Serviços Aéreos Cruzeiro do Sul was the second oldest airline of Brazil, tracing its origins to 1927, when it was founded as Syndicato Condor, a subsidiary of Deutsche Luft Hansa.

Those services were of utmost importance for the future plans of the mother-company Deutsche Luft Hansa in South America.

Seaplane services from Rio de Janeiro to Porto Alegre with intermediate stops that had been operating on an informal basis became official began almost immediately.

On 14 April 1934, the route was extended to include Montevideo and Buenos Aires and on 28 September 1935, it reached Mendoza and Santiago de Chile.

On 15 July 1928, a new service from Rio de Janeiro to Salvador via Belmonte and Ilhéus, operated with a seaplane Junkers F-13, was inaugurated.

Less than two years later, the route would be modified to include Vitória, Caravelas, Belmonte and Ilhéus and extended from Salvador to Maceió, Recife, Parahyba (now João Pessoa) and Natal.

In 1936, Condor made an interline agreement with Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano – LAB and established an international connection to the main cities of Bolivia, particularly Puerto Suárez, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Cochabamba, and La Paz, using Corumbá as connecting point.

Later, in Brazil, Condor extended its services beyond Cuiabá, reaching Porto Velho, Rio Branco and Cruzeiro do Sul.

Therefore, by 1936 Syndicato Condor had established two trunk routes with increasing frequencies: Belém/Rio de Janeiro/Porto Alegre/Montevideo/Buenos Aires/Santiago and São Paulo/Corumbá/Cuiabá, with connecting services to Bolivia.

Administratively, Fritz Hammer left the company in September 1930 and another German citizen, Paul Moosmeyer, took the office of General Director.

The same year, as the United States joined the Allies in fighting World War II, supplies became scarce, particularly in terms of petrol and replacement parts.

On 16 January 1943, following a complete administrative reorganization, which attempted to erase its German culture and identity, Condor had its name changed to Serviços Aéreos Cruzeiro do Sul.

Cruzeiro participated in the war effort by transporting material and troops along the Brazilian coast, and rubber from the Amazon region.

Varig greatly increased its operations beyond the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina where it was the dominating carrier.

On 6 July 1959, Cruzeiro, Varig and VASP initiated the air shuttle services between Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont and São Paulo-Congonhas airports, the first of its kind in the world.

The idea, baptized as Air bridge (Ponte Aérea in Portuguese), inspired on the Berlin Airlift was so successful that it was abandoned only in 1999.

As a consequence of serious economic difficulties, on 22 May 1975 Serviços Aéreos Cruzeiro do Sul was bought by Ruben Berta Foundation, the institution that also controlled Varig.

[5] On 22 May 1975 begins the third phase, when Ruben Berta Foundation, the owner of Varig acquired a majority of shares in Cruzeiro do Sul.

Although Varig and Cruzeiro do Sul were kept as separate companies operating as a consortium, in reality frequencies and fleets were integrated and rationalized in order to avoid duplication of services.