But inefficiency and the cannibalising effects of competition combined to put three of the five, Transbrasil, VASP and VARIG, out of business.

ECONOMIST: Business travel

Josafa Candido, a 30-year Vasp veteran appointed caretaker of its Congonhas ghost town, said he was sad to see a giant airplane shredding machine ordered up by Mr. Melek reducing three Vasp Boeing 737s there to piles of scrap.

WSJ: Brazil's Olympian Task: Cleaning Junkyard Airports Before the Games