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
American Flyers Airline to operate transatlantic flights, from the mainland US to London Gatwick and Manchester in the United Kingdom, and to Frankfurt, Germany. Around this time the airline moved its operations to Middletown, Pennsylvania. By 1970, American Flyers was operating just two leased Douglas DC-8 Series 63CF having sold the Electras and later the Boeing 727s. AFA was taken over by Universal Airlines on May 25, 1971, which in turn was absorbed by Saturn Airways the next year. Its DC-8s went to Flying Tiger Line. AFA was founded by Reed Pigman who was an early aviation pioneer who was instrumental in developing