Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and more commonly known as Pan Am, was an

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by that government for international operations. Histo ...

of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

for much of the 20th century. The first airline to fly worldwide, it pioneered innovations such as

jumbo jet A wide-body aircraft, also known as a twin-aisle aircraft and in the largest cases as a jumbo jet, is an airliner with a fuselage wide enough to accommodate two passenger aisles with seven or more seats abreast. The typical fuselage diameter is . ...

s and

computerized reservation system Computer reservation systems, or central reservation systems (CRS), are computerized systems used to store and retrieve information and conduct transactions related to air travel, hotels, car rental, or other activities. Originally designed and ope ...

s, and introduced the first American jetliner in 1958. Until its dissolution on December 4, 1991, Pan Am "epitomized the luxury and glamour of intercontinental travel", and it remains a cultural icon of the 20th century, identified by its blue globe logo ("The Blue Meatball"), the use of the word "

Clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. The term was also retrospectively applied to the Baltimore clipper, which originated in the late 18th century. Clippers were generally narrow for their len ...

" in its aircraft names and

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

s, and the white uniform caps of its pilots. Founded in 1927 by two

U.S. Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

majors, Pan Am began as a scheduled airmail and passenger service flying between

Key West Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it con ...

, Florida, and

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Juan Trippe Juan Terry Trippe (June 27, 1899 – April 3, 1981) was an American commercial aviation pioneer, entrepreneur and the founder of Pan American World Airways, one of the iconic airlines of the 20th century. He was involved in the introduction of t ...

, the airline purchased a fleet of

flying boats A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull (watercraft), hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for b ...

and focused its route network on Central and South America, gradually adding

transatlantic Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to: Film * Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950 * Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s * ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film) ...

and transpacific destinations. By the mid-20th century, Pan Am enjoyed a near monopoly on international routes. It led the aircraft industry into the

Jet Age The Jet Age is a period in the history of aviation defined by the advent of aircraft powered by jet turbine engines and the social and cultural changes fostered by commercial jet travel. Jet airliners were able to fly higher, faster, and farth ...

by acquiring new jetliners such as the

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an early American long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, the initial first flew on Decembe ...

and

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. After the introduction of the Boeing 707, 707 in October 1958, Pan Am ...

. Pan Am's modern fleet allowed it to fly larger numbers of passengers, at a longer range, and with fewer stops than rivals. Its primary hub and flagship terminal was the Worldport at

John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport is a major international airport serving New York City and its metropolitan area. JFK Airport is located on the southwestern shore of Long Island, in Queens, New York City, bordering Jamaica Bay. It is ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. During its peak between the late 1950s and early 1970s, Pan Am had an advanced fleet, highly trained staff, and amenities. In 1970, it flew 11 million passengers to 86 countries, with destinations in every continent except

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. In an era dominated by

s that were wholly or majority-owned by governments, Pan Am became the unofficial national carrier of the United States. It was a founding member of the

International Air Transport Association The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is an airline trade association founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff conferences tha ...

(IATA), the global airline industry association. Beginning in the mid-1970s, Pan Am began facing a series of challenges both internal and external, along with rising competition from the deregulation of the airline industry in 1978. After several attempts at financial restructuring and rebranding throughout the 1980s, Pan Am gradually sold off its assets before declaring bankruptcy in 1991. By the time it ceased operations, the airline's trademark was the second most recognized worldwide, and its loss was felt among travelers and many Americans as signifying the end of the golden age of air travel. Its brand, iconography, and contributions to the industry remain well known in the 21st century. The airline's name and imagery were purchased in 1998 by railroad holding company Guilford Transportation Industries, which changed its name to

Pan Am Systems Pan Am Systems was a privately held Portsmouth, New Hampshire-based Florida corporation composed of rail transport, manufacturing and energy, transportation related brands, and real estate divisions. It formerly held a now-defunct airline divis ...

and adopted Pan Am's logo.

History

Formation

Consolidated commodore flying boat common history

Pan American Airways, Incorporated (PAA) was founded as a

shell company A shell corporation is a company or corporation with no significant assets or operations often formed to obtain financing before beginning business. Shell companies were primarily vehicles for lawfully hiding the identity of their beneficial ...

on March 14, 1927, by

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

officers

Henry "Hap" Arnold Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold (25 June 1886 – 15 January 1950) was an American general officer holding the ranks of General of the Army and later, General of the Air Force. Arnold was an aviation pioneer, Chief of the Air Corps (1938–194 ...

Carl Spaatz Carl Andrew Spaatz (born Spatz; 28 June 1891 – 14 July 1974), nicknamed "Tooey", was an American World War II general. As commander of Strategic Air Forces in Europe in 1944, he successfully pressed for the bombing of the enemy's oil productio ...

and John Jouett out of concern for the growing influence of the German-owned

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

n air carrier

SCADTA Sociedad Colombo Alemana de Transportes Aéreos (SCADTA; ), was the world's second airline, and the first airline in Latin America, operating from 1919 until World War II. After the war, SCADTA merged with Colombian regional carrier Colombian Air ...

, in

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

. Operating in Colombia since 1920, SCADTA lobbied hard for landing rights in the

Panama Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone (), also known as just the Canal Zone, was a International zone#Concessions, concession of the United States located in the Isthmus of Panama that existed from 1903 to 1979. It consisted of the Panama Canal and an area gene ...

, ostensibly to survey air routes for a connection to the United States, which the Air Corps viewed as a precursor to a possible German aerial threat to the canal. In the spring of 1927, the

United States Post Office The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal serv ...

requested bids on a contract to deliver mail from

Key West, Florida Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Sigsbee Park, Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Islan ...

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.prospectus for Pan American after they learned that SCADTA hired a company in

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

to obtain air mail contracts from the

US government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, execut ...

. Also competing for the contract,

Juan Trippe Juan Terry Trippe (June 27, 1899 – April 3, 1981) was an American commercial aviation pioneer, entrepreneur and the founder of Pan American World Airways, one of the iconic airlines of the 20th century. He was involved in the introduction of t ...

formed the Aviation Corporation of the Americas (ACA) on June 2, 1927, with in startup capital and the backing of powerful and politically connected financiers including

Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Cornelius "Sonny" Vanderbilt Whitney (February 20, 1899 – December 13, 1992) was an American businessman, film producer, government official, writer and philanthropist. He was also a polo player and the owner of a significant stable of Thorough ...

and

W. Averell Harriman William Averell Harriman (November 15, 1891July 26, 1986) was an American politician, businessman, and diplomat. He was a founder of Harriman & Co. which merged with the older Brown Brothers to form the Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. investment ...

. Their operation had the all-important landing rights for

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...

service from Key West to Havana. A third company, Atlantic, Gulf, and Caribbean Airways, was established on October 11, 1927, by New York City

investment bank Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

er Richard Hoyt to bid for the contract. The Postal Service awarded Pan American Airways the

US mail The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

delivery contract to Cuba, at the end of the bidding process, but Pan American lacked any aircraft to perform the job and did not have landing rights in Cuba. Just days before the 19 October deadline, the three companies decided to form a partnership. ACA chartered a

Fairchild FC-2 The Fairchild FC-1 and its derivatives are a family of light, single-engine, high-wing utility monoplanes produced in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. The aircraft was originally designed to provide a camera platform for Sherman Fairchi ...

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

from a small

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

carrier, West Indian Aerial Express, allowing Pan Am to operate the first flight to Havana on 19 October 1927. The three companies formally merged on June 23, 1928. Richard Hoyt was named as president of the new Aviation Corporation of the Americas, but Trippe and his partners held 40% of the equity and Whitney was made president. Trippe became operational head of Pan American Airways, the new company's principal operating subsidiary. The US government approved the original Pan Am's mail delivery contract with little objection, out of fears that SCADTA would have no competition in bidding for routes between Latin America and the United States. The government further helped Pan Am by insulating it from its US competitors, seeing the airline as the "chosen instrument" for US-based international air routes. The airline expanded internationally, benefiting from a virtual monopoly on foreign routes. Trippe and his associates planned to extend Pan Am's network through all of Central and South America. During the late 1920s and early 1930s, Pan Am purchased a number of ailing or defunct airlines in Central and South America and negotiated with postal officials to win most of the government's airmail contracts to the region. In September 1929 Trippe toured Latin America with

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, and author. On May 20–21, 1927, he made the first nonstop flight from New York (state), New York to Paris, a distance of . His aircra ...

to negotiate landing rights in a number of countries, including

Barranquilla Barranquilla () is the capital district of the Atlántico department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean region of Colombia, Caribbean coast region; as of 2018, it had a popul ...

on SCADTA's home turf of Colombia, as well as

Maracaibo Maracaibo ( , ; ) is a city and municipality in northwestern Venezuela, on the western shore of the strait that connects Lake Maracaibo to the Gulf of Venezuela. It is the largest city in Venezuela and is List of cities in Venezuela by population ...

and

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. By the end of the year, Pan Am offered flights along the west coast of South America to Peru. Following government favors for the denial of mail contracts to their competition, a forced merger was created with New York, Rio, and Buenos Aires Line, giving a seaplane route along the east coast of South America to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, Argentina, and westbound to

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, Chile. Its Brazilian subsidiary NYRBA do Brasil was later renamed as

Panair do Brasil Panair do Brasil was an airline of Brazil. it ceased operations in 1965. Between 1945 and 1965, it was considered to be the largest carrier not only in Brazil but in all of Latin America. History NYRBA do Brasil (1929–1930) ''Panair do B ...

. Pan Am also partnered with the

Grace Shipping Company Grace Shipping (The Grace Line) was a key part of the parent company, W. R. Grace and Company, W. R. Grace, for a large part of the corporation's history. The Grace Line began service in 1882, with regular steamship service beginning in 1893. In ...

in 1929 to form

Pan American-Grace Airways Pan American-Grace Airways, also known as Panagra, and dubbed "The World's Friendliest Airline" was an airline formed as a joint venture between Pan American World Airways and Grace Shipping Company. On September 13, 1928, a small single-engine F ...

