page_title: Varig
section_title: Formation and Early Years (1927–1943)
hierarchical_section_title: Varig / History / Formation and Early Years (1927–1943)
caption_attribution_description: English: De Havilland DH-89 Dragon Rapide, with Varig colours, on exposition in the Airspace Museum, in Rio de Janeiro Português: De Havilland DH-89 Dragon Rapide, nas cores da Varig, exposto no MUSAL, no Rio de Janeiro.
context_page_description: VARIG was the first airline founded in Brazil, in 1927. From 1965 until 1990, it was Brazil's leading airline, and virtually its only international one. In 2005, Varig went into judicial restructuring, and in 2006 it was split into two companies – Flex Linhas Aéreas, informally known as "old" Varig, heir to the original airline –now defunct, and "new" Varig, a new company, fully integrated into Gol Airlines.
context_section_description: 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 Porto Alegre, by Otto Ernst Meyer-Labastille, 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 Serviços Aéreos 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.
  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 Atlântico, was also the first aircraft registered in Brazil as P-BAAA. Operations started on 22 June 1927 with a flight from Porto Alegre to Rio Grande via Pelotas. Varig inherited the route rights from Condor Syndikat which since 22 February 1927 had operated the service.
  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.
  On 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.
caption: de Havilland Dragon Rapide PP-VAN exhibited at the MUSAL
exif: {"Image Make": "FUJIFILM", "Image Model": "FinePix S3100", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image Software": "Digital Camera FinePix S3100   Ver1.00", "Image DateTime": "2005:09:24 12:56:05", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "2286", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0]", "Image Padding": "[]", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/8", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2005:09:24 12:56:05", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "3", "EXIF ApertureValue": "3", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "27/25", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "6", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2272", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1704", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "4255", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "4255", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4108"}