Varig services to Varig. Year-long discussions to merge Varig with TAM Airlines ended unsuccessfully in 2004 and the same year Varig fell to third place in the Brazilian domestic market share, behind TAM and Gol. VARIG applied to the Commercial Bankruptcy and Reorganization Court in Rio de Janeiro on , for the commencement of "judicial reorganization" proceedings pursuant to the New Bankruptcy and Restructuring Law of Brazil (Law 11.101). The request was granted on 22 June 2005. VARIG continued to provide services despite its financial troubles. In order to raise funds, the Bankruptcy and Reorganization Court decided to sell two of
American Airlines Flight 77 had already crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center and Flight 175 was known to have been hijacked and was within minutes of striking the South Tower. After learning of this second hijacking involving an American Airlines aircraft and the hijacking involving United Airlines, American Airlines' executive vice president Gerard Arpey ordered a nationwide ground stop for the airline. The Indianapolis Air Traffic Control Center, as well as American Airlines dispatchers, made several failed attempts to contact the aircraft. At the time the airplane was hijacked, it was flying over an area of limited radar coverage. With