View source for Pan Am

{{Short description|Defunct flag carrier airline of the United States (1927–1991)}}
{{Hatnote group|
{{about|the original Pan Am airline|later airlines using the name|Pan Am (1996–1998)|and|Pan Am (1998–2004)}}
{{Other uses}}
}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox airline
| airline = Pan American World Airways
| logo = Pan Am Logo.svg
| logo_caption = Logo used from 1973 to 1991
| logo_size = 150
| image = File:Boeing 747-212B, Pan American World Airways - Pan Am AN1104795.jpg
| alt = 
| caption = Pan Am [[Boeing 747|Boeing 747-212B]] ''Clipper Water Witch'' (N728PA) at [[Heathrow Airport|London Heathrow Airport]] in 1984.
| IATA = PA
| ICAO = PAA
| callsign = CLIPPER
| founded = {{start date and age|1927|03|14}}<br />(as ''Pan American Airways'')
| commenced = {{start date and age|1927|10|19}}<br />(as ''Pan American Airways'')
| ceased = {{end date and age|1991|12|04}}
| aoc = 
| bases = 
| hubs = {{ubl|class=nowrap
  | [[Berlin Tegel Airport#Pan American World Airways|Berlin–Tegel]] (1975–1990)
  | [[Berlin Tempelhof Airport#Postwar commercial use|Berlin–Tempelhof]] (1950–1975)
  | [[Frankfurt Airport|Frankfurt]]
  | [[Heathrow Airport|London–Heathrow]] (before April 1991)
  | [[Miami International Airport|Miami]]
  | [[John F. Kennedy International Airport|New York–JFK]]
  | [[Haneda Airport|Tokyo–Haneda]] (1947–1978)
  | [[Narita International Airport|Tokyo–Narita]] (1978–1986)}}
| secondary_hubs = 
| focus_cities = {{ubl|class=nowrap
  | [[Kai Tak Airport|Hong Kong–Kai Tak]] (before 1986)
  | [[George Bush Intercontinental Airport|Houston–Intercontinental]] (1980–1986)
  | [[Los Angeles International Airport|Los Angeles]] (before 1986)
  | [[San Francisco International Airport|San Francisco]] (before 1986)
  | [[Washington Dulles International Airport|Washington–Dulles]] (before 1990)}}
| frequent_flyer = WorldPass
| alliance = 
| subsidiaries = {{ubl|class=nowrap
  | [[InterContinental|International Hotels Corporation]] (1946–1981)
  | [[SAHSA]] (40%) (1945–1970)
  | [[Pan Am Express]] (1987–1991)
  | [[Pan Am Shuttle]] (1986–1991)
  | [[Pan American-Grace Airways|Panagra]] (50%) (1928–1967)
  | [[Uraba, Medellin and Central Airways|Uraba, Medellin and Central<br>Airways]] (100%) (1932–1959)}}
| fleet_size = 226
| destinations = 87 countries on six continents at its peak in 1968<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.everythingpanam.com/images/1948%20Globe%20ad.jpg |website=everything Pan Am |title=Only Pan Am Flies to all 6 continents! |date=1948 |access-date=27 March 2022}}</ref>
| parent = Pan Am Corporation
| num_employees = 
| headquarters = {{bulleted list|
  | [[MetLife Building|Pan Am Building]], [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]]
  | [[Miami]], [[Florida]]}}
| key_people = {{ubl|class=nowrap
  | [[Juan Trippe]] ([[Chief executive officer|CEO]], 1927–1968)
  | [[Harold E. Gray]] (CEO, 1968–1969)
  | [[Najeeb Halaby]] (CEO, 1969–1971)
  | [[William Seawell]] (CEO, 1971–1981)
  | [[Ed Acker]] (CEO, 1981–1988)
  | [[Thomas G. Plaskett]] (CEO, 1988–1991)
  | Russell L. Ray Jr. (CEO, 1991)}}
| website = 
}}

'''Pan American World Airways''', originally founded as '''Pan American Airways'''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pan American World Airways, Inc |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pan-American-World-Airways-Inc |access-date=2022-05-20 |website=Britannica}}</ref> and more commonly known as '''Pan Am''', was an [[airline]] that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas [[flag carrier]] of the [[United States]] for much of the 20th century. The first airline to fly worldwide, it pioneered innovations such as [[Wide-body aircraft|jumbo jet]]s and [[computerized reservation system]]s,<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |last=Ash |first=Andy |title=The rise and fall of Pan Am |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/how-pan-am-went-from-pioneering-air-travel-to-bankruptcy-2020-2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301055739/https://www.businessinsider.com/how-pan-am-went-from-pioneering-air-travel-to-bankruptcy-2020-2 |archive-date=March 1, 2020 |access-date=2021-07-21 |website=[[Business Insider]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="747_Intro">{{cite book|author1=Guy Norris|author2=Mark Wagner|name-list-style=amp|title=Boeing 747: Design and Development Since 1969|chapter=Birth of a Giant |publisher=Zenith Imprint|date=September 1, 1997|isbn=978-0-7603-0280-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/boeing747designd00norr/page/12 12–13] |chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/boeing747designd00norr/page/12}}</ref> and introduced the [[Boeing 707|first American jetliner]] in 1958.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cross |first=Lee |date=August 15, 2023 |title=8/15/1958: Pan Am Received the First Boeing 707 |url=https://www.airwaysmag.com/legacy-posts/pan-am-first-boeing-707 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241202175002/https://www.airwaysmag.com/legacy-posts/pan-am-first-boeing-707 |archive-date=December 2, 2024 |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=[[Airways News|Airways]]}}</ref> Until its dissolution on December 4, 1991, Pan Am "epitomized the luxury and glamour of intercontinental travel",<ref name =debbikickham>{{Cite web|last=Kickham|first=Debbi|title=Will You Play The New Pan Am Board Game? |url= https://www.forbes.com/sites/debbikickham/2020/06/21/will-you-play-the-new-pan-am-board-game/|access-date=2021-07-21|website=Forbes|language=en}}</ref> and it remains a cultural icon of the 20th century, identified by its blue globe logo ("The Blue Meatball"),<ref>{{cite web |title=Pan Am Flight Crew Remembers The Era Of Flying Boats |url=http://avstop.com/news_feb_2010/pan_am_flight_crew_remembers_the_era_of_flying_boats.htm |website=AvStop Online Magazine |access-date=7 October 2020}}</ref> the use of the word "[[Clipper]]" in its aircraft names and [[call sign]]s, and the white uniform caps of its pilots.

Founded in 1927 by two [[U.S. Army Air Corps]] majors, Pan Am began as a scheduled airmail and passenger service flying between [[Key West]], Florida, and [[Havana]], Cuba. In the 1930s, under the leadership of American entrepreneur [[Juan Trippe]], the airline purchased a fleet of [[flying boats]] and focused its route network on Central and South America, gradually adding [[Transatlantic flight|transatlantic]] and [[Transpacific flight|transpacific]] destinations.<ref name=clippers /> By the mid-20th century, Pan Am enjoyed a near monopoly on international routes.<ref name="LAdemise">{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-01-09-fi-7339-story.html |title=Pan Am's Dive Began After the Government Axed Its Near-Monopoly : Airlines: The carrier had operated without competition for decades. When the floodgates opened in 1978, it couldn't cope. |work=Los Angeles Times |last=Gellene, Dallos |date=9 January 1991 |access-date= 11 April 2021}}</ref> It led the aircraft industry into the [[Jet Age]] by acquiring new jetliners such as the [[Boeing 707]] and [[Boeing 747]]. Pan Am's modern fleet allowed it to fly larger numbers of passengers, at a longer range, and with fewer stops than rivals.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/flight-international/boeing-747-marks-50-years-since-pan-am-service-debut/136213.article |title=Boeing 747 marks 50 years since Pan Am service debut |last=Kingsley-Jones |first=Max |date=21 January 2020 |access-date= 10 April 2021 |publisher=Flight Global}}</ref> Its primary hub and flagship terminal was the [[Worldport (Pan Am)|Worldport]] at [[John F. Kennedy International Airport]] in [[New York City]].<ref name="747_Intro"/>

During its peak between the late 1950s and early 1970s, Pan Am had an advanced fleet, highly trained staff, and amenities.<ref name="auto"/> In 1970, it flew 11 million passengers to 86 countries, with destinations in every continent except [[Antarctica]]. In an era dominated by [[flag carrier]]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]] (IATA), the global airline industry association.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Airliner World|title=IATA: A new mandate in a changed world|pages=32|publisher=Key Publishing|location=Stamford|date=November 2011}}</ref>

Beginning in the mid-1970s, Pan Am began facing a series of challenges both internal and external, along with rising competition from the [[Airline Deregulation Act|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,<ref name="auto"/> and its loss was felt among travelers and many Americans as signifying the end of the golden age of air travel.<ref>{{Cite news|title=LOTS OF REASONS WHY PAN AM FAILED|language=en-US|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1992/01/25/lots-of-reasons-why-pan-am-failed/ec58b7ee-7287-496c-8a63-343a25d2fce9/|access-date=2021-07-21|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Its brand, iconography, and contributions to the industry remain well known in the 21st century.<ref name="auto"/> 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]] and adopted Pan Am's logo.