, better known as Panagra, to gain a foothold to destinations in South America. In the same year, Pan Am acquired a controlling stake in

Mexicana de Aviación Mexicana de Aviación may refer to the following Mexican airlines: * Mexicana de Aviación (1921–2010) * Mexicana de Aviación (2023–present) {{Disambiguation ...

and took over Mexicana's

Ford Trimotor The Ford Trimotor (also called the "Tri-Motor", and nicknamed the "Tin Goose") is an American Trimotor, three-engined transport plane, transport aircraft. Production started in 1925 by the companies of Henry Ford and ended on June 7, 1933, afte ...

route between

Brownsville, Texas Brownsville ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Cameron County, Texas, Cameron County, located on the western Gulf Coast in South Texas, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border, border with Matamoros, Tamaulipas ...

and

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, extending this service to the Yucatan Peninsula to connect with Pan Am's Caribbean route network. Pan Am's

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

, the Aviation Corporation of the Americas, was one of the most sought after

stock Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...

s on the

New York Curb Exchange NYSE American, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), and more recently as NYSE MKT, is an American stock exchange situated in New York City. AMEX was previously a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was known ...

in 1929, and flurries of speculation surrounded each of its new route awards. In April 1929 Trippe and his associates reached an agreement with

United Aircraft and Transport Corporation The United Aircraft and Transport Corporation was formed in 1929, when William Boeing of Boeing Airplane & Transport Corporation teamed up with Frederick Rentschler of Pratt & Whitney to form a large, vertically-integrated, amalgamated firm, ...

(UATC) to segregate Pan Am operations to the south of the

Mexico – United States border Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, in exchange for UATC taking a large shareholder stake (UATC was the parent company of what are now

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

Pratt & Whitney Pratt & Whitney is an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations. It is a subsidiary of RTX Corporation (formerly Raytheon Technologies). Pratt & Whitney's aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation (especially ...

, and

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois that operates an extensive domestic and international route network across the United States and six ...

). The Aviation Corporation of the Americas changed its name to ''Pan American Airways Corporation'' in 1931.

Clipper era

PAA San Francisco - Manila - Hong Kong Clipper Schedule

Pan Am started its South American routes with

Consolidated Commodore The Consolidated Commodore was an American flying boat built by Consolidated Aircraft and used for passenger travel in the 1930s, mostly in the Caribbean, operated by companies like Pan American World Airways, Pan American Airways. History ...

and

Sikorsky S-38 The Sikorsky S-38 was an American twin-engined ten-seat sesquiplane amphibious aircraft. It was Sikorsky's first widely produced amphibious flying boat, serving successfully for Pan American Airways and the United States military. Design and d ...

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

s. The S-40, larger than the eight-passenger S-38, began flying for Pan Am in 1931. Carrying the nicknames ''American Clipper'', ''Southern Clipper'', and ''Caribbean Clipper'', they were the first of the series of 28 ''Clipper''s that symbolized Pan Am between 1931 and 1946. During this time, Pan Am operated Clipper services to Latin America from the

International Pan American Airport __NOTOC__ International Pan American Airport is a former airport in Dinner Key, Miami, Florida operated by Pan American World Airways from 1932 to 1945. During its existence, it operated alongside Coast Guard Air Station Dinner Key. History D ...

Dinner Key Dinner Key is a marina complex in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida, along the shore of Biscayne Bay on South Bayshore Drive. It was originally an island, but was connected to the mainland in 1914 by filling in the intervening space ...

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. In 1937 Pan Am turned to Britain and France to begin seaplane service between the United States and Europe. Pan Am reached an agreement with both countries to offer service from

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

, to Europe via

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

and the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

using the S-42s. A joint service from

Port Washington, New York Port Washington is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) on the Cow Neck Peninsula in the North Hempstead, New York, Town of North Hempstead, in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long Island), No ...

, to Bermuda began in June 1937, with Pan Am using Sikorskys and

Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was an early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passengers ...

using the C class flying boat RMA ''Cavalier''. On July 5, 1937, survey flights across the North Atlantic began. Pan Am ''Clipper III'', a

Sikorsky S-42 The Sikorsky S-42 was a commercial flying boat designed and built by Sikorsky Aircraft to meet requirements for a long-range flying boat laid out by Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) in 1931. The innovative design included wing flaps, variable ...

, landed at

Botwood Botwood is a town in north-central Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada in Census Division 6. It is positioned on the west shore of the Bay of Exploits on a natural deep-water harbour. Historically, this harbour has been a significa ...

in the

Bay of Exploits The Bay of Exploits is a large bay in the northeast of Newfoundland. It extends from the mouth of the Exploits River and opens on to Notre Dame Bay to the north. It is approximately 1,000 square kilometers (386 sq. miles) in size and contains ...

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

from Port Washington, via

Shediac, New Brunswick Shediac (official in both languages; ''Shédiac'' is colloquial French) is a town in Westmorland County, New Brunswick, Westmorland County, New Brunswick known as the "Lobster Capital of the World". It hosts an annual festival every July which ...

. The next day Pan Am ''Clipper III'' left Botwood for

Foynes Foynes (; ) is a town and major port in County Limerick in the midwest of Ireland, located at the edge of hilly land on the southern bank of the Shannon Estuary. The population of the town was 512 as of the 2022 census. Foynes's role as sea ...

County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...

, Ireland. The same day, a

Short Empire The Short Empire was a medium-range four-engined monoplane flying boat, designed and developed by Short Brothers during the 1930s to meet the requirements of the growing commercial airline sector, with a particular emphasis upon its usefulness ...

C-Class flying boat, the ''Caledonia'', left Foynes for Botwood, and landed July 6, 1937, reaching

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

on July 8 and New York on July 9. Trippe decided to start a service from San Francisco to

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

and on to Hong Kong and

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

following steamship routes. After negotiating traffic rights in 1934 to land at

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

Midway Island Midway Atoll (colloquial: Midway Islands; ; ) is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the United States and is an unorganized and unincorporated territory. The largest island is Sand Island, which has housi ...

Wake Island Wake Island (), also known as Wake Atoll, is a coral atoll in the Micronesia subregion of the Pacific Ocean. The atoll is composed of three islets – Wake, Wilkes, and Peale Islands – surrounding a lagoon encircled by a coral reef. The neare ...

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

, and

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

, Pan Am shipped $500,000 worth of aeronautical equipment and construction crews westward in March 1935 using the S.S. ''North Haven'', a 15,000-ton merchant ship chartered to provision each island that the clippers would stop at on their 4- to 5-day flight. Pan Am ran its first survey flight to Honolulu in April 1935 with a Sikorsky S-42 flying boat. Construction crews, including Bill Mullahey who would later oversee Pan Am's Pacific operations, cleared coral from lagoons, constructed hotels, and installed the radio navigation equipment necessary for the clippers to island hop from Pearl City Seaplane Base,

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, to Asia. The airline won the contract for a San Francisco–

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

mail route later that year and operated its first commercial flight carrying mail and express (no passengers) in a

Martin M-130 The Martin M-130 was a commercial flying boat designed and built in 1935 by the Glenn L. Martin Company in Baltimore, Maryland, for Pan American Airways. Three were built: the ''China Clipper'', the ''Pan Am Flight 1104, Philippine Clipper'' and ...

from

Alameda An alameda is a street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada * Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan ** Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile * Alameda (Santi ...

to Manila amid media fanfare on November 22, 1935. The five-leg, flight arrived in Manila on November 29 and returned to San Francisco on December 6, cutting the time between the two cities by the fastest scheduled steamship by over two weeks. (Both the United States and the Philippine Islands issued special stamps for the two flights.) The first passenger flight left Alameda on October 21, 1936. The fare from San Francisco to Manila or Hong Kong in 1937 was one way () and US$1,710 () round trip. This later became known as the Pan Am China Clipper route, from San Francisco, leading to Manila, Hong Kong, Shanghai. On August 6, 1937, Juan Trippe accepted United States aviation's highest annual prize, the

Collier Trophy The Robert J. Collier Trophy is awarded annually "for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles, the value of which has been t ...

, on behalf of PAA from President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

for the company's "establishment of the transpacific airline and the successful execution of extended overwater navigation and the regular operations thereof." US and PI First Transpacific Air Mail Stamps 1935

US and PI First Transpacific Air Mail Stamps 1935

Pan Am also used

Boeing 314 The Boeing 314 Clipper was an American long-range flying boat produced by Boeing from 1938 to 1941. One of the largest aircraft of its time, it had the range to cross the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. For its wing, Boeing re-used the design fro ...

flying boats for the Pacific route: in China, passengers could connect to domestic flights on the Pan Am-operated

China National Aviation Corporation The China National Aviation Corporation () was a Chinese airline which was nationalized after the Chinese Communist Party took control in 1949, and merged into the People's Aviation Company of China () in 1952. It was a major airline under the ...

(CNAC) network, co-owned with the

Chinese government The government of the People's Republic of China is based on a system of people's congress within the parameters of a Unitary state, unitary communist state, in which the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) enacts its policies through people's ...

. Pan Am flew to Singapore for the first time in 1941, starting a semi-monthly service that reduced San Francisco–Singapore travel times from 25 days to six days. Six large, long-range

flying boats were delivered to Pan Am in early 1939. On March 30, 1939, the '' Yankee Clipper'', piloted by Harold E. Gray, made the first-ever trans-Atlantic passenger flight. The first leg of the flight,

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Horta Horta may refer to: People * Horta (surname), a list of people Places * Horta, Africa, an ancient city and former bishopric in Africa Proconsularis, now in Tunisia and a Latin Catholic titular see * Horta, Azores, Portugal, a municipality a ...

, took 17 hours and 32 minutes and covered . The second leg from Horta to Pan Am's newly built airport in Lisbon took 7 hours and 7 minutes and covered . The Boeing 314 also enabled the start of scheduled weekly contract Foreign Air Mail (F.A.M. 18) service and later passenger flights from New York (Port Washington, L.I.) to both France and Britain. The Southern route to France was inaugurated for airmail on May 20, 1939, by the ''Yankee Clipper'' piloted by Arthur E. LaPorte flying via Horta, Azores, and Lisbon, Portugal to Marseilles. Passenger service over the route was added on June 28, 1939, by the ''

Dixie Clipper The ''Dixie Clipper'' (civil registration NC18605) was an American Boeing 314 Clipper flying boat, best known for in June 1939 beginning the first scheduled air service between America and Europe, the first American aircraft to carry passengers ...

