The wide-body Airbus A300 was designed for short and medium distances. VARIG operated with two A300 from June 1981 to June 1990 in domestic and Latin America lines. This aircraft was known as "silent giant", since its acoustic technology was developed to minimize the sound effects, as well as the air pollution. This was a very significant feature for Brazil, because most of our airports are located inside urban areas. Cruzeiro do Sul, VARIG’s subsidiary, also operated two A300 in that period. VARIG was one of the few airlines to operate all three most mordern wide-body of that time: Airbus A300, Boeing 747 and Douglas DC-10.

The first two units were received by Cruzeiro on June 26, 1980. The first flight took place on July 1, 1980 between São Paulo and Buenos Aires. In the same month also started to operate on São Paulo - Rio de Janeiro - Salvador - Recife - Fortaleza - Belém route. Later, also from Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to Brasília, Manaus, Caracas and Miami. When an A300 with Cruzeiro colors landed in Miami, the American authorities informed VARIG that it would be better for an aircraft with VARIG colors make this route, as that the route belonged to VARIG and not Cruzeiro.

The A300s soon established a new comfort standard  for domestic flights, with two classes (first and economy), eight bathrooms, six galleys, 12 flight attendants and four music channels for all passengers.

The first A300 in VARIG colors arrived on July 3, 1981 (PP-VND), while the second (PP-VNE) arrived on June 23, 1982. The first route was between São Paulo and Santiago.

With the arrival of Boeing 767 and more DC10 units, A300 began to operate only on domestic flights and to South America, mainly to Buenos Aires. After the inauguration of Guarulhos International Airport, the A300's advantage of taking off from Congonhas Airport was no longer relevant. Thus VARIG decided to standardize its fleet with Boeing aircraft and began and put the A300s for sale. PP-VNE was sold in December 1989 to Japan Air System and PP-VND was sold in June 1990 to Air Jamaica.