==History==

===Formation===
[[File:FAM4 First Flight 1927.jpg|thumb|right|Flown cover autographed by pilot Cy Caldwell and carried from [[Key West, Florida]], to [[Havana]], Cuba, on the first contract airmail flight operated by Pan American Airways, October 19, 1927]]
[[File:Pam American World Airways Office.jpg|thumb|right|"Birthplace of Pan American World Airways", Key West, Florida]]
[[File:Consolidated commodore flying boat common history.jpg|thumb|Tourists with a Consolidated Commodore flying boat, used to fly routes in the Caribbean in the 1930s.]]

Pan American Airways, Incorporated (PAA) was founded as a [[Shell corporation#Different meaning|shell company]] on March 14, 1927, by [[United States Army Air Corps]] officers [[Henry H. Arnold|Henry "Hap" Arnold]], [[Carl Spaatz]] and John Jouett out of concern for the growing influence of the German-owned [[Colombia]]n air carrier [[SCADTA]],{{sfn|Daley|1980|pp=27–28}} in [[Central America]]. Operating in Colombia since 1920, SCADTA lobbied hard for landing rights in the [[Panama Canal Zone]], 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.panam.org/take-off/676-paa-incorporation-03-1927 |title=Pan American Airways Incorporation, March 14, 1927 |publisher=PanAm.org |access-date=11 April 2021 |archive-date=April 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411194209/https://www.panam.org/take-off/676-paa-incorporation-03-1927 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the spring of 1927, the [[United States Post Office Department|United States Post Office]] requested bids on a contract to deliver mail from [[Key West, Florida]] to [[Havana]], Cuba before 19 October 1927.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.panam.org/take-off/625-inaugural-flight-1927-oct-19 |title=Very Beginning: 10/19/27 |publisher=PanAm.org |access-date=11 April 2021 |archive-date=April 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411204110/https://www.panam.org/take-off/625-inaugural-flight-1927-oct-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Arnold and Spaatz drew up the [[prospectus (finance)|prospectus]] for Pan American after they learned that SCADTA hired a company in [[Delaware]] to obtain air mail contracts from the [[Federal government of the United States|US government]].

Also competing for the contract, [[Juan Trippe]] formed the Aviation Corporation of the Americas (ACA) on June 2, 1927, with {{FXConvert|USA|250|k|index=US-GDP|year=1927|cursign=$|showdate=no}} in startup capital and the backing of powerful and politically connected financiers including [[Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney]] and [[W. Averell Harriman]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=Anthony J|last1=Mayo|first2=Nitin|last2=Nohria|first3=Mark|last3=Rennella|title=Entrepreneurs, Managers, and Leaders: What the Airline Industry Can Teach Us about Leadership|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|date=2009|isbn=9780230615670|pages=49}}</ref> Their operation had the all-important landing rights for [[Havana]], having acquired American International Airways, a small airline established in 1926 by John K. Montgomery and Richard B. Bevier as a [[seaplane]] 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]]er Richard Hoyt to bid for the contract.<ref name=cent>{{cite web |url=http://www.centennialofflight.net/essay/Commercial_Aviation/Pan_Am/Tran12.htm |title=Air Transportation: Pan American: The History of America's "Chosen Instrument" for Overseas Air Transport |publisher=U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission |access-date=11 April 2021 |last=Siddiqi |first=As if |year=2003}}</ref>

The Postal Service awarded Pan American Airways the [[Airmails of the United States|US mail]] 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.<ref name="afm67">{{cite journal| last = Newton| first = Dr. Wesley P.| year = 1967| title = The Role of the Army Air Arm in Latin America, 1922–1931| journal = Air Power Journal| issue = September–October| url = http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1967/sep-oct/newton.html |access-date = January 22, 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100815003451/http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1967/sep-oct/newton.html| archive-date = August 15, 2010| url-status = dead}}</ref> Just days before the 19 October deadline, the three companies decided to form a partnership. ACA chartered a [[Fairchild FC-2]] [[floatplane]] from a small [[Dominican Republic]] carrier, West Indian Aerial Express, allowing Pan Am to operate the first flight to Havana on 19 October 1927.<ref>John R. Steele, "The Very Beginning" [https://web.archive.org/web/20000303174248/http://www.panam.com/default1.asp History of Pan American World Airways: The Early Years]</ref> 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 (finance)|equity]] and Whitney was made president. Trippe became operational head of Pan American Airways, the new company's principal operating subsidiary.<ref name="cent"/>

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.{{sfn|Bilstein|2001|p=79}} The airline expanded internationally, benefiting from a virtual monopoly on foreign routes.<ref name=chasing>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/kcet/chasingthesun/companies/panam.html|title=Chasing the Sun – Pan Am|publisher=[[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]]|access-date= May 31, 2009|year=2001 }}</ref>

Trippe and his associates planned to extend Pan Am's network through all of [[Central America|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 [[Airmails of the United States#Beginning Contract Air Mail (CAM) service|airmail contracts]] to the region. In September 1929 Trippe toured Latin America with [[Charles Lindbergh]] to negotiate landing rights in a number of countries, including [[Barranquilla]] on SCADTA's home turf of Colombia, as well as [[Maracaibo]] and [[Caracas]] in [[Venezuela]]. 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]], Argentina, and westbound to [[Santiago]], Chile.<ref name="panam.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.panam.org/images/Stories/Ralph-ONeills-Magic-Carpet-The-Once-And-Future-Commodore.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920080842/https://www.panam.org/images/Stories/Ralph-ONeills-Magic-Carpet-The-Once-And-Future-Commodore.pdf |title=Ralph O'Neills Magic Carpet-The Once-And Future Commodore |website=Pan Am|archive-date=September 20, 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite episode |title=Latin Laboratory |series=Across The Pacific |first1=Lyons |last1=Stephen |network=PBS |date=May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=O'Neill |first1=Ralph |last2=Hood |first2=Joseph |title=A Dream Of Eagles |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |date=1973 |isbn=978-0395166109}}</ref> Its Brazilian subsidiary [[NYRBA do Brasil]] was later renamed as [[Panair do Brasil]].{{sfn|Homan|Reilly|2000|p=38}} Pan Am also partnered with the [[Grace Shipping Company]] in 1929 to form [[Pan American-Grace Airways]], better known as Panagra, to gain a foothold to destinations in South America.<ref name=cent/> In the same year, Pan Am acquired a controlling stake in [[Mexicana de Aviación (1921–2010)|Mexicana de Aviación]] and took over Mexicana's [[Ford Trimotor]] route between [[Brownsville, Texas]] and [[Mexico City]], extending this service to the [[Yucatan Peninsula]] to connect with Pan Am's Caribbean route network.<ref name="The Brownsville Base">{{cite web|title=The Brownsville Base|url=http://www.panam.org/explorations/539-pan-am-s-base-at-brownsville-2|website=Pan Am Historical Foundation|access-date=February 8, 2016|archive-date=February 19, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160219210111/http://www.panam.org/explorations/539-pan-am-s-base-at-brownsville-2|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Pan Am's [[holding company]], the Aviation Corporation of the Americas, was one of the most sought after [[stock#Shares|stock]]s on the [[New York Curb Exchange]] 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]] (UATC) to segregate Pan Am operations to the south of the [[Mexico – United States border]], in exchange for UATC taking a large shareholder stake (UATC was the parent company of what are now [[Boeing]], [[Pratt & Whitney]], and [[United Airlines]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1929/1929%20-%200870.html|title=U.S. Aviation Development|work=Flight International|access-date=May 31, 2009|date=April 25, 1929}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2006/05/09/206434/50-years-ago-09-may-1956.html|title=50 years ago: 9 May 1956|work=Flight International|access-date=May 31, 2009|date=May 9, 2006}}</ref> The Aviation Corporation of the Americas changed its name to ''Pan American Airways Corporation'' in 1931.

