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 Airlines Group American Airlines Group American Airlines Group Inc. is an American publicly traded airline holding company headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. It was formed December 9, 2013, in the merger of AMR Corporation, the parent company of American Airlines, and US Airways Group, the parent company of US Airways. The airline groups together form the largest airline in the world, with more than 6,700 daily flights to 350 locations in 56 countries worldwide, about $40 billion in operating revenue, over 100,000 employees, and plans to take delivery of 607 new aircraft, including 517 narrowbody aircraft and 90 widebody international aircraft. The