Varig Natal along the Brazilian coast and was thus better prepared to compete with Panair do Brasil and Cruzeiro do Sul. In 1949 the Brazilian government granted to Varig the concession to fly to the United States, since the original airline which had the concession, Cruzeiro do Sul, was unable to operate the services. The inaugural flight between Rio de Janeiro-Galeão and New York-Idllwild (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) was on . The services were operated by three new Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellations. On flights to Buenos Aires using Curtiss C-46s started. In January 1956 Varig served 55 cities
Nordeste Linhas Aéreas Regionais of this process, the airline was divided into two portions, informally known as "old" Varig and "new" Varig. "Old" Varig was judicially known as Viação Aérea Rio-grandense. "New" Varig, judicially known as VRG Linhas Aéreas, is a new airline formed with some assets of the original Varig and which was auctioned on 14 July 2006. The legal procedures were finalized on 20 July 2006. Since that day VRG Linhas Aéreas and Viação Aérea Rio-grandense have been different judicial entities and airlines. At the time of the auction, the assets of VRG Linhas Aéreas comprised the brands Varig and Rio Sul,