===Clipper era===
[[File:PAA "The Americas" Route Map 1936.jpg|thumb|left|upright|PAA routes as of 1936]]
[[File:PAA Flying Clipper Cruises to South America 1941.jpg|thumb|right|upright|1941 advertising mailer for Pan Am's "Flying Clipper Cruises" to South America]]
[[File:PAA San Francisco - Manila - Hong Kong Clipper Schedule.jpg|thumb|right|PAA's ''[[China Clipper]]''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zpub.com/sf/history/sfh-cc.html |title=China Clipper |access-date=June 11, 2009 |archive-date=May 19, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090519114745/http://www.zpub.com/sf/history/sfh-cc.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> service cut the time of a transpacific crossing from as much as six weeks by sea to just six days by air.]]

Pan Am started its South American routes with [[Consolidated Commodore]] and [[Sikorsky S-38]] [[flying boat]]s. The  [[Sikorsky S-40|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]] at [[Dinner Key]] in [[Miami, Florida]].

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]], to Europe via [[Bermuda]] and the [[Azores]] using the S-42s. A joint service from [[Port Washington, New York]], to Bermuda began in June 1937, with Pan Am using Sikorskys and [[Imperial Airways]] using the [[Short Empire|C class flying boat]] RMA ''Cavalier''.<ref name=manager>{{cite book|title=Pan Am Pioneer: A Manager's Memoir from Seaplane Clippers to Jumbo Jets|last1=Kauffman|first1=Sanford|last2=Hopkins|first2=George|year=1995|publisher=Texas Tech University Press|isbn=978-0-89672-357-3 |page=195}}</ref><!-- This service was not put into operation in its entirety (Norfolk to Europe); Pan Am also procured an airmail contract from Boston to [[Halifax Regional Municipality|Halifax]], Nova Scotia. Bermuda Clipper, a [[Sikorsky S-42]]-->

On July 5, 1937, survey flights across the North Atlantic began.{{sfn|Kauffman|Hopkins|1995|pp=59, 195}} Pan Am ''Clipper III'', a [[Sikorsky S-42]], landed at [[Botwood]] in the [[Bay of Exploits]] in [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]] from Port Washington, via [[Shediac, New Brunswick]]. The next day Pan Am ''Clipper III'' left Botwood for [[Foynes]] in [[County Limerick]], Ireland. The same day, a [[Short Empire]] C-Class flying boat, the ''Caledonia'', left Foynes for Botwood,  and landed July 6, 1937, reaching [[Montreal]] on July 8 and New York on July 9.

Trippe decided to start a service from San Francisco to [[Honolulu]] and on to Hong Kong and [[Auckland]] following steamship routes. After negotiating traffic rights in 1934 to land at [[Pearl Harbor]], [[Midway Atoll|Midway Island]], [[Wake Island]], [[Guam]], and  [[Manila]],<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wt8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA485|title=Trans Pacific Airlines To Touch At Islands|magazine=Popular Mechanics|date=April 1935}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uN4DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA862|title=Wing Over The Pacific|magazine=Popular Mechanics|date=June 1935}}</ref>  Pan Am ran its first survey flight to Honolulu in April 1935 with a Sikorsky S-42 flying boat.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=td4DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA4|title=Clipper Conquers Pacific on Hawaiian Hops|magazine=Popular Mechanics|date=July 1935}}</ref> 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]], to Asia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gandt |first=Robert |title=China Clipper: The Age of the Great Flying Boats |publisher=U.S. Naval Institute Press |year=2010 |isbn=9781591143031 |location=Annapolis, Maryland |language=en}}</ref> The airline won the contract for a San Francisco–[[Guangzhou|Canton]] mail route later that year and operated its first commercial flight carrying mail and express (no passengers) in a [[Martin M-130]] from [[Alameda, California|Alameda]] to Manila amid media fanfare on November 22, 1935. The five-leg, {{convert|8,000|mi|km|adj=on}} 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.<ref>''Wings Over The Pacific''</ref> (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.<ref name=clippers>{{cite book|title=Pan American Clippers: The Golden Age of Flying Boats|last=Trautmann|first=James|year=2008|publisher=The Boston Mills Press}}</ref> The fare from San Francisco to Manila or Hong Kong in 1937 was {{currency|950|USD}} one way ({{Inflation|US|950|1937|cursign=$|fmt=eq}}) and US$1,710 ({{Inflation|US|1710|1937|cursign=$|fmt=eq}}) round trip.<ref>Pan American Airways System U.S. Cy. Passenger Tariff – Pacific, Orient, & Alaska Services Eff. May 1, 1937</ref> This later became known as the Pan Am China Clipper route, from San Francisco, leading to Manila, Hong Kong, Shanghai.<ref>{{Cite web |url= https://www.matthewsattler.com/p/lessons-from-pan-am-for-aerospace |title= Lessons from Pan Am for aerospace startups |author= Matthew Sattler |date= 20 August 2021 }}</ref>

On August 6, 1937, Juan Trippe accepted United States aviation's highest annual prize, the [[Collier Trophy]], on behalf of PAA from President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] for the company's "establishment of the transpacific airline and the successful execution of extended overwater navigation and the regular operations thereof."<ref>LIFE, August 23, 1937</ref>

[[File:US and PI First Transpacific Air Mail Stamps 1935.jpg|thumb|center|600px|Stamps issued by the United States and Philippine Islands for Air Mail carried on the first flights in each direction of PAA's Transpacific ''"[[China Clipper]]"'' service between San Francisco, California, and Manila, Philippines. (November 22 – December 6, 1935)]]

[[File:FAM 18 Round the World 1939.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Flown cover carried around the world on PAA [[Boeing 314 Clipper]]s and by Imperial Airways, June 24 – July 28, 1939]]
[[File:Miami PanAm Terminal 1940.jpg|thumb|right|Pan Am's flying boat terminal at [[Dinner Key, Florida|Dinner Key]] in Miami, Florida, was a [[transport hub|hub]] of inter-American travel during the 1930s and 1940s.]] Pan Am also used [[Boeing 314]] flying boats for the Pacific route: in China, passengers could connect to domestic flights on the Pan Am-operated [[China National Aviation Corporation]] (CNAC) network, co-owned with the [[Government of the Republic of China|Chinese government]]. 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.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,790136,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409220917/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,790136,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 9, 2008|title=Pan Am to Singapore |magazine=[[time (magazine)|TIME]] |date=June 2, 1941}}</ref>

Six large, long-range [[Boeing 314]] flying boats were delivered to Pan Am in early 1939. On March 30, 1939, the ''[[Yankee Clipper (flying boat)| Yankee Clipper]]'', piloted by [[Harold E. Gray]], made the first-ever trans-Atlantic passenger flight. The first leg of the flight, [[Baltimore]] to [[Horta, Azores|Horta]], took 17 hours and 32 minutes and covered {{convert|2,400|mi|km nmi}}. The second leg from Horta to Pan Am's newly built airport in Lisbon took 7 hours and 7 minutes and covered {{convert|1,200|mi|km}}.<ref>{{cite news|title=Clipper Completes Atlantic Crossing|work=The New York Times|date=March 31, 1939}}</ref> 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.<ref>"EUROPE MAIL HOPS WILL START TODAY: Atlantic Service Will Begin 12 Years After Lindbergh's Flight to Paris" The New York ''Times'', May 20, 1939, p.1</ref> Passenger service over the route was added on June 28, 1939, by the ''[[Dixie Clipper]]'' piloted by R.O.D. Sullivan.<ref>"CLIPPER OFF TODAY ON HISTORIC FLIGHT: Regular Passenger Service to be Started by Pan American Line" The New York ''Times'', June 28, 1939, p. 10</ref> 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 [[Foynes]] (Ireland) to [[Southampton]].<ref>CLIPPER OFF TODAY ON NORTHERN ROUTE: Early and Emmons Among 20 Observers to Start Air Mail Hops to Europe" The New York ''Times'' June 24, 1939, p. 34</ref><ref>[http://www.aerodacious.com/FAM018.HTM Foreign Air Mail First Flights F.A.M.18] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304054052/http://www.aerodacious.com/FAM018.HTM |date=March 4, 2016 }} aerodacious.com</ref> Passenger service was added on the Northern route on July 8, 1939, by the ''Yankee Clipper''.<ref>"First Passenger Flight Today On Northern Route to England: Regular 24-Hour Service to Be Opened", The New York ''Times'', July 8, 1939, p. 11</ref> 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]] via the Azores continued into 1941. During World War II, Pan Am flew over {{convert|90|e6mi|e6km|abbr=unit}} worldwide in support of military operations.<ref name=chasing/>