'' piloted by R.O.D. Sullivan. The Eastbound trip departed every Wednesday at Noon and arrived at Marseilles on Friday at 3 pm GCT with return service leaving Marseilles on Sunday at 8 am and arriving at Port Washington on Tuesday at 7 am. The Northern transatlantic route to Britain was inaugurated for Air Mail service on June 24, 1939, by the ''Yankee Clipper'' piloted by Harold Gray flying via Shediac (New Brunswick), Botwood (Newfoundland), and

(Ireland) to

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. Passenger service was added on the Northern route on July 8, 1939, by the ''Yankee Clipper''. Eastbound flights left on Saturday at 7:30 am and arrived at Southampton on Sunday at 1 pm GCT. Westbound service departed Southampton on Wednesday at Noon and arrived at Port Washington on Thursday at 3 pm. After the outbreak of World War II in Europe on September 1, 1939, the terminus became Foynes until the service ceased for the winter on October 5 while transatlantic service to

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

via the Azores continued into 1941. During World War II, Pan Am flew over worldwide in support of military operations. The "Clippers" – the name hearkened back to the 19th-century fast-sailing

clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. The term was also retrospectively applied to the Baltimore clipper, which originated in the late 18th century. Clippers were generally narrow for their len ...

s – were the only American passenger aircraft of the time capable of intercontinental travel. To compete with ocean liners, the airline offered first-class seats on such flights, and the style of flight crews became more formal. Instead of being leather-jacketed, silk-scarved airmail pilots, the crews of the "Clippers" wore naval-style uniforms and adopted a set procession when boarding the aircraft. In 1940 Pan Am and

TWA The Twa, often referred to as Batwa or Mutwa (singular), are indigenous hunter-gatherer peoples of the Great Lakes Region in Central Africa, recognized as some of the earliest inhabitants of the area. Historically and academically, the term � ...

both received and began using the

Boeing 307 Stratoliner The Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner (or Strato-Clipper in Pan American Airways, Pan American service, or C-75 in United States Army Air Forces, USAAF service) is an American stressed-skin four-engine low-wing Conventional landing gear, tailwheel mo ...

, the first

pressurize A compressor is a mechanical device that increases the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume. An air compressor is a specific type of gas compressor. Many compressors can be staged, that is, the gas is compressed several times in steps or ...

d airliner to enter service. The Boeing 307's airline service was short-lived, as all were commandeered for military service when the United States entered World War II. During World War II most Clippers were pressed into military service. A new Pan Am subsidiary pioneered an air military-supply route across the Atlantic from Brazil to West Africa. The onward flight to Sudan and Egypt tracked an existing British civil air route. In January 1942, the ''

Pacific Clipper The ''Pacific Clipper'' (civil registration NC18602) was an American Boeing 314 Clipper flying boat, famous for having completed an unplanned nearly around-the-world flight in December 1941 and January 1942 as the California Clipper. Aviation ...

'' completed the first circumnavigation of the globe by a commercial airliner. Another first occurred in January 1943, when Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first

US president The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed For ...

to fly abroad, in the ''

''. During this period ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

'' creator

Gene Roddenberry Eugene Wesley Roddenberry Sr. (August 19, 1921 – October 24, 1991) was an American television screenwriter and producer who created the science fiction series and fictional universe ''Star Trek.'' Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up ...

was a Clipper pilot; he was aboard the ''Clipper Eclipse'' when it crashed in Syria on June 19, 1947. While waiting at Foynes, Ireland, for a Pan Am Clipper flight to New York in 1942, passengers were served a drink today known as Irish coffee by Chef Joe Sheridan.

Post-war expansion and modernization

The growing importance of air transport in the post-war era meant that Pan Am would no longer enjoy the official patronage it had been afforded in pre-war days to prevent the emergence of any meaningful competition, both at home and abroad.''Aviation News (Pan American Airways: Part 2)'', p. 48, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011 Although Pan Am continued to use its political influence to lobby for protection of its position as America's primary international airline, it encountered increasing competition – first from

American Export Airlines American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

across the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

to Europe, and subsequently from others including

to Europe,

Braniff Braniff Airways, Inc., operated as Braniff International Airways from 1948 until 1965, and then Braniff International from 1965 until the cessation of air operations, was an American airline that operated from 1928 until 1982 and continues to ...

to South America,

United United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

to Hawaii and Northwest Orient to East Asia, as well as five potential rivals to Mexico. This changed situation resulted from the new post-war approach the

Civil Aeronautics Board The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) was an agency of the federal government of the United States, formed in 1940 from a split of the Civil Aeronautics Authority and abolished in 1985, that regulated aviation services (including scheduled passe ...

(CAB) took toward the promotion of competition between major US carriers on key domestic and international scheduled routes compared with pre-war US aviation policy.''Aviation News (Pan American Airways: Part 2 – South American problems)'', p. 50, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011 Pan Am DC4 Cipper

American Overseas Airlines American Overseas Airlines (AOA) was an airline that operated between the United States and Europe between 1945 and 1950. It was headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. History American Export Airlines (AEA), commonly known as Am E ...

(AOA) was the first airline to begin regular landplane flights across the Atlantic on October 24, 1945. In January 1946, Pan Am scheduled seven

DC-4 The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960 ...

s a week east from

LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport ( ) – colloquially known as LaGuardia or simply LGA – is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City, situated on the North Shore (Long Island), northwestern shore of Long Island, bord ...

, five to London ( Hurn Airport) and two to Lisbon. The time to Hurn was 17 hours and 40 minutes, including stops, or 20 hours and 45 minutes to Lisbon. A Boeing 314 flying boat flew

LaGuardia LaGuardia Airport ( ) – colloquially known as LaGuardia or simply LGA – is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City, situated on the northwestern shore of Long Island, bordering Flushing Bay. Covering , the facility wa ...

to Lisbon once every two weeks in 29 hours and 30 minutes; flying boat flights ended shortly thereafter.The 1/46 Air Traffic Guide shows the B314 to Lisbon, but a B314 book says PA's last transatlantic B314 was in December 1945. TWA's transatlantic challenge—the impending introduction of its faster, pressurized

Lockheed Constellation The Lockheed Constellation ("Connie") is a propeller-driven, four-engined airliner built by Lockheed Corporation starting in 1943. The Constellation series was the first civil airliner family to enter widespread use equipped with a pressurized cab ...

s—resulted in Pan Am ordering its own

Constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

fleet at apiece. Pan Am began transatlantic Constellation flights on January 14, 1946, beating TWA by three weeks. In January 1946, a flight from Miami to Buenos Aires took 71 hours and 15 minutes in a Pan Am

DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper ...

, but the following summer, DC-4s flew Idlewild to Buenos Aires in 38 hours and 30 minutes. In January 1958, Pan Am's DC-7Bs flew New York to Buenos Aires in 25 hours and 20 minutes, while the

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

–Pan Am–Panagra DC-7B via

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

and

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

took 22 hours and 45 minutes.

Convair 240 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inroa ...

s replaced DC-3s and other pre-war types on Pan Am's shorter flights in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

and South America. Pan Am also acquired a few

Curtiss C-46 The Curtiss C-46 Commando is a low-wing, twin-engine aircraft derived from the Curtiss CW-20 pressurized high-altitude airliner design. Early press reports used the name "Condor III" but the Commando name was in use by early 1942 in company p ...

s for a freight network that eventually extended to Buenos Aires. In January 1946, Pan Am had no transpacific flights beyond Hawaii, but they soon resumed with DC-4s. In January 1958, the California to Tokyo flight was a daily

Stratocruiser The Boeing 377 Stratocruiser was a large long-range airliner developed from the C-97 Stratofreighter military transport, itself a derivative of the B-29 Superfortress. The Stratocruiser's first flight was on July 8, 1947. Design features inclu ...

that took 31 hours 45 minutes from San Francisco or 32 hours 15 minutes from Los Angeles. (A flight to Seattle and a connection to Northwest's

DC-7C The Douglas DC-7 is a retired American transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1953 to 1958. A derivative of the DC-6, it was the last major piston engine-powered transport made by Douglas, being developed shortly after ...

totaled 24 hours and 13 minutes from San Francisco, but Pan Am was not allowed to fly that route.)Pan American Airways System Timetable
(pdf) January 1, 1958 The Stratocruisers' double-deck fuselage with sleeping berths and a lower-deck lounge helped it compete with its rival. "Super Stratocruisers" with more fuel appeared on Pan Am's transatlantic routes in November 1954, making nonstop eastward and one-stop westward schedules more reliable. In June 1947, Pan Am started the first scheduled round-the-world airline flight. In September, the weekly DC-4 was scheduled to leave San Francisco at 22:00 Thursday as Flight 1, stopping at Honolulu, Midway,

Wake Wake or The Wake may refer to: Culture *Wake (ceremony), a ritual which takes place during some funeral ceremonies *Wakes week, an English holiday tradition * Parish Wake, another name of the Welsh ', the fairs held on the local parish's patron s ...

, Guam, Manila,

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

, and arriving in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

on Monday at 12:45, where it met Flight 2, a Constellation that had left New York at 23:30 Friday. The DC-4 returned to San Francisco as Flight 2; the Constellation left Calcutta at 13:30 Tuesday, stopped at

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, London, Shannon, Gander, and arrived LaGuardia Thursday at 14:55. A few months later, PA 3 took over the Manila route, while PA 1 shifted to Tokyo and Shanghai. All Pan Am round-the-world flights included at least one change of plane until

s took over in 1960. PA 1 became daily in 1962–63, making different en-route stops on different days of the week; in January 1963, it left San Francisco at 09:00 daily and was scheduled into New York 56 hours and 10 minutes later. Los Angeles replaced San Francisco in 1968; when Boeing 747s finished replacing 707s in 1971, all stops except

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

and Karachi were served daily in each direction. For a year or so in 1975–76, Pan Am finally completed the round-the-world trip, New York to New York. In January 1950, Pan American Airways Corporation officially became Pan American World Airways, Inc. (The airline had begun calling itself ''Pan American World Airways'' in 1943.)''Aviation News (Pan American Airways: Part 2 – New name, new aircraft)'', p. 50, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011 In September 1950 Pan Am completed the purchase of

from

American Airlines American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...

