Varig

Varig (Varig Brazilian Airlines) also known as Viação Aérea Rio-Grandense SA, is one of Brazil's leading international airlines, along with TAM. Varig's beginnings can be traced to May 7, 1927 at the Porto Alegre Commercial Association meeting. It was there that Otto Ernst Meyer, a German immigrant, signed the certificate declaring Varig an airline company. Varig uses the IATA designator RG.

Varig's first plane was a nine passenger Atlantico 9, considered to be one of the most modern planes of the time. Its first employee, Ruben Berta, later turned into the airline's President and led the airline through great expansion and economic times. He left office only when he died, in 1966.

Varig's first flight went from Porto Alegre to Rio Grande (the Brazilian city) and it stopped in Pelotas.

Varig has had three crashes with fatalities since 1970:

• 11 July 1973, near Paris, France, forced landing due to fire in a rear lavatory, 123 deaths
• 3 January 1987, near Abidjan, Ivory Coast, engine failure, 50 deaths
• 3 September 1989, near Sao Jose do Xingu, Brazil. Pilot navigational error led to fuel exhaustion and a forced landing in the jungle. Twelve of the 48 passengers were killed in the crash. The survivors were forced to search for help before being discovered two days later.

Its safety record rates an “A", the highest grade possible, according to Air Rankings Online (see rankings at Airline Rankings). Rankings are cumulatives, based on the number of fatal accidents per million flights that the carrier has flown since 1970.

The airline flies many types, such as Boeing 737, Boeing 747 and Boeing 777. It is a member of the Star Alliance and has partnerships domestically with Nordeste airlines and Rio-Sul airlines.

Other facts of interest

• Varig was one of the few airlines used by Menudo while they were touring when they owned their own, private jet.
• Varig has invested in Uruguayan airline Pluna.
• Most of Varig's flights to Japan stop in Los Angeles, California, making it a common airline for US-Japan passengers (especially to Nagoya Airport).