Panair do Brasil
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| Founded | 1929 as NYRBA do Brasil 1930 as Panair do Brasil |
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| Commenced operations | 1930 | ||||||
| Ceased operations | 1965 | ||||||
| Hubs |
Rio de Janeiro - Galeão Airport Rio de Janeiro - Santos Dumont Airport |
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| Fleet size | 24 (at the time of the shutdown) | ||||||
| Destinations | 60 locations in Brazil (41 of them in the Amazon region) and 16 abroad, as of May 1964 | ||||||
| Parent company |
NYRBA (1929-1930) Pan American World Airways (1930-1961) Planejamento e Administração Guanabara (1960-1965) |
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| Headquarters | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | ||||||
| Key people |
Ralph O'Neill (founder) Paulo de Oliveira Sampaio (CEO 1943-1955; 1961-1965) Mário Wallace Simonsen (owner 1961-1965) Celso da Rocha Miranda (owner 1961-86) Rodolfo da Rocha Miranda (owner and CEO 1986-present) |
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Panair do Brasil (or simply "Panair") was an airline of Brazil. Between 1945 and 1965 it was considered to be the largest carrier not only in Brazil but in all of Latin America. It currently exists as a non-operating company.
Panair do Brasil began operations on October 22, 1929, as NYRBA do Brasil S.A., a Brazilian subsidiary of NYRBA, Inc. (New York, Rio, and Buenos Aires Line), forerunner of Pan American. Both airlines were established by Ralph Ambrose O'Neill for the transportation of post and passengers using seaplanes between the United States, Brazil and Argentina, flying over the east coast of the continent.
NYRBA do Brasil came as an American competitive response to a service that had been provided by Germans since 1927. Starting that year, Condor Syndikat and later its successor Deutsche Luft Hansa explored the Brazilian market by establishing the subsidiary Syndicato Condor, and the Brazilian airline Varig.
Initially, O'Neill tried to purchase ETA – Empresa de Transporte Aéreo, a Brazilian airline which claimed to have exclusive concessions to fly within Brazil. The legality of the sale and purchase contract was questioned and the operation was aborted. O'Neill decided then to create his own Brazilian subsidiary, which would operate in partnership with NYRBA.
At that time, if a foreign airline wanted to operate in Brazilian territory, it was required to create a subsidiary. This allowed a fair competition between national and foreign carriers. Advised by politicians, O'Neill established NYRBA do Brasil. The creation of this subsidiary was authorized on October 15, 1929 and on January 24, 1930 its operations were authorized in all Brazilian territory, with extensions to Uruguay, Argentina, and the Guianas, pending on bi-lateral agreements. The first flight took off from the Calabouço Airport (which in 1936 would be officially named Santos Dumont Airport) in Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires with intermediate stops on December 23, 1929, and in January 1930 it started flying between Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza with intermediate stops in Campos dos Goytacazes, Vitória, Caravelas, Ilhéus, Salvador, Aracaju, Maceió, Recife and Natal. The first successful cargo operation between Buenos Aires and Miami, a joint-venture with NYRBA, took place between February 19 and 25, 1930. In this operation, 8 different seaplanes were used.
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