. That month Pan Am ordered 45

Douglas DC-6B The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, Douglas reworked it after the war to compete wi ...

s. The first, ''Clipper Liberty Bell'' (N6518C), inaugurated Pan Am's all-

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...

class ''Rainbow'' service between New York and London on May 1, 1952, to complement the all-

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

''President'' Stratocruiser service. From June 1954, DC-6Bs began replacing DC-4s on Pan Am's internal German routes.''BEA in Berlin''
, ''Flight International'', August 10, 1972, p. 180''Aeroplane – Pan Am and the IGS'', Vol. 116, No. 2972, pp. 4, 8, Temple Press, London, October 2, 1968 Pan Am introduced the

Douglas DC-7C The Douglas DC-7 is a retired American transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1953 to 1958. A derivative of the DC-6, it was the last major piston engine-powered transport made by Douglas, being developed shortly after t ...

"Seven Seas" on transatlantic routes in summer 1956. In January 1958 the DC-7C nonstop took 10 hours and 45 minutes from Idlewild to London, enabling Pan Am to hold its own against TWA's

Super Constellation The Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation is an American aircraft, a member of the Lockheed Constellation aircraft line. The aircraft was colloquially referred to as the Super Connie. The L-1049 was Lockheed's response to the successful Douglas DC ...

s and Starliners. In 1957, Pan Am started DC-7C flights direct from the West Coast of the United States to London and Paris, with a fuel stop in Canada or Greenland. The introduction of the faster

Bristol Britannia The Bristol Type 175 Britannia is a retired United Kingdom, British flight length, medium-to-long-range airliner built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1952 to meet British civilian aviation needs. During development two prototypes were lo ...

turboprop A turboprop is a Gas turbine, gas turbine engine that drives an aircraft Propeller (aeronautics), propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction drive, reduction gearbox, gas compressor, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propellin ...

British Overseas Airways Corporation British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the United Kingdom, British state-owned national airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II ...

(BOAC) between New York and London on December 19, 1957, ended Pan Am's competitive leadership there. In January 1958 Pan Am scheduled 47 flights a week east from Idlewild to Europe, Africa, the Middle East and beyond; the following August there were 65.

Jet age

Pan Am considered purchasing the world's first

jetliner A jet airliner or jetliner is an airliner powered by jet engines (passenger jet aircraft). Airliners usually have two or four jet engines; three-engined designs were popular in the 1970s but are less common today. Airliners are commonly cla ...

, the British

De Havilland Comet The de Havilland DH.106 Comet is the world's first commercial jet airliner. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland in the United Kingdom, the Comet 1 prototype first flew in 1949. It features an aerodynamically clean design with four ...

, but instead waited to become

launch customer in 1955 with an order for 20. The 707 was originally to be 144 inches (3.66 m) wide with five-abreast seating but

widened their design to match the DC-8. Pan Am's first scheduled jet flight was from New York Idlewild to Paris Le Bourget, stopping at Gander to refuel, on October 26, 1958. The Boeing 707-121 ''Clipper America'' N711PA carried 111 passengers.''Aviation News (Pan American Airways: Part 2 – Leading the way)'', p. 50, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011 It also purchased 25

Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is an early long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body jetliner designed and produced by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. Work began in 1952 towards the United States Air Force's (USA ...

, which could also seat six across; the combined order value for these first 707s and DC-8s was $269 million. Meanwhile Boeing improved their aircraft with the introduction of the Boeing 707-320 "Intercontinental" offering greater payload and range. Pan Am started taking deliveries of the Intercontinental in 1959–60, which together with the Douglas DC-8s arriving in March 1960, enabled non-stop transatlantic crossings with a viable

payload Payload is the object or the entity that is being carried by an aircraft or launch vehicle. Sometimes payload also refers to the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of t ...

in both directions. Pan Am eventually operated 19 Douglas DC-8s, disposing of them in 1970 after just ten years of service. Meanwhile Pan Am went on to operate a much larger total of 120 Boeing 707-320 "Intercontinental" aircraft, for just over 20 years, with this type becoming the mainstay of Pan Am operations until the arrival of the Boeing 747.

Widebody era

Pan Am Boeing 747 at Zurich Airport in May 1985

Pan Am was a

launch customer, placing a order for 25 in April 1966.''Aviation News (Pan American Airways: Part 2 – A falling star)'', p. 51, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011 On January 15, 1970 First Lady

Pat Nixon Thelma Catherine "Pat" Nixon (; March 16, 1912 – June 22, 1993) was First Lady of the United States from 1969 to 1974 as the wife of President Richard Nixon. She also served as the Second ladies and gentlemen of the United States, second lady ...

christened Pan Am Boeing 747 ''Clipper Young America'' at

Washington Dulles Washington Dulles International Airport ( ) – commonly known by its former name of Dulles International Airport, by its airport code of IAD, or simply as Dulles Airport – is an international airport in the Eastern United States, located w ...

. Pan Am's inaugural 747 service on the evening of January 21, 1970, was delayed for several hours by engine failure affecting the scheduled ''Clipper Young America''. ''Clipper Victor'' was substituted for the flight from New York John F. Kennedy to

London Heathrow Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

(''Clipper Victor'' was destroyed seven years later in the Tenerife air disaster, in a collision with a KLM 747-200). While on the tarmac at Heathrow, two students from

Aston University Aston University (abbreviated as ''Aston'' for post-nominals) is a public university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first College of a ...

boarded the aircraft undetected and distributed rag mags in the passenger accommodation as a publicity stunt. Pan Am carried 11 million passengers over in 1970, the year it introduced widebodied airline travel.

Supersonic plans

Pan Am was one of the first three airlines to sign options for the

Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde Concorde () is a retired Anglo-French supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France and the United Kingdom signed a treaty establishin ...

, but like other airlines that took out options – with the exception of BOAC and

Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...

– it did not purchase the supersonic jet. Pan Am was the first US airline to sign for the

Boeing 2707 The Boeing 2707 was an American supersonic passenger airliner project during the 1960s. After winning a competition for a government-funded contract to build an American supersonic airliner, Boeing began development at its facilities in Seatt ...

, the American

supersonic transport The ogive.html" ;"title="Concorde supersonic transport had an ogive">ogival delta wing, a slender fuselage and four underslung Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 engines. file:Tu-144.jpg, The Tupolev Tu-144 was the first SST to enter service and th ...

(SST) project, with 15 delivery positions reserved; these aircraft never saw service after

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

voted against additional funding in 1971.

Computerized reservations, Pan Am Building and Worldport

Pan Am commissioned

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

to build PANAMAC, a large computer that booked airline and hotel reservations, which was installed in 1964. It also held large amounts of information about cities, countries, airports, aircraft, hotels, and restaurants. The computer occupied the fourth floor of the

Pan Am Building The MetLife Building (also 200 Park Avenue and formerly the Pan Am Building) is a skyscraper at Park Avenue and 45th Street, north of Grand Central Terminal, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Designed in ...

, which was the largest commercial office building in the world for some time. The airline also built Worldport, a terminal building at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. It was distinguished by its elliptical, four-acre (16,000 m²) roof, suspended far from the outside columns of the terminal below by 32 sets of steel posts and cables. The terminal was designed to allow passengers to board and disembark via stairs without getting wet by parking the nose of the aircraft under the overhang. The introduction of the

jetbridge A jet bridge is an enclosed connector which most commonly extends from an airport terminal gate to an airplane, and in some instances from a port to a boat or ship, allowing passengers to board and disembark without heading outside and being exp ...

made this feature obsolete. The Worldport building was transferred to

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...

in 1991, and demolished by Delta and the

Port Authority A port authority (less commonly a port district) is a governmental or quasi-governmental public authority for a special-purpose district usually formed by a legislative body (or bodies) to operate ports and other transportation infrastructure. ...

in 2013. Pan Am built a gilded training building in the style of

Edward Durell Stone Edward Durell Stone (March 9, 1902 – August 6, 1978) was an American architect known for the formal, highly decorative buildings he designed in the 1950s and 1960s. His works include the Museum of Modern Art, in New York City; the Parliament H ...

Peak

At its peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Pan Am advertised under the slogan, the "World's Most Experienced Airline". It carried 6.7 million passengers in 1966, and by 1968, its 150 jets flew to 86 countries on every continent except for

over a scheduled route network of 81,410 unduplicated miles (131,000 km). During that period, the airline was profitable, and its cash reserves totaled . Most routes were between New York, Europe, and South America, and between Miami and the Caribbean. In 1964, Pan Am began a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

shuttle between New York's

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

, LaGuardia, and Newark airports and

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...

, operated by

New York Airways New York Airways was an American helicopter airline in the New York City area, founded in 1949 as a mail and cargo carrier. On 9 July 1953 it may have been the first scheduled helicopter airline to carry passengers in the United States, with he ...

. Aside from the DC-8, the Boeing 707 and 747, the Pan Am jet fleet included

Boeing 720B The Boeing 720 is a retired American narrow-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Announced in July 1957 as a 707 derivative for shorter flights from shorter runways, the 720 first flew on November 23, 1959. Its type certificate ...

s and 727s (the first aircraft to sport ''Pan Am'' rather than ''Pan American'' – titles). The airline later had

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...

s and

747SP The Boeing 747SP (for ''Special Performance'') is a shortened version of the Boeing 747 wide-body airliner, designed for a longer range. It is the highest flying subsonic passenger airliner, with a service ceiling of . Boeing needed a small ...

s (which could fly nonstop from New York to Tokyo),

Lockheed L-1011 Tristar The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar (pronounced "El-ten-eleven") is an American medium-to-long-range, wide-body trijet airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation. It was the third wide-body airliner to enter commercial operations, after the Boeing 747 ...

