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 airlines, on Varig acquired a controlling interest in Cruzeiro do Sul, which was in a particularly delicate economic situation. Cruzeiro do Sul was fully integrated into VARIG on . On , the Brazilian Federal Government created the Brazilian Integrated System of Regional Air Transportation and divided the country in five different regions, for which five newly created regional airlines received a concession to operate air services. Rio-Sul Serviços Aéreos Regionais S/A was the fourth of those regional airlines to be made operational and it was established by Varig in partnership with Top Táxi Aéreo, Bradesco Bank, and Atlântica-Boavista Insurance. Its