NYRBA was founded by Colonel Ralph A. O'Neill, who had been a decorated ace fighter pilot in World War I and then been a main figure in the establishment of both civil and military aviation in Mexico.

[1] Another coup by O'Neill was to secure the Ponta do Calabouço landfill, considered the most valuable real estate in Rio de Janeiro, for use as NYRBA's base in the city.

Though the company's business was growing and it had far more assets, it was compelled to merge as the junior partner into Trippe's Pan Am under circumstances O'Neill described as "a shotgun wedding after a damnable rape".

[5] O'Neill, when offered to head Pan Am's East Coast operations, stated: "You can steal my house, but you can't ask me to run it for you".

While the aviation business thrived, with financial credit given to Pan Am which contrived to take even when it was still controlled by NYRBA, the Brazilian government re-appropriated Ponta do Calabouço.