reorganization Court in Rio de Janeiro on 17 June 2005,[22]^[23] for the commencement of "judicial reorganization" proceedings pursuant to the New Bankruptcy and Restructuring Law of Brazil (Law 11.101).^[24] The request was granted on 22 June 2005.^[25] VARIG continued to provide services despite its financial troubles.^[21][26]

In order to raise funds, the Bankruptcy and Reorganization Court decided to sell two of Varig's subsidiaries:

• in November 2005 the maintenance centre
  TAP Portugal;^[27]
• in December 2005 the cargo division
  MatlinPatterson Global Advisors
  and three Brazilian investors (Marco Antonio Audi, Marco Hapfel and Luiz Gallo). The negotiation was concluded in June 2006.

• The first portion, formally called Nordeste Linhas Aéreas S/A and informally known as "old" Varig, comprised the brand Nordeste, one aircraft, debts, liabilities, legal disputes, various assets, concessions and properties of the original Varig. Since "old" Varig, could not use the name Varig anymore, the company used the brand-name Nordeste for a while and in 2008 it began using the name Flex Linhas Aéreas.^[28]
• The second portion, formally called
  VRG Linhas Aéreas and informally known as "new" Varig, is a brand new airline which comprises the brands Varig and Rio-Sul, Varig's route rights, all aircraft but one and the Smiles mileage program. "New" Varig was auctioned on 14 July 2006 to Volo do Brasil (owner of VarigLog) and legal procedures finalized on 20 July 2006;^[28][29][30]

Since 23 October 2007, the former Viação Aérea Rio-Grandense S/A was judicially known as Nordeste Linhas Aéreas S/A, and operated under the brand-name Flex Linhas Aéreas.^[31] On 18 August 2009, the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil renewed the authorization of Flex to operate non-regular passenger, cargo and postal services.^[32] Therefore, Flex operated flights on behalf of other airlines, as contracted.

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. After the bankruptcy protection was lifted, the administration of the airline could have returned to its original owner, Fundação Ruben Berta, which still owned 87% of the shares of Varig.^[33] However, Fundação Ruben Berta preferred to keep a judicial administrator.^[34]

In September 2006 "old" Varig sold its participation in

On 31 January 2007, Varig Brazilian Airlines ("old" Varig) was suspended from membership in

As a result of accumulated debts, on 20 August 2010, at the request of the airline administrator, the 1st Business Court of Rio de Janeiro declared Flex bankrupt and initiated the process of liquidation.[38]^[39] However, on 10 September, the bankruptcy process was suspended at the request of Ruben Berta Foundation and the company returned in practical terms to recovery order status until the validity of the bankruptcy is judged.^[40]

Acquisition of Varig

Between September and November 2006, "new" Varig announced its intentions to gradually resume some international and domestic flights.[41] On 14 December 2006, the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil issued the final certificate to "new" Varig, making it fully operational.^[42] Soon after the certificate was granted, orders for 16 aircraft were announced, to bring the fleet to 31 aircraft and the operational agreement with "old" Varig expired.^[43]

On 28 March 2007,

The new owner radically restructured the fleet, the network, eliminated the First Class cabin from the aircraft, and gradually transformed the brand Varig into the arm of Gol Group specialized in international scheduled and charter medium and long-haul destinations. On 23 October 2007, Varig's new corporate image was unveiled, stressing the orange colour of Gol.[48]^[49]

On 29 September 2008, Gol was merged into VRG Linhas Aéreas and thus VRG Linhas Aéreas became an airline with two different brands: Varig and Gol.^[50] As a consequence, on mid-April 2009, Varig's booking systems were integrated into Gol's and the Smiles frequent flyer program was reformulated to include Gol. In June 2009, "new" Varig ceased to operate its own flights and started to use Gol's flight numbers.^[51]

From 2006 to 2009, "new" Varig was obliged by contract to purchase a minimum of 140 hours/month of services from "old" Varig. Therefore, some of VRG Linhas Aéreas flights operated with Gol flight numbers were actually flown with chartered aircraft from Flex Linhas Aéreas.^[52]

Historical fleet

The fleet list below based on the standard published Varig history.^[53]