McDonnell-Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long-range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 1971 ...

s, and

Airbus A300 The Airbus A300 is Airbus' first production aircraft and the world's first Twinjet, twin-engine, double-aisle Wide-body aircraft, (wide-body) airliner. It was developed by ''Airbus Industrie GIE'', now merged into Airbus SE, and manufactured f ...

s and A310s. Pan Am owned the

InterContinental Hotel InterContinental Hotels & Resorts by IHG is a British-American luxury hotel brand created in 1946 by Pan Am founder Juan Trippe. It has been part of UK-based InterContinental Hotels Group since 1998. As of January 2023, there were 208 InterCont ...

chain and had a financial interest in the Falcon Jet Corporation, which held marketing rights to the

Dassault Falcon 20 The Dassault Falcon 20 is a French business jet developed and manufactured by Dassault Aviation. The first business jet developed by the firm, it became the first of a family of business jets to be produced under the same name; of these, both t ...

business jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people, typically business executives and high-ranking coworker, associates. Business jets are generally designed for faster air travel and more ...

in North America. The airline was involved in creating a missile-tracking range in the South Atlantic and operating a nuclear-engine testing laboratory in

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. In addition, Pan Am participated in several notable humanitarian flights. At its height Pan Am was well regarded for its modern fleet, innovative cabin design and experienced crews: cabin staff were multilingual and usually college graduates, hired from around the world, frequently with nursing training. Pan Am's onboard service and cuisine, inspired by

Maxim's de Paris Maxim's () is a restaurant in Paris, France, located at No. 3 Rue Royale in the 8th arrondissement. It is known for its Art Nouveau interior decor. In the mid 20th century, Maxim's was regarded as the most famous restaurant in the world. His ...

, were delivered "with a personal flair that has rarely been equaled."

Internal German Services (IGS) and other operations

Douglas DC-6B N5024K Pan Am OO-SDG at HAJ 02

From 1950 until 1990 Pan Am operated a comprehensive network of high-frequency, short-haul scheduled services between

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

and

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

, first with

Douglas DC-4 The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960 ...

s, then with DC-6Bs (from 1954) and

Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavier Boeing 707, 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter ...

s (from 1966).''Cold War Times''
, Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 7, February 2009 This had come about as a result of an agreement among the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

at the end of World War II which prohibited Germany from having its own airlines and restricted the provision of commercial air services from and to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

to air transport providers headquartered in these four countries. Rising

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

tensions between the Soviet Union and the three Western powers resulted in unilateral Soviet withdrawal from the quadripartite

Allied Control Commission Following the termination of hostilities in World War II, the Allies were in control of the defeated Axis countries. Anticipating the defeat of Germany, Italy and Japan, they had already set up the European Advisory Commission and a proposed Far ...

in 1948, culminating in the

division of Germany Division may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 to ...

the following year. These events, together with

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

insistence on a very narrow interpretation of the post-war agreement on the Western powers' access rights to Berlin, meant that until the end of the Cold War air transport in West Berlin continued to be confined to the carriers of the remaining Allied Control Commission powers, with aircraft required to fly across hostile

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

territory through three wide air corridors at a maximum altitude of .the cruising altitude of

propliner A propliner is a large, propeller-driven airliner. Typically, the term is used for piston engine airliners that flew before the large scale advent of airliners of the jet age. With the notable exception of the de Havilland Albatross and Fokker ...

s employed on the

Berlin Airlift The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, roa ...

The airline's West Berlin operation consistently accounted for more than half of the city's entire commercial air traffic during that period. For years, more passengers boarded Pan Am flights at Berlin Tempelhof than at any other airport. Pan Am operated a Berlin crew base of mainly German flight attendants and American pilots to staff its IGS flights. The German National flight attendants were later taken over by

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

when it acquired Pan Am's Berlin route authorities. Over the years other local flight attendant bases outside the US included London for intra-Europe and transatlantic flying, Warsaw, Istanbul and Belgrade for intra-Europe flights, a Tel Aviv base solely staffing the daily Tel Aviv-Paris-Tel Aviv service, a Nairobi base solely staffing the Nairobi-Frankfurt-Nairobi service as well as Delhi and Bombay bases for India-Frankfurt flights. Pan Am also operated Rest and Recreation (R&R) flights during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. These flights carried American service personnel for R&R leaves in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and other Asian cities.

Passenger traffic (1951–1989)

In August 1953 PAA scheduled passenger flights to 106 airports; in May 1968 to 122 airports; in November 1978 to 65 airports (plus a few freight-only airports); in November 1985 to 98 airports; in November 1991 to 46 airports (plus 14 more with only "Pan Am Express" prop flights).

Downturn

Fallout from 1973 oil crisis

Pan Am had invested in a large fleet of Boeing 747s, expecting that air travel would continue to increase. It did not, as the introduction of many wide-bodies by Pan Am and its competitors coincided with an economic slowdown. Reduced air travel after the

1973 oil crisis In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began after Eg ...

made the overcapacity problem worse. Pan Am was vulnerable, with its high overheads as a result of a large decentralized infrastructure. High fuel prices and its many older, less fuel-efficient narrow-bodied airplanes increased the airline's operating costs. Federal route awards to other airlines, such as the

Transpacific Route Case The Transpacific Route Case was a major administrative law case argued before the Civil Aeronautics Board for much of the 1960s. Before the case, the only U.S. airlines permitted to fly transpacific routes were Pan Am and Northwest Orient. Contine ...

, further reduced the number of passengers Pan Am carried and its profit margins. Pan Am 1970s flight attendant

On September 23, 1974, a group of Pan Am employees published an advertisement in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' to register their disagreement over federal policies that they felt were harming the financial viability of their employer. The ad cited discrepancies in airport landing fees, such as Pan Am paying $4,200 () to land a plane in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, while the Australian carrier,

Qantas Qantas ( ), formally Qantas Airways Limited, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and List of largest airlines in Oceania, Oceania. A foundi ...

, paid only $178 to land a jet in Los Angeles. The ad also contended that the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

was paying foreign airlines five times as much to carry US mail in comparison to Pan Am. Finally, the ad questioned why the Export-Import Bank of the United States loaned money to Japan, France, and Saudi Arabia at 6% interest while Pan Am paid 12%. By 1976, Pan Am had racked up of accumulated losses over a 10-year period, and its debts approached . This threatened the airline with bankruptcy. Former

vice president of operations, William T. Seawell, who had replaced Najeeb Halaby as Pan Am president in 1972, began implementing a turnaround strategy: trimming the network by 25%, slashing the 40,000-strong workforce by 30%, cutting wages, introducing stringent economies and rescheduling debt, and reducing the size of the fleet. These measures, aided by the use of tax-loss credits, enabled Pan Am to avert financial collapse and return to profitability in 1977.

Attempts to build a US domestic network

Since the 1930s, Juan Trippe had coveted domestic routes for Pan Am. Through the late 1950s and early 1960s, and in the mid-1970s, there were talks of merging the airline with a domestic operator such as

Eastern Air Lines Eastern Air Lines (also colloquially known as Eastern) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade ...

Trans World Airlines Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1930 until it was acquired by American Airlines in 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles ...

. As rival airlines convinced Congress that Pan Am would use its political clout to monopolize US air routes, the CAB repeatedly denied the airline permission to operate in the US, by growth or by a merger with another airline. Pan Am remained an American carrier operating international routes only (aside from

and

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

). The last time Pan Am was permitted to merge with another airline prior to the

deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

of the US airline industry was in 1950, when it took over American Overseas Airlines from American Airlines. After deregulation in 1978, more US domestic airlines began competing with Pan Am internationally.

National Airlines takeover

To acquire domestic routes, Pan Am, under president Seawell, set its eyes on National Airlines. Pan Am wound up in a bidding war with

Frank Lorenzo Francisco Anthony "Frank" Lorenzo (born May 19, 1940) is an American businessman. He managed Continental Airlines and Texas International Airlines between 1972 and 1990, through airline deregulation. Lorenzo also led the creation and management ...

Texas International Airlines Texas International Airlines Inc. was a United States local service carrier, known from 1940 until 1947 as Aviation Enterprises, until 1969 as Trans-Texas Airways (TTA), and as Texas International Airlines until 1982, when it merged with Contine ...

which boosted National's stock price, but Pan Am was granted permission to buy National in 1979 in what was described as the "Coup of the Decade". The acquisition of National Airlines for , completed on January 7, 1980, further burdened Pan Am's balance sheet, already under strain after financing the

s ordered in the mid-1960s. This acquisition did little to improve Pan Am's competitive position in relation to nimbler, lower-cost competitors in a deregulated industry, as National's north–south route structure provided insufficient feed at Pan Am's transatlantic and transpacific gateways in New York and Los Angeles. Apart from the

, the airlines had incompatible fleets and corporate cultures. Pan Am management handled the integration poorly and presided over an increase in labor costs as a result of harmonizing National's pay scales with Pan Am's. Although revenues increased by 62% from 1979 to 1980, fuel costs from the merger increased by 157% during a weak economic climate. Further "miscellaneous expenses" increased by 74%. Pan Am Boeing 737-200 at Zurich Airport in May 1985

Pan Am Boeing 737-200 at Zurich Airport in May 1985

Disposal of non-core assets and operational cutbacks

As 1980 progressed and the airline's financial situation worsened, Seawell began selling Pan Am's non-core assets. The first asset to be sold off was the airline's 50% interest in Falcon Jet Corporation in August. Later in November, Pan Am sold the Pan Am Building to the

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, w ...

for . In September 1981, Pan Am sold off its

InterContinental InterContinental Hotels & Resorts by IHG is a British-American luxury hotel brand created in 1946 by Pan Am founder Juan Trippe. It has been part of UK-based InterContinental Hotels Group since 1998. As of January 2023, there were 208 InterC ...

hotel chain. Before this transaction closed, Seawell was replaced by

C. Edward Acker Charles Edward Acker (born April 7, 1929) is an American businessman who was CEO of Braniff Airways, Air Florida, and Pan American World Airways. He is a principal at Intrepid Equity Group. Early years Acker was born in Dallas, Texas, on Apr ...

