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
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