The "Clippers" – the name hearkened back to the 19th-century fast-sailing [[clipper]]s – were the only American passenger aircraft of the time capable of intercontinental travel. To compete with ocean liners, the airline offered [[First class travel|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.{{sfn|Gandt|1995|p=19}} In 1940 Pan Am and [[Trans World Airlines|TWA]] both received and began using the [[Boeing 307 Stratoliner]], the first [[cabin pressurization|pressurize]]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.{{sfn|Kauffman|Hopkins|1995|p=212}}

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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pirie |first1=Gordon |title=Winging it across the Atlantic: Pan Am and Africa, 1940–1990 |journal=Journal of Transatlantic Studies |date=2 February 2021 |volume=19 |pages=72–98 |doi=10.1057/s42738-020-00064-9 |s2cid=231777921 |url=https://rdcu.be/ceFSj |access-date=4 February 2021|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In January 1942, the ''[[Pacific Clipper]]'' completed the first circumnavigation of the globe by a commercial airliner. Another first occurred in January 1943, when Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first [[President of the United States|US president]] to fly abroad, in the ''[[Dixie Clipper]]''.{{sfn|Bilstein|2001|p=173}} During this period ''[[Star Trek]]'' creator [[Gene Roddenberry]] was a Clipper pilot; he was aboard the ''Clipper Eclipse'' when it crashed in Syria on June 19, 1947.<ref>{{cite book|title=Fasten your seat belts!|last=Lester|first=Valerie|year=1995|publisher=Paladwr Press|isbn=978-0-9626483-8-0|pages=86–89}}</ref><ref name=Check-Six>{{cite web|title=The Clipper Eclipse|url=http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/ClipperEclipse-NC88845.htm|publisher=Check-Six.com|access-date=May 20, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808110237/http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/ClipperEclipse-NC88845.htm|archive-date=August 8, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

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.<ref>[http://flyingboatmuseum.com/coffee.php] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100418063740/http://flyingboatmuseum.com/coffee.php|date=April 18, 2010}}</ref>

===Post-war expansion and modernization===
[[File:Pan Am L-049 Constellation at London.jpg|thumb|right|Pan Am [[Lockheed L-049 Constellation]] ''Clipper Great Republic'' at [[Heathrow Airport|London Airport]]]]
[[File:Boeing 377 N1033V PAA Heathrow 12.9.54.jpg|thumb|right|Pan Am [[Boeing 377|Boeing 377 Stratocruiser]] ''Clipper Seven Seas'' at [[Heathrow Airport|London Airport]] in 1954]]
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.<ref name="PostWar_PanAm_48">''Aviation News (Pan American Airways: Part 2)'', p. 48, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011</ref>

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 Overseas Airlines|American Export Airlines]] across the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] to Europe, and subsequently from others including [[Trans World Airlines|TWA]] to Europe, [[Braniff International Airways|Braniff]] to South America, [[United Airlines|United]] to Hawaii and [[Northwest Airlines|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]] (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.{{sfn|Bilstein|2001|p=169}}<ref name="PostWar_PanAm_48"/><ref name="HomeTurf">''Aviation News (Pan American Airways: Part 2 – South American problems)'', p. 50, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011</ref>

[[File:Pan Am DC4 Cipper.jpg|thumb|Pan American DC-4 at [[Piarco Airport]], [[Trinidad]] in the 1950s]]
[[American Overseas Airlines]] (AOA) was the first airline to begin regular landplane flights across the Atlantic on October 24, 1945. In January 1946, Pan Am scheduled seven [[Douglas DC-4|DC-4]]s a week east from [[LaGuardia Airport]], five to London ([[Bournemouth Airport|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 Airport|LaGuardia]] to Lisbon once every two weeks in 29 hours and 30 minutes; flying boat flights ended shortly thereafter.<ref group=nb>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.</ref>

TWA's transatlantic challenge—the impending introduction of its faster, pressurized [[Lockheed Constellation]]s—resulted in Pan Am ordering its own [[Lockheed Constellation|Constellation]] fleet at {{FXConvert|USA|750|k|year=1945|index=US-GDP|cursign=$|showdate=no}} apiece. Pan Am began transatlantic Constellation flights on January 14, 1946, beating TWA by three weeks.<ref name="PostWar_PanAm_48"/>

In January 1946, a flight from Miami to Buenos Aires took 71 hours and 15 minutes in a Pan Am [[Douglas DC-3|DC-3]], but the following summer, DC-4s flew [[New York Kennedy Airport|Idlewild]] to Buenos Aires in 38 hours and 30 minutes. In January 1958, Pan Am's [[Douglas DC-7#Design and development|DC-7B]]s flew New York to Buenos Aires in 25 hours and 20 minutes, while the [[National Airlines (NA)|National]]–Pan Am–Panagra DC-7B via [[Panama City|Panama]] and [[Lima]] took 22 hours and 45 minutes.<ref name="Timetable58"/> [[Convair CV-240 family|Convair 240]]s replaced DC-3s and other pre-war types on Pan Am's shorter flights in the [[Caribbean]] and South America. Pan Am also acquired a few [[Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando|Curtiss C-46]]s for a freight network that eventually extended to Buenos Aires.<ref name="HomeTurf"/>

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 [[Boeing 377|Stratocruiser]] 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 [[Douglas DC-7#DC-7C|DC-7C]] totaled 24 hours and 13 minutes from San Francisco, but Pan Am was not allowed to fly that route.)<ref name="Timetable58">[http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/pa/pa58/pa58.pdf Pan American Airways System Timetable] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916042320/http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/pa/pa58/pa58.pdf |date=September 16, 2012 }} (pdf) January 1, 1958</ref> 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 Atoll|Midway]], [[Wake Island|Wake]], Guam, Manila, [[Bangkok]], and arriving in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] 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]], [[Istanbul]], London, [[Shannon, County Clare|Shannon]], [[Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador|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 [[Boeing 707]]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]] 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.<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1971/1971%20-%202249.html ''Pan Am global 747'', Air Transport ...] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112214723/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1971/1971%20-%202249.html |date=January 12, 2012 }}, ''Flight International'', October 28, 1971, p. 677</ref>

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.)<ref name=miami>{{cite web|url=http://scholar.library.miami.edu/panam/history.html |title=Pan American World Airways, Inc. Records – History |publisher=University of Miami Libraries, Special Collections |access-date=June 1, 2009 |year=2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090615063857/http://scholar.library.miami.edu/panam/history.html |archive-date=June 15, 2009 }}</ref><ref name="NewImage">''Aviation News (Pan American Airways: Part 2 – New name, new aircraft)'', p. 50, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011</ref> In September 1950 Pan Am completed the {{FXConvert|USA|17.45|m|year=1950|cursign=$|index=US-GDP|showdate=no}} purchase of [[American Overseas Airlines]] from [[American Airlines]].<ref name="PostWar_PanAm_48"/> That month Pan Am ordered 45 [[Douglas DC-6#Operational history|Douglas DC-6B]]s. The first, ''Clipper Liberty Bell'' (N6518C),<ref>''Aviation News (The Douglas DC-4, DC-6 and DC-7)'', p. 64/5, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011</ref> inaugurated Pan Am's all-[[economy class|tourist]] class ''Rainbow'' service between New York and London on May 1, 1952, to complement the all-[[first class (aviation)|first]] ''President'' Stratocruiser service.<ref name="NewImage"/> From June 1954, [[Douglas DC-6#Operational history|DC-6B]]s began replacing DC-4s on Pan Am's internal German routes.<ref name="Berlin1">[http://www.flightglobal.com/PDFArchive/View/1972/1972%20-%202017.html ''BEA in Berlin''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120724005700/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1972/1972%20-%202017.html |date=July 24, 2012 }}, ''Flight International'', August 10, 1972, p. 180</ref><ref name="DC6B_THF"/><ref name="Berlin2">''Aeroplane – Pan Am and the IGS'', Vol. 116, No. 2972, pp. 4, 8, Temple Press, London, October 2, 1968</ref>