Air Florida Air Florida was an American low-cost carrier that operated under its own brand from 1972 to 1984. During the period from 1972 to 1978 Air Florida was an intrastate airline. Until a high-profile 1982 aircraft crash in Washington DC, Air Florida ...

's founder and ex-president, as well as a former

Braniff International Braniff Airways, Inc., operated as Braniff International Airways from 1948 until 1965, and then Braniff International from 1965 until the cessation of air operations, was an American airline that operated from 1928 until 1982 and continues to ...

executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dir ...

. The combined sale value of the InterContinental chain and the Falcon Jet Corp. stake was .''Aviation News (Pan American Airways: Part 2 – National acquisition)'', p. 52, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011 Acker followed up the asset disposal program he had inherited from his predecessor with operational cutbacks. Most prominent among these was the discontinuation of the round-the world service from October 31, 1982, when Pan Am ceased flying between

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

, Bangkok and Hong Kong due to the sector's unprofitability. To provide additional seating capacity for its 1983 spring/summer season, the airline also acquired three passenger

Boeing 747-200B The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. After the introduction of the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...

s from

Flying Tigers The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States Ar ...

, who took four of Pan Am's 747-100 freighters in return.

Fleet restructuring

Despite Pan Am's precarious financial situation, in the summer of 1984, Acker went ahead with an order for new Airbus models in wide-body and narrow-bodied aircraft, becoming the second American company to order Airbus aircraft, after Eastern Air Lines. These advanced aircraft, economically and operationally superior to the 747s and 727s Pan Am operated at the time, were intended to make the airline more competitive. In 1985, new A310-221s began replacing 727s on the Internal German Services (IGS) and A300s flew in the Caribbean networks later that year. From early 1986, additional new longer range A310-222s replaced some of the 747s on the slimmed-down transatlantic network following

ETOPS The Extended-range Twin-engine Operations Performance Standards (ETOPS) () are safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for Twinjet, twin-engine commercial passenger aircraft operations. They are a safety measu ...

certification (approval by the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

(FAA) of transoceanic flying with twin-engined aircraft). The first A310 ETOPS transatlantic route was

New York-JFK John F. Kennedy International Airport is a major international airport serving New York City and its metropolitan area. JFK Airport is located on the southwestern shore of Long Island, in Queens, New York City, bordering Jamaica Bay. It is ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Detroit to Heathrow Airport, London followed shortly after that. Pan Am's decision not to take delivery of the A320s and to sell its delivery positions to Braniff meant that the majority of its short-haul US domestic and European feeder routes, and most of its IGS services, continued to be flown with obsolete 727s until the airline's demise. This put Pan Am at a disadvantage against rivals operating state-of-the-art aircraft with greater passenger appeal. In September 1984, Pan American World Airways created a holding company called ''Pan Am Corporation'' to assume ownership and control of the airline and the services division.

Sale of Pacific division

Given the airline's dire state, in April 1985, Acker sold Pan Am's entire Pacific Division, which consisted of 25% of its entire route system and their major Airline hub, hub at Narita International Airport, Tokyo-Narita to

for . This sale also enabled Pan Am to address fleet incompatibility issues related to the earlier acquisition of National Airlines as it included Pan Am's Pratt & Whitney JT9D-powered 747SPs, its Rolls-Royce RB211-powered Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, L-1011-500s and the General Electric CF6-powered McDonnell-Douglas DC-10, DC-10s inherited from National, which were transferred to United along with the Pacific routes. The sale came the same year as 1985 Pan Am strike, a month-long strike held by the Transport Workers Union of America.

Establishment of local feeder networks

In the early 1980s, Pan Am contracted several regional airlines (Air Atlanta, Colgan Air, Emerald Air (United States), Emerald Air, Empire Airlines (1976–1985), Empire Airlines, Presidential Airways (scheduled), Presidential Airways and Republic Airlines (1979–1986), Republic Airlines) to operate feeder flights under the ''Pan Am Express'' branding. The acquisition of Pennsylvania-based regional airline, commuter airline Ransome Airlines for (which was finalized in 1987) was meant to address the issue of providing additional feed for Pan Am's mainline services at its hubs in New York, Los Angeles and Miami in the United States, and Berlin in Germany. The renamed Pan Am Express operated routes mostly from New York, as well as Berlin, Germany. Miami services were added in 1990. However, the regional Pan Am Express operation provided only an incremental feed to Pan Am's international route system, which was now focused on the Atlantic Division.

US East coast shuttle

In an attempt to gain a presence on the busy Washington, D.C., Washington–New York–Boston commuter air corridor, the Ransome Airlines, Ransome acquisition was accompanied by the $100 million purchase of New York Air's shuttle service between Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C. This parallel move was intended to enable Pan Am to provide a high-frequency service for high-Yield management#Airlines, yield business travelers in direct competition with the long-established, successful Eastern Air Lines Shuttle operation. The renamed Delta Shuttle, Pan Am Shuttle began operating out of LaGuardia Airport's refurbished historic Marine Air Terminal in October 1986. However, it did not address the pressing issue of Pan Am's continuing lack of a strong domestic feeder network.

Financial, operational and reputational setbacks

In 1987, Towers Financial Corporation, led by its CEO Steven Hoffenberg and his consultant Jeffrey Epstein, unsuccessfully tried to take over Pan Am in a corporate raid with Towers Financial as their raiding vessel. Their bid failed. Thomas G. Plaskett, a former American Airlines and Continental Airlines, Continental executive, replaced Acker as president in January 1988 (joining Pan Am from the latter). While a program to refurbish Pan Am aircraft and improve the company's on-time performance began showing positive results (in fact, Pan Am's most profitable quarter ever was the third quarter of 1988), on December 21, 1988, the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, Pan Am flight 103 above Lockerbie, Scotland, resulted in 270 fatalities. Faced with a $300 million lawsuit filed by more than 100 families of the victims, the airline subpoenaed records of six US government agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the United States Department of State, State Department. Though the records suggested that the US government was aware of warnings of a bombing and failed to pass the information to the airline, the families claimed Pan Am was attempting to shift the blame. Also, in December 1988 the FAA fined Pan Am for 19 security failures, out of the 236 that were detected amongst 29 airlines.

Failed bid for Northwest Airlines

In June 1989, Plaskett presented Northwest Airlines with a $2.7 billion takeover bid that was backed by Bankers Trust, JP Morgan Chase#J.P. Morgan & Company, Morgan Guaranty Trust, Citigroup, Citicorp and Bache & Co.#Acquisition by Prudential, Prudential-Bache. The proposed merger was Pan Am's final attempt to create a strong domestic network to provide sufficient feed for the two remaining mainline hubs at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York JFK and Miami. It was also intended to help the airline regain its status as a global airline by re-establishing a sizable transpacific presence. The merger was expected to result in annual savings of $240 million. However, billionaire financier Al Checchi outbid Pan Am by presenting Northwest's directors with a superior proposal.

Fallout from 1990–91 Persian Gulf War

The Gulf War, first Gulf War triggered by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990, caused fuel prices to rise, which severely depressed global economic activity. This in turn caused a sharp contraction of worldwide air travel demand, plunging once profitable operations, including Pan Am's prime transatlantic routes, into steep losses. These unforeseen events constituted a further major blow to Pan Am, which was still reeling from the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103, Lockerbie disaster. To shore up its finances, Pan Am sold most of its routes serving London Heathrow – arguably Pan Am's most important international destination – to United Airlines with two Boeing 747s. This left Pan Am with only two daily London flights, serving Detroit and Miami, which both used Gatwick Airport, Gatwick as their London terminal from the start of the 1990/91 winter timetable. Further asset disposals included Pan Am's sale of its IGS routes to Berlin to

for , which became effective at the same time and brought the total value of asset disposals to . These measures were accompanied by the elimination of 2,500 jobs (8.6% of its workforce). These cutbacks were announced by the airline in September 1990.

Bankruptcy

Pan Am was forced to file for Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code, bankruptcy protection on January 8, 1991.

purchased the remaining profitable assets of Pan Am, including its remaining European routes (except one from Miami to Paris), and Frankfurt International Airport, Frankfurt mini hub, the Delta Shuttle, Shuttle operation, 45 jets, and the Worldport (Pan Am), Pan Am Worldport at John F. Kennedy Airport, for $416 million. Delta also injected $100 million becoming a 45 percent owner of a reorganized but smaller Pan Am serving the Caribbean, Central and South America from a main airline hub, hub in Miami. The airline's creditors would hold the other 55 percent.''Aviation News (Pan American Airways: Part 2 – Down ... but not quite out)'', p. 52, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011''Comment''
, ''Flight International'', December 18–24, 1991, p. 3 The Boston–New York LaGuardia–Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington National ''Pan Am Shuttle'' service was taken over by Delta Air Lines, Delta in September 1991. Two months later Delta assumed all of Pan Am's remaining transatlantic traffic rights, except Miami to Paris and London. In November 1991, all members of Pan Am's frequent flyer program, WorldPass, were transferred, with their accumulated miles, to Delta's frequent flyer program, SkyMiles. In October 1991, former Douglas Aircraft Company, Douglas Aircraft executive Russell Ray Jr., was hired as Pan Am's new president and CEO. As part of this restructuring, Pan Am relocated its headquarters from the Pan Am Building in New York City to new offices in the Miami area in preparation for the airline's relaunch from both Miami and New York on November 1. The new airline would have operated approximately 60 aircraft and generated about $1.2 billion in annual revenues with 7,500 employees. Following the relaunch, Pan Am continued to sustain heavy losses. Revenue throughout October and November 1991 fell short of what had been anticipated in the reorganization plan, with Delta claiming that Pan Am was losing $3 million a day. This undermined Delta's, Financial District, Manhattan, Wall Street's and the traveling public's confidence in the viability of the reorganized Pan Am. Pan Am Boeing 747-100 Manteufel

