Real Transportes Aereos
Operator Identification
November 1945 to summer 1961
Brazil
TYPE: Airline
IATA/ICAO CODES: -- / ---
HEADQUARTERS: Sao Paulo, Brazil
FORMER NAME: Nil
SUBSEQUENT NAME: VARIG (merger)
Operator History
Real was founded in 1945 by Vicente Mammana Netto and Linneu Gomes, two former TACA pilots, with three Douglas DC3. The first flight took off on 7 February 1946 from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro. Later a second route, Sao Paulo to Curitiba, was started.
Real grew by offering low fares because it had lower costs. It is said that it started a fare war to which followed a schedule war. In spite of this, Real was able to grow by extending the service to Curitiba to Porto Alegre and opening flights to Londrina and Sao Jose do Rio Preto. Real opened many flights to new locations in precarious operating conditions. It had a bad maintenance record and crews were pressured to fly under adverse conditions. The results were many serious accidents.
Real bought Linhas Aereas Wright in 1948, Linhas Aereas Natal in 1950 and Linha Aerea Transcontinental Brasileira in 1951, expanding its network in the northeast and center-west of Brazil.
In 1951 Real started its first international flight, from Sao Paulo to Asuncion via Curitiba and Foz do Iguacu. The Paraguayan Government also granted to Real domestic traffic rights on its route from Asuncion to Uruguaiana via Encarnacion, the most important city in the south of Paraguay.
The year 1954 brought to Real the most dramatic growth of its history: by purchasing the already established Aerovias Brasil, Real gained the prestige, experience and influence that it lacked. With the acquisition of TAN (Transportes Aereos Nacional) in 1956, a consortium which took the name of Consorcio Real-Aerovias-Nacional was created to fly on the entire Brazilian territory. Though maintaining legal independent identities, because they were controlled by the same person, Linneu Gomes, the three airlines operated jointly and in practice it was Real which controlled the consortium. The consortium dominated the passenger traffic on the triangle Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, the economic center of the country. In 1957 it created a route to Brasília, then still under construction.
From 1958, Real started competing with VARIG on international routes such as New York, Los Angeles, Honolulu, and even Tokyo in 1960 using Lockheed Super Constellations. The expansion took its toll on Real's finances, finally leading to the gradual purchase of the consortium Real-Aerovias-Nacional by VARIG between May and August 1961.
Commando Operations
February 1951* to August 1961
Real directly operated only 4 Commandos. Others were part of the Real consortium but operated by subsidiaries TAN (Nacional) or Aerovias.
Last edited: 31/08/2023