Varig Files for Bankruptcy

Varig, Latin America’s biggest airline, filed for protection from creditors in Brazil and the US as it seeks to restructure $2.8 billion of debt. Varig is the latest of a several major airlines in the Americas that have filed for bankruptcy protection in the last two years as competing low-cost airlines, such as Brazil’s Gol, cut into sales and rising fuel prices boost costs. Varig posted a profit in only two years since 1990, accumulating $2.7 billion of losses in the period. The company sought protection in the US to bar creditors there from interfering with its restructuring in Brazil.