VARIG Airlines - VIacao Aerea RioGrandense

Formation and Early Years (19271943) Sociedade Anonima Empresa de Viacao Aerea Rio-Grandense VARIG was the first national airline established in Brazil. It was founded on 7 May 1927 in Porto Alegre,[1] by Otto Ernst Meyer-Labastille,[1] a German aviator decorated in the World War I, who immigrated to Brazil in 1921 and noticed how necessary air transportation was for a large country like Brazil. 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. Condor Syndikat gave the initial operational and financial support and for a short time Varig and the sister-company Syndicato Condor operated in partnership. de Havilland Dragon Rapide PP-VAN exhibited at the MUSAL The first aircraft of VARIG was a ten-passenger Dornier Do J Wal flying boat, transferred from the assets of Condor Syndikat. This aircraft, named Atlantico, was also the first aircraft registered in B...