Pan Am introduced the [[Douglas DC-7#DC-7C|Douglas DC-7C]] "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 [[Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation|Super Constellation]]s and [[Lockheed L-1649 Starliner|Starliner]]s. 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]] [[turboprop]] by [[British Overseas Airways Corporation]] (BOAC) between New York and London on December 19, 1957, ended Pan Am's competitive leadership there.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishairways.com/travel/history-1950-1959/public/en_gb|title=British Airways – History and heritage (Home > History & heritage > Explore our past >> 1950–1959 (1957: 19 December)|publisher=British Airways plc, London|access-date=October 30, 2011|year=2011}}</ref><ref name="NewImage"/>

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.<ref name="Timetable58"/>

===Jet age===
[[File:Boeing 707-321B, Pan American World Airways - Pan Am AN0944886.jpg|thumb|Boeing 707-321B of Pan American at [[Paris Orly Airport]], 1979 ]]
[[File:Douglas DC-8-32 N804PA PAA AMS 12.03.67 edited-2.jpg|thumb|right|[[Douglas DC-8#DC-8 Series 30|Douglas DC-8-32]] of Pan American at [[Amsterdam Airport Schiphol|Amsterdam Schiphol Airport]] in 1967]]
Pan Am considered purchasing the world's first [[jet airliner|jetliner]], the British [[De Havilland Comet]], but instead waited to become [[Boeing 707]] 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 [[Boeing]] widened their design to match the DC-8. 

Pan Am's first scheduled jet flight was from [[John F. Kennedy International Airport|New York Idlewild]] to [[Paris – Le Bourget Airport|Paris Le Bourget]], stopping at [[Gander International Airport|Gander]] to refuel, on October 26, 1958. The [[Boeing 707-120|Boeing 707-121]] ''Clipper America'' N711PA carried 111 passengers.{{sfn|Burns|2000}}<ref name="PostWar_PanAm_50">''Aviation News (Pan American Airways: Part 2 – Leading the way)'', p. 50, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011</ref>

It also purchased 25 [[Douglas DC-8]], which could also seat six across; the combined order value for these first 707s and DC-8s was $269&nbsp;million.{{cn|date=February 2025}} 

Meanwhile Boeing improved their aircraft with the introduction of the [[Boeing 707-320|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 (air and space craft)|payload]] in both directions.<ref name=panamair707>{{cite web |title=Boeing 707-321 |url=http://www.panamair.org/aircraft/boeing707-321.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501121829/http://www.panamair.org/aircraft/boeing707-321.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-05-01 |website=panamair.org @ the WayBack Machine |access-date=27 February 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Douglas DC-8-32 |url=http://www.panamair.org/aircraft/Douglasdc8.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725010251/http://www.panamair.org/aircraft/Douglasdc8.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-07-25 |website=panamair.org @ the WayBack Machine |access-date=27 February 2025}}</ref>

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.<ref name=panamair707 /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Swanborough |first1=Gordon |title=World's Airliner Registrations |date=1967 |publisher=Ian Allan |location=London |pages=8-18}}</ref>

====Widebody era====
[[File:Pan Am Boeing 747 at Zurich Airport in May 1985.jpg|thumb|right|[[747-100|Boeing 747-100]] ''Clipper Neptune's Car'' (N742PA) at [[Zurich Airport]]]]

Pan Am was a [[Boeing 747]] launch customer, placing a {{FXConvert|USA|525|m|year=1966|index=US-GDP|cursign=$|showdate=no}} order for 25 in April 1966.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boeing.com/commercial/747family/pf/pf_milestones.html |title=Boeing 747-400 Program Milestones |publisher=Boeing.com |access-date=August 27, 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524131419/http://www.boeing.com/commercial/747family/pf/pf_milestones.html |archive-date=May 24, 2011 }}</ref><ref name="PostWar_PanAm_51">''Aviation News (Pan American Airways: Part 2 – A falling star)'', p. 51, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011</ref>

On January 15, 1970 [[First Lady of the United States|First Lady]] [[Pat Nixon]] christened Pan Am Boeing 747 ''Clipper Young America'' at [[Washington Dulles International Airport|Washington Dulles]].<ref>{{cite news |title=First Lady Christens, the First 747 Jet |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/16/archives/first-lady-christens-the-first-747-jet.html |access-date=18 January 2025 |work=[[The Associated Press]] |publisher=[[The New York Times]] |date=16 January 1970}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Mrs. Nixon Christens New 747 Jumbo Jet |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pensacola-news-journal-mrs-nixon-christ/163317165/ |work=[[The Associated Press]] |publisher=[[Pensacola News Journal]] |date=16 January 1970 |page=2 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |location=Pensacola, Florida}}</ref>

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 [[John F. Kennedy International Airport|New York John F. Kennedy]] to [[Heathrow Airport|London Heathrow]] (''Clipper Victor'' was destroyed seven years later in the [[Tenerife airport disaster|Tenerife air disaster]], in a collision with a KLM 747-200). While on the tarmac at Heathrow, two students from [[Aston University]] boarded the aircraft undetected and distributed [[Rag (student society)#Rag mag|rag mags]] in the passenger accommodation as a publicity stunt.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878184,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080127015913/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878184,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 27, 2008 |title=Jumbo and the Gremlins |magazine=[[time (magazine)|TIME]] |access-date=June 1, 2009|date=February 1, 1970}}</ref>

Pan Am carried 11 million passengers over {{convert|20|e9mi|km nmi}} in 1970, the year it introduced [[Airliner#Wide-body airliners|widebodied airline]] travel.<ref>''Jets Monthly (Next Month: Come fly with me ...)'', p. 74, Kelsey Publishing, Cudham, January 2012</ref>

====Supersonic plans====
Pan Am was one of the first three airlines to sign options for the [[Concorde|Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde]], but like other airlines that took out options – with the exception of BOAC and [[Air France]] – it did not purchase the [[supersonic aircraft|supersonic jet]]. Pan Am was the first US airline to sign for the [[Boeing 2707]], the American [[supersonic transport]] (SST) project, with 15 delivery positions reserved;<ref>{{cite book|title=The Pan Am building and the shattering of the modernist dream|last=Clausen|first=Meredith|year=2004|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-03324-4|page=357}}</ref> these aircraft never saw service after [[United States Congress|Congress]] voted against additional funding in 1971.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.keesings.com/search?kssp_selected_tab=article&kssp_a_id=24716n01usa|title=Aerospace Industry. Refusal of Congress to approve Federal Funds for Development of Boeing Supersonic Airliner.|work=Keesing's World News Archives|access-date=June 1, 2009|date=July 21, 1971}}</ref>

===Computerized reservations, Pan Am Building and Worldport===
[[File:Pan Am Building, NYC, 1980s.jpg|thumb|upright|The Pan Am Building in [[Midtown Manhattan]], now the [[MetLife Building]], was Pan Am headquarters]]
[[File:Pan Am Boeing 707-100 at JFK 1961 Proctor.jpg|thumb|left|A [[Boeing 707#707-120|Boeing 707-120]] at the [[Worldport (Pan Am)|Pan Am Worldport]] in 1961. The terminal was once the center of the airline's New York operations.]]

Pan Am commissioned [[IBM]] 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object.cfm?key=35&objkey=33|title=Terminal Interchange from PANAMAC Airlines Reservation System.|publisher=National Museum of American History|access-date=September 12, 2010}}</ref>

The computer occupied the fourth floor of the [[MetLife Building|Pan Am Building]], which was the largest commercial office building in the world for some time.<ref>{{cite web|author=Horsley, Carter C.|url=http://www.thecityreview.com/panam.html|title=The MetLife Building|publisher=The Midtown Book|year=2007|access-date=April 7, 2008}} When it was completed, the {{convert|2400000|sqft|m2|abbr=on}} building became "the world's largest office building in bulk, a title it would lose a few years later to 55 Water Street downtown."</ref>

The airline also built [[Worldport (Pan Am)|Worldport]], a terminal building at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. It was distinguished by its elliptical, four-acre (16,000&nbsp;m<sup>2</sup>) 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 [[jetway|jetbridge]] made this feature obsolete.  The Worldport building was transferred to [[Delta Air Lines]] in 1991, and demolished by Delta and the [[Port Authority of New York and New Jersey|Port Authority]] in 2013.<ref>{{cite news |title=Delta to Move at Kennedy as End Nears for Old Home |first=Michael M. |last=Grynbaum |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/05/nyregion/05jfk.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 4, 2010 |access-date=2011-07-20}}</ref>