Frequent-flyer program

Smiles was Varig's

Accidents and incidents

According to the

• 28 February 1942: a
  Porto Alegre. Seven of the 23 occupants died, including 2 crew members.^[56][57]
• 20 June 1944: a
  Guaíba river. All 10 passengers and crew died.^[58][59]
• 2 August 1949: a
  Porto Alegre made an emergency landing on rough terrain near the location of Jaquirana, approximately 20 minutes before landing in Porto Alegre, following fire on the cargo hold. Of the 36 passengers and crew aboard, 5 died.^[60][61]
• 4 June 1954: a
  Porto Alegre crashed during take-off from São Paulo. All crew of 3 died.^[62][63]
• 7 April 1957: a
  Porto Alegre crashed during take-off in Bagé following a fire developed in the left main gear wheel well and consequent technical difficulties. All 40 passengers and crew died.^[64][65]
• 14 August 1957:
  Salgado Filho International Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport, suffered a failure on the engine 2 during the flight, but landed successfully in Las Américas International Airport at Dominican Republic, the passengers were reallocated to other flights and the Constellation took off with only 11 crew, but, during the flight, the engine 4 accelerated unevenly and pieces of the prop flew off and hit the engine 3, causing an explosion, the aircraft tried to land in the ocean but one flight attendant drowned and died during the crash landing, the other 10 survived.^[66]
• 18 October 1957: a
  Porto Alegre crashed upon take-off. The crew of two died.^[67]
• 12 April 1960: a
  Porto Alegre collided with two other aircraft, crashed and caught fire after it deviated to the right on take-off and an over correction caused a sharp turn to the left. Of the 22 passengers and crew aboard, 10 died.^[68][69]
• 27 November 1962:
  Rio de Janeiro–Galeão to Lima after initiating an overshoot procedure at the suggestion of the control tower because it was too high, proceeded to start another approach when it crashed into La Cruz peak, 8 miles away from Lima Airport. Possibly there was a misinterpretation of navigation instruments. All 97 passengers and crew aboard died.^[70][71]
• 22 December 1962: a
  Belo Horizonte-Pampulha, descended below the prescribed altitude while on final approach to Brasília, struck trees, skidded and fell to one side. One crew member died, out of 40 occupants of the aircraft.^[72]
• 1 July 1963: a
  Porto Alegre to Carazinho, Passo Fundo and Erechim collided with trees on high ground and crashed shortly before arriving in Passo Fundo. Of the 18 passengers and crew aboard, 15 died.^[73][74]
• 5 March 1967: a
  Rio de Janeiro–Galeão via Monrovia caught fire after a mistaken approach to Monrovia, missing the threshold of the runway by 6,023 ft. Of the 90 passengers and crew aboard 51 died as well as 5 on the ground.^[75][76]
• 9 June 1973: a cargo
  Viracopos-Campinas International Airport to Rio de Janeiro–Galeão while making an instrument approach to Rio de Janeiro–Galeão had technical problems with the spoilers which eventually caused the aircraft to pitch down, descended fast, struck approach lights and a ditch. Two of four occupants died.^[77]
• 11 July 1973: a Boeing 707-345C registration PP-VJZ operating flight 820 from Rio de Janeiro–Galeão to Paris-Orly made a successful emergency landing at an open field 5 km before landing, after reporting fire in a rear lavatory. However, 123 of the 134 passengers and crew aboard died, overcome by smoke and carbon monoxide poisoning before the aircraft could be evacuated, the most likely cause was a lit cigarette thrown into the aircraft's lavatory trash. Subsequently, in-flight smoking was banned.^[78][79]
• 30 January 1979:
  Japanese Brazilian artist Manabu Mabe, worth US$1.24 million. The aircraft was flown by Gilberto Araújo da Silva, who was also the captain and survivor of the accident with Flight 820 six years earlier. The crew of 6 died and their bodies were never recovered.^[80]
• 3 January 1987: a
  Abidjan to Rio de Janeiro–Galeão crashed due to a failure on engine 1 shortly after take-off. While attempting to return to the airport for an emergency landing, it crashed on a field 18 km away from Abidjan's airport. Of the 51 passengers and crew aboard, a single passenger survived.^{[81][82][83][84]}
• 3 September 1989: a
  fuel exhaustion and a subsequent belly landing into the jungle, 450 miles (724 km) southwest of Marabá. Out of 54 occupants, there were 13 fatalities, all of them passengers. The survivors were discovered two days later.^[85][86][87]
• 14 February 1997: a Boeing 737-241 registration PP-CJO operating flight 265, flying from Marabá to Carajás while on touch-down procedures at Carajás during a thunderstorm, had its right main gear collapsed rearwards causing the aircraft to veer off the right of the runway. The aircraft crashed into the forest. One crew member died.^[88]

Incidents

• 30 May 1972: a
  Porto Alegre was hijacked. The hijacker demanded money. The aircraft was stormed and the hijacker was shot.^[89]

• List of defunct airlines of Brazil
• List of airlines of Brazil
• Transport in Brazil
• Paulo de Mello Bastos

References

Bibliography

• Cooksley, Peter (September–October 1996). "Celestial Coaches: Dornier's Record Breaking Komet and Merkur". Air Enthusiast (65): 20–24.
  ISSN 0143-5450
  .
• Lloyd, Barry (2022). Varig: Star of Brazil. Airlines Series, Vol. 6. Stamford, Lincs, UK: Key Publishing.
  ISBN 9781802822502
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Varig.

• Varig Archive (2000–2002)
• Varig Archive (1997–1999)
• Varig Archive (in Portuguese)
• VARIG Accidents as per Aviation Safety Database
• Timetable Images of Varig
• Varig flight attendants posing for Brazilian Playboy