Varig health, financial, social and recreational benefits to its employees. Decades later this foundation would be called . In 1946, with the addition of Douglas DC-3 and later the Curtiss C-46 to its fleet, Varig was able to greatly increase its network by adding cities in the states of Santa Catarina, Paraná, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro, facing fierce competition with Real Transportes Aéreos, and SAVAG. On , Varig bought Aero Geral, a small airline with concessions to fly from Natal until Santos. With this purchase Varig greatly enlarged its operations in Brazil, extending services beyond Rio de Janeiro until
Sun Country Airlines DC-10 in early 2001. In June 1999, the management of Sun Country launched a transformation from a charter carrier into a scheduled airline. New service from Minneapolis and Milwaukee began to destinations including Los Angeles, Seattle, Detroit, Washington, D.C. and Phoenix. The airline also started a frequent flyer program, Smile Awards. In 2001, Sun Country began to replace its entire fleet with Boeing 737 aircraft. As Sun Country reinvented itself, heavy competition from local incumbent carrier Northwest Airlines and the September 11 attacks caused a sharp decrease of traffic and revenue. The airline was losing large amounts of money by