Pan Am built a gilded training building in the style of [[Edward Durell Stone]] designed by Steward-Skinner Architects in Miami.{{cn|date=February 2025}}
[[File:Pan_Am_Holiday_phamplet_(11090320936).jpg|alt=|thumb|Pan Am Holiday pamphlet for destination New Zealand (1966)]]

===Peak===
At its peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Pan Am advertised under the slogan, the "World's Most Experienced Airline".{{sfn|Conrad|1999|p=164}} It carried 6.7 million passengers in 1966, and by 1968, its 150 jets flew to 86 countries on every continent except for [[Antarctica]] over a scheduled route network of 81,410 unduplicated miles (131,000&nbsp;km). During that period, the airline was profitable, and its cash reserves totaled {{FXConvert|USA|1|b|year=1968|index=US-GDP|cursign=$|showdate=no}}.<ref name="PostWar_PanAm_50"/> Most routes were between New York, Europe, and South America, and between Miami and the Caribbean. In 1964, Pan Am began a [[helicopter]] shuttle between New York's [[John F. Kennedy International Airport|John F. Kennedy]], LaGuardia, and [[Newark Liberty International Airport|Newark]] airports and [[Lower Manhattan]], operated by [[New York Airways]].{{sfn|Burns|2000}} Aside from the DC-8, the Boeing 707 and 747, the Pan Am jet fleet included [[Boeing 720#Further developments|Boeing 720B]]s and [[Boeing 727|727]]s (the first aircraft to sport ''Pan Am'' rather than ''Pan American'' – titles<ref name="PostWar_PanAm_50" />). The airline later had [[Boeing 737]]s and [[Boeing 747SP|747SP]]s (which could fly nonstop from New York to Tokyo), [[Lockheed L-1011 Tristar]]s, [[McDonnell-Douglas DC-10]]s, and [[Airbus A300]]s and [[Airbus A310|A310]]s. Pan Am owned the [[InterContinental|InterContinental Hotel]] chain and had a financial interest in the Falcon Jet Corporation, which held marketing rights to the [[Dassault Falcon 20]] [[business jet]] 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]].{{sfn|Ray|1999|p=184}} In addition, Pan Am participated in several notable humanitarian flights.{{sfn|Burns|2000}}

At its height Pan Am was well regarded for its modern fleet,{{sfn|Conrad|1999|pp=28, 177}} innovative cabin design<ref>{{cite web |url=https://zenodo.org/records/1081955/files/text_2017_05_18_PanAm.pdf |last1=Scholz |first1=Dieter |title=Pan Am's Historic Contributions to Aircraft Cabin Design |date=2017 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.1081954 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book
 |last=Hühne
 |first=Mathias C.
 |date=2016
 |title=Pan Am: History, Design & Identity
 |location=Berlin
 |publisher=Callisto Publishers
 |isbn=978-3-9816550-6-3
 |url=https://www.callisto-publishers.com/project/pan-am-history-design-identity-standard-edition/
}}
</ref> and experienced crews: cabin staff were multilingual and usually college graduates, hired from around the world, frequently with nursing training.{{sfn|Conrad|1999|p=180}} Pan Am's onboard service and cuisine, inspired by [[Maxim's Paris|Maxim's de Paris]], were delivered "with a personal flair that has rarely been equaled."{{sfn|Conrad|1999|p=179}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/19/travel/when-flying-was-caviar.html|title=When Flying Was Caviar|work=The New York Times|access-date=June 1, 2009|last=Kilgannon|first=Corey|date=October 19, 2003}}</ref>

===Internal German Services (IGS) and other operations===
[[File:Douglas DC-6B N5024K Pan Am OO-SDG at HAJ 02.05.64.jpg|thumb|right|Pan American [[Douglas DC-6|Douglas DC-6B]] operating an Internal German Service at [[Hannover-Langenhagen Airport|Hanover Airport]] in May 1964.]]

From 1950 until 1990 Pan Am operated a comprehensive network of high-frequency, short-haul scheduled services between [[West Germany]] and [[West Berlin]], first with [[Douglas DC-4]]s, then with DC-6Bs (from 1954) and [[Boeing 727]]s (from 1966).<ref name="Berlin1"/><ref name="DC6B_THF">[http://www.coldwar.org/text_files/ColdwartimesFeb2009.pdf ''Cold War Times''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916042319/http://www.coldwar.org/text_files/ColdwartimesFeb2009.pdf |date=September 16, 2012 }}, Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 7, February 2009</ref><ref name="Berlin2"/><ref>''Aeroplane – Tempelhof trials prelude to Pan Am 727 order'', Vol. 108, No. 2773, p. 11, Temple Press, London, December 10, 1964</ref><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1964/1964%20-%203067.html ''A Jet into Berlin Tempelhof''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114154951/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1964/1964%20-%203067.html |date=January 14, 2012 }}, ''Flight International'', December 17, 1964, p. 1034</ref><ref>''Aeroplane – The Battle of Berlin'', Vol. 111, No. 2842, p. 15, Temple Press, London, April 7, 1966</ref><ref>''Aeroplane – Commercial continued, Pan Am 727s take over in Berlin'', Vol. 111, No. 2853, p. 11, Temple Press, London, June 23, 1966</ref><ref>''Aeroplane – Pan Am and the IGS'', Vol. 116, No. 2972, pp. 4, 5, 6, 8, Temple Press, London, October 2, 1968</ref><ref>''Aircraft Illustrated (Airport Profile – Berlin-Tempelhof)'', Vol 42, No 1, p. 34, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2009</ref> This had come about as a result of an agreement among the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the [[Soviet Union]] 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]] to air transport providers headquartered in these four countries. Rising [[Cold War]] tensions between the Soviet Union and the three Western powers resulted in [[Allied Control Council#Incapacitation of the council|unilateral Soviet withdrawal]] from the [[Four Power Agreement on Berlin|quadripartite]] [[British Control Commission|Allied Control Commission]] in 1948, culminating in the [[History of Germany (1945–1990)|division of Germany]] the following year. These events, together with [[Soviet Union|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 Germany|East German]] territory through three {{convert|20|mi|km|abbr=on}} wide [[West Berlin Air Corridor|air corridors]] at a maximum altitude of {{convert|10000|ft|m|abbr=on}}.<ref group=nb>the cruising altitude of [[propliner]]s employed on the [[Berlin Blockade#Aircraft used in the Berlin airlift|Berlin Airlift]]</ref><ref name="PostWar_PanAm_50"/><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/PDFArchive/View/1972/1972%20-%202018.html |title=BEA in Berlin |journal=Flight International |date=August 10, 1972 |page=181|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20120302173125/http://www.flightglobal.com/PDFArchive/View/1972/1972%20-%202018.html|archive-date=2 March 2012}}</ref> The airline's West Berlin operation consistently accounted for more than half of the city's entire commercial air traffic during that period.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,873948,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080402014839/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,873948,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 2, 2008 |title=Hot route in the Cold War |date=July 3, 1964}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=Aeroplane |title=Pan Am and the IGS |volume=116 |number=2972 |page=6 |publisher= Temple Press |location=London |date=October 2, 1968}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=Aeroplane |title=Pan Am and the IGS |volume=116 |number=2972 |page=4 |publisher=Temple Press |location=London |date=October 2, 1968}}</ref>

For years, more passengers boarded Pan Am flights at Berlin Tempelhof than at any other airport.<ref>''Airport Activity Statistics''{{full citation needed|date=October 2022}}</ref> 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]] 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 [[R&R (Military)|Rest and Recreation]] (R&R) flights during the [[Vietnam War]]. These flights carried American service personnel for R&R leaves in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and other Asian cities.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/05/15/archives/for-1-a-month-pan-am-flies-vietnam-gis-on-furloughs.html |title=For $1 a Month, Pan Am Flies Vietnam G.I.'s on Furloughs|work=The New York Times|access-date=June 1, 2009|last=Long|first=Tania|date=May 1971}}</ref>

===Passenger traffic (1951–1989)===
{| class="toccolours" border="1" cellpadding="3" style="border-collapse:collapse"
|+ '''Revenue passenger-miles (millions)<br /><small>(scheduled flights only)</small>'''<ref>''Handbook of Airline Statistics'' (biannual CAB publication) and ''Air Carrier Traffic Statistics'' through 1979; IATA ''World Air Transport Statistics'' 1981–89</ref>
|- style="background:lightblue;"
!Year