Pan Am's senior executives outlined a projected shortfall of between $100 million and possibly $200 million, with the airline requiring a $25 million installment just to fly through the following week. On the evening of December 3, Pan Am's Creditors Committee advised United States bankruptcy court, US Bankruptcy Judge Cornelius Blackshear that it was close to convincing an airline (TWA) to invest $15 million to keep Pan Am operating. A deal with TWA owner Carl Icahn could not be struck. Pan Am opened for business at 9:00 am and within the hour, Ray was forced to withdraw Pan Am's plan of reorganization and execute an immediate shutdown plan for Pan Am. Pan Am ceased operations on December 4, 1991, following a decision by Delta CEO Ron Allen and other senior executives not to go ahead with the final $25 million payment Pan Am was scheduled to receive the weekend after Thanksgiving (United States), Thanksgiving.Salpukas, Agis.
Its Cash Depleted, Pan Am Shuts
." ''

''. Thursday December 5, 1991. Retrieved August 28, 2009. As a result, some 7,500 Pan Am employees lost their jobs, thousands of whom had worked in the New York City area and were preparing to move to the Miami area to work at Pan Am's new headquarters near Miami International Airport. Economists predicted that 9,000 jobs in the Miami area, including jobs at companies not connected to Pan Am that were dependent on the airline's presence, would be lost after it folded. The carrier's last flown scheduled operation was Pan Am flight 436 which departed that day from Bridgetown, Barbados, at 2 pm (Eastern Time Zone, EST) for Miami under the command of Captain Mark Pyle flying ''Clipper Goodwill'', a Boeing 727-200 (N368PA). Delta was sued for more than $2.5 billion on December 9, 1991, by the Pan Am Creditors Committee. Shortly thereafter, a large group of former Pan Am employees sued Delta. In December 1994, a federal judge ruled in favor of Delta, concluding that it was not liable for Pan Am's demise. Pan Am was the third American major airline to shut down in 1991, after

and Midway Airlines (1976–1991), Midway Airlines.

After serving only two months as Pan Am's CEO, Ray was replaced by Peter McHugh to supervise the sale of Pan Am's remaining assets by Pan Am's Creditor's Committee. Pan Am's last remaining hub (at Miami International Airport) was split during the following years between United Airlines and American Airlines. TWA's Carl Icahn purchased Pan Am Express at a court ordered bankruptcy auction for $13 million, renaming it Trans World Express. The Pan Am brand was sold to Charles Cobb, CEO of Cobb Partners and former Ambassadors of the United States, United States Ambassador to the Iceland#Republic of Iceland (1944–present), Republic of Iceland under George H.W. Bush, President George H.W. Bush and Under Secretary of the United States Department of Commerce, US Department of Commerce under Ronald Reagan, President Reagan. Cobb, along with Hanna-Frost partners invested in a Pan Am (1996-1998), new Pan American World Airways headed by veteran airline executive Martin R. Shugrue Jr, a former Pan Am executive with 20 years of experience at the original carrier. In his book, ''Pan Am: An Aviation Legend'', Barnaby Conrad III contends that the collapse of the original Pan Am was a combination of corporate mismanagement, government indifference to protecting its prime international carrier, and flawed regulatory policy. He cites an observation made by former Pan Am Vice President for External Affairs, Stanley Gewirtz: Under the terms of bankruptcy, the airline's International Flight Academy in Miami was permitted to remain open. It was established as an independent training organization beginning in 1992 under its current name, Pan Am International Flight Academy. The company began operating by using the flight simulation and type rating training center of the defunct Pan Am. In 2006, American Capital Strategies invested $58 million into the academy. Owned by the parent of Japanese airline All Nippon Airways as of October 2014, Pan Am International Flight Academy is the only surviving division of Pan American World Airways.

Reuse of name

Aside from the aforementioned flight academy, the Pan Am brand has been resurrected four times since 1991, but the reincarnations were related to the original Pan Am in name only.

Airlines

Pan American World Airways trademarks and some assets were purchased by Eclipse Holdings, Inc., at an auction by the US Bankruptcy Court on December 2–3, 1993. The scheduled airline rights were sold to Pan American Airways on December 20–29, 1993, by Eclipse Holdings, which was to retain the Pan Am charter rights and operate through its subsidiary, Pan Am Charters, Inc., now Airways Corporation.''Aviation News (Pan American Airways: Part 2 – Down ... but not quite out)'', p. 53, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011 Pan Am (1996-1998), The first reincarnation of the original Pan Am operated from 1996 to 1998, with a focus on low-cost, long-distance flights between the United States and the

with the IATA airline designator ''PN''. Eclipse Holdings (Pan Am II) later rescinded the Asset Purchase Agreement for cause and issued a cease and desist in January 1996, affecting all downstream transactions thereafter (as noted in US DOT proceeding OST-99-5945, and SEC 10-Q dated August 24, 1997, Plan of Reorganization (S.D. FL), and others). Pan Am Boeing 727-222 N342PA 20071227

Pan Am (1998-2004), The second was unrelated to the first and was a small regional carrier based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which operated between 1998 and 2004. It found its niche in operating usually at smaller airports near major ones, such as Portsmouth International Airport at Pease, Pease International (Portsmouth), and Gary/Chicago International Airport, Gary Municipal Airport in Indiana. It used the International Air Transport Association, IATA code ''PA'', and the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO code ''PAA''. Boston-Maine Airways, a sister company of the second reincarnation, operated the "Pan Am Clipper Connection" brand from 2004 to February 2008. A domestic airline in the Dominican Republic, descended from the company's first reincarnation, traded until March 23, 2012, as Pan Am Dominicana. In November 2010, Pan American Airways, Incorporated, was resurrected for the fifth time by World-Wide Consolidated Logistics, Inc. The reincarnated operator is based at Brownsville/South Padre Island International Airport in

. The airline's inaugural flight was to Monterrey, Mexico, on November 12, 2010. The airline had said it would carry cargo only at first but intended to announce passenger service by 2011. Due to serious legal charges that were laid against the company's CEO Robert L. Hedrick in 2012, including child pornography charges for which he was eventually convicted, the company lost its bid with the FAA to pursue passenger or cargo flights of any kind. In 2025, Pan Am will return with a short lived Air charter, charter service, with the help of the Pan Am museum. These transatlantic routes will start on June 27, and will end on July 8, with a charter Boeing 757, Boeing 757-200 with a Business class 50 seat configuration.

Railways

In 1998, Guilford Transportation Industries purchased Pan American World Airways and all related naming rights and intellectual properties. The railway was later operated as Pan Am Railways. In 2022, the company was acquired by CSX Corporation.

Apparel

Korean fashion company SJ Group opened a Pan Am flagship store in Seoul in 2022 after acquiring a license to produce Pan Am-branded apparel and accessories.

Other

In 2020, Funko Games released a ''Pan Am'' board game, in which players play as airlines in competition with Pan Am. In 2022, Timex Group USA, Timex released an exclusive watch with Pan Am branding. Due to the popularity, it was re-released in 2023.

Comeback

In June 2025, Pan Am Global Holdings, the entity managing the Pan Am brand, announced it was exploring the feasibility of reintroducing Pan Am as a scheduled commercial airline. The company partnered with aviation consulting firm AVi8 Air Capital to assess market dynamics, fleet strategy, and operational infrastructure for the potential relaunch. Craig Carter, CEO of Pan Am Global Holdings, stated that the initiative aims to honor Pan Am's legacy while adopting a sustainable and forward-thinking approach to modern air travel.

Destinations

List of destinations served by Pan Am at its peak

Record-setting flights

At the outbreak of the war in the Pacific in December 1941, the ''

'' was en route to New Zealand from San Francisco. Rather than risk flying back to Honolulu and being shot down by Japanese fighters, it was directed to fly west to New York, New York, New York. Starting on December 8, 1941, at

, New Zealand, the ''Pacific Clipper'' covered over 31,500 miles (50,694 km), with stops including Surabaya,

, Bahrain, Khartoum and Kinshasa, Leopoldville. The ''Pacific Clipper'' landed at Pan American's LaGuardia Airport, LaGuardia Field seaplane base at 7:12 on the morning of January 6, 1942, completing the first commercial plane flight to circumnavigate the world. During the mid-1970s, Pan Am set two round-the-world records. Liberty Bell Express, a Boeing 747SP, Boeing 747SP-21 named ''Clipper Liberty Bell'', broke the commercial round-the-world record set by a Flying Tiger Line Boeing 707 with a new record of 46 hours, 50 seconds. The flight left New York-JFK on May 1, 1976, and returned on May 3. The flight stopped only in New Delhi and Tokyo, where a strike among the airport workers delayed it two hours. The flight beat the Flying Tiger Line's record by 16 hours 24 minutes. In 1977, to commemorate its 50th birthday, Pan Am organized Flight 50, a round-the-world flight from San Francisco to San Francisco, this time over the North Pole and the South Pole with stops in

, Cape Town Airport, Cape Town and Auckland Airport, Auckland. 747SP-21 ''Clipper New Horizons'' was the former ''Liberty Bell'', making the plane the only one to go around the globe over the Equator and the poles. The flight made it in 54 hours, 7 minutes, and 12 seconds, creating seven new world records certified by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, FAI. Captain Walter H. Mullikin, who commanded this flight, also commanded the Liberty Bell Express flight.

Corporate affairs

For much of its history the corporate headquarters were the

in Midtown Manhattan,

. When

had the company offices relocated to New York City, he rented space in a building on 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd Street. This facility was across from the Grand Central Terminal. From a period in the 1930s until 1963, the airline headquarters were in the Chrysler BuildingClausen, p
137
. on 135 East 42nd Street, also in Midtown Manhattan. In September 1960 Trippe and developer Erwin Wolfson signed a lease agreement for the airline to occupy worth of space for the headquarters, totaling about 15 floors, and a new main ticket office at the intersection of 45th Street and Vanderbilt Avenue. At the time, the 30-year lease in the Chrysler Building was nearing the end of its life. The new lease was scheduled for 25 years.

