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
Flagship Airlines Flagship Airlines Flagship Airlines was a regional airline headquartered on the grounds of Nashville International Airport in Nashville, Tennessee. Flagship Airlines traced its origins to Air Virginia, a commuter and regional feeder air carrier, which later changed names to AVAir. AVAir had rapidly declined into bankruptcy following the AVAir Flight 3378 tragedy. AMR Corporation founded Nashville Eagle out of the assets of AVAir and Air Midwest. Flagship Airlines was formed by the merger of Command Airways into Nashville Eagle on June 1, 1991. Flagship operated for American Airlines under the American Eagle brand name. The airline served the East Coast