!Pan American
![[National Airlines (NA)]]
|-
|1951
|1,551
|432
|-
|1955
|2,676
|905
|-
|1960
|4,833
|1,041
|-
|1965
|8,869
|2,663
|-
|1970
|16,389
|2,643
|-
|1975
|14,863
|3,865
|-
|1979
|22,872
|8,294
|-
|1981
|28,924
|rowspan=3|(merged 1980)
|-
|1985
|27,144
|-
|1989
|29,359
|}

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===
[[File:AT THE JOHN F. KENNEDY AIRPORT - NARA - 547951 - color adjusted.jpg|thumb|Pan Am [[747-100|Boeing 747-100]] ''Clipper Star of the Union'' (N744PA) at [[John F. Kennedy International Airport|John F. Kennedy Airport]] in May 1973]]

====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]] made the overcapacity problem worse. Pan Am was vulnerable, with its high [[overhead (business)|overhead]]s as a result of a large decentralized infrastructure. High fuel prices and its many older, less fuel-efficient [[narrow-body aircraft|narrow-bodied]] airplanes increased the airline's operating costs. Federal route awards to other airlines, such as the [[Transpacific Route Case]], further reduced the number of passengers Pan Am carried and its profit margins.<ref name=chasing/><ref name="PostWar_PanAm_51"/>

[[File:Pan Am 1970s flight attendant.jpg|thumb|A Pan Am flight attendant in 1970s uniform]]

On September 23, 1974, a group of Pan Am employees published an advertisement in ''[[The New York Times]]'' to register their disagreement over federal policies that they felt were harming the financial viability of their employer.{{sfn|Conrad|1999|p=1846}} The ad cited discrepancies in airport landing fees, such as Pan Am paying $4,200 ({{Inflation|US-GDP|4200|1974|fmt=eq|cursign=$}}) to land a plane in [[Sydney Airport|Sydney]], while the Australian carrier, [[Qantas]], paid only $178 to land a jet in Los Angeles. The ad also contended that the [[United States Postal Service]] 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%.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.panamair.org/History/aware.htm |title=Pan Am AWARE |publisher=Pan Am Air |access-date=June 1, 2009 |date=September 23, 1974 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611065721/http://www.panamair.org/History/aware.htm |archive-date=June 11, 2009 }}</ref>

By 1976, Pan Am had racked up {{FXConvert|USA|364|m|year=1976|cursign=$|index=US-GDP|showdate=no}} of accumulated losses over a 10-year period, and its debts approached {{FXConvert|USA|1|b|year=1976|index=US-GDP|cursign=$|showdate=no}}. This threatened the airline with bankruptcy. Former [[American Airlines]] vice president of operations, William T. Seawell, who had replaced Najeeb Halaby as Pan Am president in 1972, began implementing a [[turnaround management|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 [[deferred tax|tax-loss credits]], enabled Pan Am to avert financial collapse and return to profitability in 1977.<ref name="PostWar_PanAm_51"/>

====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 [[American Airlines]], [[Eastern Air Lines]], [[Trans World Airlines]] or [[United Airlines]].<ref name="PostWar_PanAm_48"/> 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 [[Hawaii]] and [[Alaska]]). The last time Pan Am was permitted to merge with another airline prior to the [[Airline Deregulation Act|deregulation]] of the US airline industry was in 1950, when it took over American Overseas Airlines from American Airlines.<ref name="PostWar_PanAm_48"/> After deregulation in 1978, more US domestic airlines began competing with Pan Am internationally.{{sfn|Robinson|1994|pp=154–180}}{{sfn|Ray|1999|p=185}}

====National Airlines takeover====
To acquire domestic routes, Pan Am, under president Seawell, set its eyes on [[National Airlines (1934–1980)|National Airlines]]. Pan Am wound up in a bidding war with [[Frank Lorenzo]]'s [[Texas International Airlines]] 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 {{FXConvert|USA|437|m|year=1979|index=US-GDP|cursign=$|showdate=no}}, completed on January 7, 1980, further burdened Pan Am's balance sheet, already under strain after financing the [[Boeing 747]]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 [[Boeing 727]], the airlines had incompatible fleets and [[organizational culture|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.<ref>''Aviation News (Pan American Airways: Part 2 – National acquisition)'', pp. 51/2, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011</ref> 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%.{{sfn|Robinson|1994|pp=172–190}}<ref>Interview with Russell Ray. "Death of An American Dream" (film)</ref>

[[File:Pan Am Boeing 737-200 at Zurich Airport in May 1985.jpg|thumb|left|Boeing 737-200 ''Clipper [[Berlin|Spreeathen]]'' (N70724) at [[Zurich Airport|Zurich]] in 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]] for {{FXConvert|USA|400|m|year=1980|index=US-GDP|cursign=$|showdate=no}}. In September 1981, Pan Am sold off its [[InterContinental]] hotel chain. Before this transaction closed, Seawell was replaced by [[C. Edward Acker]], [[Air Florida]]'s founder and ex-president, as well as a former [[Braniff International Airways|Braniff International]] [[senior management|executive]]. The combined sale value of the InterContinental chain and the Falcon Jet Corp. stake was {{FXConvert|USA|500|m|year=1981|index=US-GDP|cursign=$|showdate=no}}.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924822,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070620193442/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924822,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 20, 2007|title=Mid-Air Transfer|work=TIME Magazine|access-date=June 1, 2009|date=September 7, 1981}}</ref><ref name="National_disaster">''Aviation News (Pan American Airways: Part 2 – National acquisition)'', p. 52, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011</ref>

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]], Bangkok and Hong Kong due to the sector's unprofitability.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1982/1982%20-%202274.html |title=More cutbacks at Pan Am |department = Air Transport|magazine =Flight International|date = October 2, 1982|page = 970 |access-date= |archive-date=January 12, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120112203445/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1982/1982%20-%202274.html }}</ref> To provide additional seating capacity for its 1983 spring/summer season, the airline also acquired three passenger [[747-200|Boeing 747-200B]]s from [[Flying Tiger Line|Flying Tigers]], who took four of Pan Am's [[747-100]] freighters in return.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1982/1982%20-%202769.html |title=Pan Am and Tigers swap aircraft|department = Air Transport|magazine =Flight International|date = December 25, 1982|page = 1795 |access-date= |archive-date=January 12, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112214719/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1982/1982%20-%202769.html }}</ref>

====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.<ref>{{cite news|title=Pan Am to spend $1 billion for new planes|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19840915&id=6DROAAAAIBAJ&pg=4641,6053209|access-date=October 12, 2012|newspaper=[[Lakeland Ledger]]|date=September 15, 1984|agency=[[The New York Times Company]]}}</ref> 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]] certification (approval by the [[Federal Aviation Administration]] (FAA) of transoceanic flying with twin-engined aircraft). The first A310 ETOPS transatlantic route was [[John F. Kennedy International Airport|New York-JFK]] to [[Hamburg Airport|Hamburg]], [[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.<ref name="National_disaster"/> 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.

{{Multiple images
| align             = right
| direction         = vertical
| width             = 250
| image1            = Boeing 747SP-21, Pan Am JP5893131.jpg
| caption1          = The [[Boeing 747SP-21]] ''Clipper Constitution'' (N532PA) on July 1, 1976 at Los Angeles International Airport.
| image2            = United Boeing 747SP Maiwald.jpg
| caption2          = A Boeing 747SP-21 landing at Los Angeles International Airport in 1990.
}}
{{Multiple image
| align             = left
| direction         = vertical
| width             = 250
| image1            = Lockheed L-1011-385-3 TriStar 500, Pan American World Airways - Pan Am AN1139713.jpg
| caption1          = The [[L-1011-500]] ''Clipper [[Golden Eagle]]'' (N509PA) in 1984.
| image2            = United Airlines Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 500 (??) (10265800834).jpg
| caption2          = A Lockheed L-1011-500 of [[United Airlines]] after the sale of the Pan Am Pacific Division in 1985.
}}