In popular culture

Pan Am held a lofty position in the popular culture of the

era. One of the most famous images in which a Pan Am plane formed a backdrop was the Beatles' February 7, 1964, arrival at John F. Kennedy Airport aboard a Pan Am Boeing 707-320, Boeing 707-321, ''Clipper Defiance''. From 1964 to 1968, con artist Frank Abagnale, Frank Abagnale Jr., claims to have masqueraded as a Pan Am pilot while still a minor, Deadheading (employee), dead-heading to many destinations in the cockpit jump seat. He also claims to have used Pan Am's preferred hotels, paid the bills with bogus checks, and later cashed fake payroll checks in Pan Am's name. Abagnale and his co-author Stan Redding documented this era in the memoir ''Catch Me If You Can (book), Catch Me if You Can'', which became a Catch Me if You Can, film in 2002. Abagnale called Pan Am the "The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Ritz-Carlton of airlines", and noted that the days of luxury in airline travel were over. However, in 2021, journalist Alan C. Logan asserted that Frank Abagnale's claims were for the most part fabrications. Logan claims that Abagnale spent most of his late teenage years in prison, and had only written a handful of false Pan Am checks that were rapidly detected as false, and landed him back in prison. In August 1964, Pan Am accepted the reservation of Gerhard Pistor, a journalist from Vienna, Austria, as the first passenger for future flights to the Moon. He paid a deposit of 500 Austrian Schillings (roughly US$20 at the time). About 93,000 people followed on the Pan Am waiting list, called "First Moon Flights Club". Pan Am expected the flight to depart about 2000. A fictional Pan Am "Space Clipper", a commercial spaceplane called the Orion III spaceplane, ''Orion III'', had a prominent role in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film ''2001: A Space Odyssey (film), 2001: A Space Odyssey'' and was featured prominently in one of the movie's posters. Plastic models of the 2001 Pan Am Space Clipper were sold by both the Aurora Plastics Corporation, Aurora Company and Airfix at the time of the film's release in 1968. A satire of the movie by ''Mad (magazine), Mad'' magazine in 1968 showed Pan Am female flight attendants in "Actionwear by Monsanto" outfits as they joked about the problems their passengers faced while vomiting in zero gravity. The film's sequel, ''2010 (film), 2010'', also featured Pan Am in a background television commercial in the home of David Bowman (Space Odyssey), David Bowman's widow with the slogan, "At Pan Am, the sky is no longer the limit." The airline appeared in other movies, notably in several James Bond films. The company's Boeing 707s were featured in ''Dr. No (film), Dr. No'' (1962) and ''From Russia with Love (film), From Russia with Love'' (1963), while a Pan Am 747 and the Worldport appeared in the 1973 film ''Live and Let Die (film), Live and Let Die''. A term used in popular psychology is "Pan American (or Pan Am) Smile". Named after the smile stewardesses gave to passengers in the airline's television commercials. It consists of a Wikt:perfunctory, perfunctory mouth movement without the activity of facial muscles around the eyes that characterizes a Duchenne smile, genuine smile. The 1982 film ''Blade Runner'' contains several prominent shots of advertisements for Pan Am. The 2017 sequel ''Blade Runner 2049'' also shows a Pan Am sign in an establishing shot. In 2011, American Broadcasting Company, ABC announced a new television series based on the lives of a 1960s Pan Am flight crew. The series, titled ''Pan Am (TV series), Pan Am'', began airing in September 2011. It was canceled in May 2012.

Flight crews

Critical to Pan Am's success as an airline was the proficiency of its flight crews, who were rigorously trained in long-distance flight, seaplane anchorage and berthing operations, over-water navigation, radio procedure, aircraft repair, and marine tides. During the day, use of the compass while judging drift from sea currents was normal procedure; at night, all flight crews were trained to use celestial navigation. In bad weather, pilots used dead reckoning and timed turns, making successful landings at fogged-in harbors by landing out to sea, then taxiing the plane into port. Many pilots had Merchant Navy, merchant marine certifications and radio licenses as well as pilot certificates. A Pan Am flight captain would normally begin his career years earlier as a radio operator or even mechanic, steadily gaining his licenses and working his way up the flight crew roster to navigator, Second Officer (civil aviation), second officer, and First Officer (civil aviation), first officer. Before World War II, it was not unusual for a captain to make engine repairs at remote locations.Masland, William M., ''Through the Back Doors of the World in a Ship That Had Wings'', Vantage Press (1984) Pan Am's mechanics and support staff were similarly trained. Newly hired applicants were frequently paired with experienced flight mechanics in several areas of the company until they had achieved proficiency in all aircraft types. Emphasis was placed on learning to maintain and overhaul aircraft in harsh seaborne environments when faced with logistical difficulties, as might be expected in a small foreign port without an aviation infrastructure or even an adequate road network. Many crews supported repair operations by flying in spare parts to planes stranded overseas, in some cases performing repairs themselves.

Acquisitions and divestments

* 1927: Pan American Airways, Atlantic, Gulf, and Caribbean Airways, and Aviation Corporation of the Americas founded. * 1928: All three precursor firms merge into Aviation Corporation of the Americas, with Pan American Airways as its brand. * 1928: 50% interest of Peruvian Airways acquired by Pan American. * 1929: Mexicana de Aviación (1921–2010), Mexicana of Mexico acquired by Pan Am. * 1929:

(PANAGRA), operating on the west coast of South America, formed as a 50–50 joint venture with W. R. Grace and Company. * 1930: New York, Rio, and Buenos Aires Line (NYRBA) acquired, allowing Pan Am to operate along the east coast of South America. NYRBA's Brazilian subsidiary is renamed

. * 1931: Majority control of

of Colombia acquired in secret. * 1931: Pacific Alaska Airways formed. * 1931: Northeast Airlines, Boston-Maine Airways begins contract operations. * 1932: Aerovias Centrales, S.A. formed. * 1932: Cubana de Aviación, Cubana of Cuba acquired. * 1932: Uraba, Medellin and Central Airways acquired. * 1933:

(CNAC) acquired. * 1933: Servicios Aviacion de Guatemala acquired. * 1933: Panama Airways acquired. * 1937: CNAC merged with China Airways. * 1940: Minority holders of SCADTA bought-out. * 1940: Aerovías de Guatemala formed. * 1940: 40% of Aeroméxico, Aeronaves de Mexico acquired. * 1941: SCADTA merged into SACO (Colombia), SACO to form Avianca, owned by the Colombian government. * 1943: Avensa, Aerovías Venezolanas, S.A. (AVENSA) of Venezuela founded as a joint venture. * 1943: 45% interest of Bahamas Airways acquired. * 1944: Cuban investors acquire 56% of Cubana through a initial public offering, stock float. * 1945: SAHSA was founded, being owned 40% of Pan Am, 40% of the Honduran Government, and 20% from private carriers. * 1946:

, a chain of hotels, founded. * 1946: Brazilian investors bought 4% of

, with Pan Am's share decreased to 48%. * 1949: Pan Am acquires a stake in Middle East Airlines (MEA), as well as a management contract. * 1949: Pan Am's 20% stake in CNAC acquired by Chinese Nationalists, with assets split variously between the Nationalists and the People's Republic of China. * 1950:

(AOA) acquired from

. * 1954: Pan Am receives a contract to operate Patrick Air Force Base. * 1954: Cuban government acquires Pan Am's remaining stake in Cubana. * 1955: Pan Am's 49% stake in MEA is sold to

(BOAC). * 1959: Mexican government acquires Pan Am's stake in Mexicana and Aeronaves de México (later renamed Aeroméxico). * 1961: Brazilian investors acquires all the Pan Am's share in

. * 1967: PANAGRA sold to Braniff International Airways. * 1970: Pan Am's 40% stake in SAHSA acquired by Transportes Aéreos Nacionales (TAN). * 1976: AVENSA stake divested to Venezuelan government. * 1980: National Airlines (NA), National Airlines acquired. * 1981:

sold to MetLife. * 1981: InterContinental sold to Grand Metropolitan. * 1986: Pacific Division sold to

. * 1988: Pan Am's queue for 50 A320 sold to Braniff (1983–1990), Braniff Inc. * 1989: Pan Am World Services (PAWS) sold to Johnson Controls. * 1990:

-based routes sold to United Airlines. * 1990: Internal German Services Division sold to

. * 1991: Atlantic Division, Pan Am Shuttle, and New York City Worldport sold to

. * 1991: Caribbean/Latin American routes sold to

and

at auction.

Accidents and incidents

Pan Am had in total 95 incidents, which the first accident occurred in 1928 when a Fokker C-2 crashed killing 1 person. The two most notable incidents are listed below: * Pan Am Flight 103, Flight 103 * Tenerife airport disaster, Flight 1736

Fleet

Fleet in 1990

The following were aircraft operated Pan Am and Pan Am Express in March 1990, a year and a half before the airline's collapse:

Fleet history

All the aircraft ever operated by Pan Am:

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * Clausen, Meredith. ''The Pan Am Building and the Shattering of the Modernist Dream''. MIT Press, 2005. , 9780262033244. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
''Aviation News'' online

External links

Pan Am Brands

Pan Am Historical Foundation
supported by Timothy Mellon
Pan American World Airways, Inc. Records
– University of Miami, Special Collections
The Pan Am Museum Foundation, Inc.

everythingPanAm.com
– a virtual Pan Am museum
PanAmAir.org
– a site working to preserve the memories of Pan Am *
Old photographs of Pan Am aircraft and advertisements

P.J. Muller Collection of Pan Am Menus
at The Museum of Flight Digital Collections
Pan Am
– Delta Flight Museum {{Authority control Pan Am, Defunct airlines of the United States Airlines established in 1927 Airlines disestablished in 1991 History of Key West, Florida Landmarks in Key West, Florida Collier Trophy recipients American companies established in 1927 American companies disestablished in 1991 Defunct seaplane operators