Varig Varig's subsidiaries: After two unsuccessful attempts to auction the airline as a whole, the bankruptcy court decided to split the airline in two different judicial entities, informally known as "old" Varig and "new" Varig: Since , the former "Viação Aérea Rio-Grandense S/A" was judicially known as "Nordeste Linhas Aéreas S/A", and operated under the brand-name Flex Linhas Aéreas. On 18 August 2009, the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil renewed the authorization of Flex to operate non-regular passenger, cargo and postal services. Therefore, Flex operated flights on behalf of other airlines, as contracted. Between 17 June 2005 and 2 September
Varig "old" Varig expired. Before and after relaunch in December 2006, "new Varig" struggled greatly to find a strategic partners, due to lack of credibility, affecting aircraft contracts, network and personnel inherited from "old" Varig. "New" Varig was facing monthly losses as high as US$20 million, and MattlinPatterson was unwilling to invest more money in the company, putting "new" Varig in extreme economic difficulties. On , Gol Airlines purchased "new Varig" (VRG Linhas Aéreas) for US$320 million, and announced that VRG Linhas Aéreas, the operator of the brand VARIG, would continue to operate under its original name. The transaction was completed