==== 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 [[United Airlines]] for {{FXConvert|USA|750|m|year=1985|index=US-GDP|cursign=$|showdate=no}}. 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-1011-500]]s and the [[General Electric CF6]]-powered [[McDonnell-Douglas DC-10|DC-10]]s inherited from National, which were transferred to United along with the Pacific routes.<ref name="PostWar_PanAm_51" /><ref name="NewWorld" /> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.departedflights.com/PA090584domestic.html |title=Pan American World Airways 1984 domestic route map, at departedflights.com |access-date=February 25, 2013 |archive-date=October 29, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029184527/http://www.departedflights.com/PA090584domestic.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.departedflights.com/PA021186domestic.html |title=Pan American World Airways 1986 domestic route map, at departedflights.com |access-date=February 25, 2013 |archive-date=October 29, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029184528/http://www.departedflights.com/PA021186domestic.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The acquisition of [[Pennsylvania]]-based [[regional airline|commuter]] airline [[Ransome Airlines]] for {{FXConvert|USA|65|m|year=1986|index=US-GDP|cursign=$|showdate=no}} (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.<ref name="National_disaster"/><ref name="NewWorld">{{Cite web |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1986/1986%20-%202017.html |title=''The new world of Pan American'', ''Flight International'', August 23, 1986, p. 23 |access-date=September 26, 2011 |archive-date=January 12, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112212826/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1986/1986%20-%202017.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1986/1986%20-%200885.html ''Ransome abandons Delta''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114213051/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1986/1986%20-%200885.html |date=January 14, 2012 }}, ''Flight International'', April 19, 1986, p. 5</ref><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1986/1986%20-%202015.html ''The new world of Pan American''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811230009/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1986/1986%20-%202015.html |date=August 11, 2011 }}, ''Flight International'', August 23, 1986, p. 21</ref> The renamed '''Pan Am Express''' operated routes mostly from New York, as well as Berlin, Germany. Miami services were added in 1990.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DEEDC113BF930A25752C1A96F948260|title=BUSINESS PEOPLE; Planner for Pan Am Heads Commuter Unit|work=The New York Times|author=Cuff, Daniel F.|date=November 13, 1989|access-date=April 7, 2008}}</ref> 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&nbsp;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.<ref name="National_disaster"/>

====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.<ref name="vanityfair2003">{{cite magazine|last=Ward |first=Vicky |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2003/03/jeffrey-epstein-200303 |title=The Talented Mr. Epstein |magazine=Vanity Fair |date=2011-06-27 |access-date=2020-06-10}}</ref>

[[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).<ref name="National_disaster"/> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/6236538.stm |title="Timeline: Lockerbie Bombing", BBC News, September 2, 2009. Retrieved September 10, 2009 |access-date=September 10, 2009 |archive-date=August 23, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090823102111/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/6236538.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Faced with a $300&nbsp;million lawsuit filed by more than 100 families of the victims, the airline [[subpoena]]ed 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.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Ludtke, Melissa |author2=Curry, Tom |author3=Schoenthal, Rhea |date=November 20, 1989|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,959126,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307061423/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,959126,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 7, 2008|title=Keeping Lockerbie Alive|journal=Time Europe|access-date=June 29, 2009}}</ref>

Also, in December 1988 the FAA fined Pan Am for 19 security failures, out of the 236 that were detected amongst 29 airlines.{{sfn|Ray|1999|p=187}}

====Failed bid for Northwest Airlines====
In June 1989, Plaskett presented [[Northwest Airlines]] with a $2.7&nbsp;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&nbsp;million.{{sfn|Gandt|1995}}<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1989/1989%20-%201400.html ''Unprofitable Pan Am makes Northwest bid''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112203617/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1989/1989%20-%201400.html |date=January 12, 2012 }}, ''Flight International'', May 20, 1989, p. 2</ref> 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.<ref>Delta questions United / Pan Am deal ''[[Flight International]]'' January 2, 1991 page 5</ref> 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 [[Lufthansa]] for {{FXConvert|USA|150|m|year=1990|index=US-GDP|cursign=$|showdate=no}}, which became effective at the same time and brought the total value of asset disposals to {{FXConvert|USA|1.2|b|year=1990|index=US-GDP|cursign=$|showdate=no}}.<ref name="National_disaster"/><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/PDFArchive/View/1990/1990%20-%203338.html ''Berlin Return boosts Lufthansa’s bid for Interflug''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112125715/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1990/1990%20-%203338.html |date=January 12, 2012 }}, ''Flight International'', November 7–13, 1990, p. 10</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/20/business/pan-am-to-eliminate-2500-jobs.html|title=Pan Am to Eliminate 2,500 Jobs|work=The New York Times|access-date=June 1, 2009|date=September 20, 1990|last=Weiner|first=Eric}}</ref>

===Bankruptcy===
[[File:N805PA-A310-PanAm-PIK-July89.jpg|thumb|''Clipper Miles Standish'' (N805PA), an Airbus A310]]

Pan Am was forced to file for [[Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code|bankruptcy]] protection on January&nbsp;8,&nbsp;1991.<ref name=ergelvn>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=i_IzAAAAIBAJ&pg=5370%2C1755407 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |agency=Associated Press |title=Pan Am seeks Chapter 11 protection |date=January 9, 1991 |page=5B}}</ref> [[Delta Air Lines]] 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&nbsp;million.  Delta also injected $100&nbsp;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.{{sfn|Robinson|1994}}<ref name="Collapse">''Aviation News (Pan American Airways: Part 2 – Down ... but not quite out)'', p. 52, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011</ref><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1991/1991%20-%202158.html ''Delta makes a difference''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112163723/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1991/1991%20-%202158.html |date=January 12, 2012 }}, ''Flight International'', August 21–27, 1991, p. 20</ref><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1991/1991%20-%202711.html ''Farewell Pan American''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114172146/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1991/1991%20-%202711.html |date=January 14, 2012 }}, ''Flight International'', October 16–22, 1991, p. 45</ref><ref name="DL_PA">[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1991/1991%20-%203287.html ''Comment''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112214548/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1991/1991%20-%203287.html |date=January 12, 2012 }}, ''Flight International'', December 18–24, 1991, p. 3</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE5DE1539F930A3575AC0A967958260|title=Delta Shuttle's First Week|date=September 3, 1991|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 29, 2007}}</ref> Two months later Delta assumed all of Pan Am's remaining transatlantic traffic rights, except Miami to Paris and London.<ref name="Collapse"/> 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]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=By |date=1991-09-05 |title=AIRLINES TO COMBINE BONUS PLAN PAN AM FREQUENT FLIERS CAN EARN DELTA AWARDS |url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/1991/09/05/airlines-to-combine-bonus-plan-pan-am-frequent-fliers-can-earn-delta-awards/ |access-date=2024-01-23 |website=Sun Sentinel |language=en-US}}</ref>

In October 1991, former [[Douglas Aircraft Company|Douglas Aircraft]] executive Russell Ray Jr., was hired as Pan Am's new president and CEO.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-01-26-fi-1172-story.html|title=The Man Who Tried to Rescue Pan Am|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=May 31, 2009|last=Sanchez|first=Jesus|date=January 26, 1992}}</ref> 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&nbsp;1<!--, 1991-->.<ref>Dunlap, David W. "[https://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/04/nyregion/final-pan-am-departure.html Final Pan Am Departure] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211045910/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/04/nyregion/final-pan-am-departure.html |date=December 11, 2020 }}." ''[[The New York Times]]''. Friday September 4, 1992. Retrieved August 25, 2009.</ref> The new airline would have operated approximately 60 aircraft and generated about $1.2&nbsp;billion in annual revenues with 7,500 employees.{{sfn|Robinson|1994}} 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&nbsp;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.<ref name="Collapse"/><ref name="DL_PA"/>

[[File:Pan Am Boeing 747-100 Manteufel.jpg|thumb|left|''Clipper Sparking Wave'' (N741PA), a [[747-100|Boeing 747-100]] on short final into Berlin Tempelhof Airport, wearing Pan Am's final "billboard" style livery]]

Pan Am's senior executives outlined a projected shortfall of between $100 million and possibly $200&nbsp;million, with the airline requiring a $25&nbsp;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&nbsp;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&nbsp;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&nbsp;4,&nbsp;1991,<ref name=tdapfnfl>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kgohAAAAIBAJ&pg=1408%2C839158 |work=The Day |location=(New London, Connecticut) |agency=Associated Press |last=Beveridge |first=Dirk |title=Pan Am takes its final flight into history|date=December 5, 1991 |page=D6}}</ref><ref name=ergwgclp>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=o_tQAAAAIBAJ&pg=6790%2C839030 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |agency=Associated Press |title=Pan Am's wings finally clipped |date=December 5, 1991 |page=2B}}</ref> following a decision by Delta CEO Ron Allen and other senior executives not to go ahead with the final $25&nbsp;million payment Pan Am was scheduled to receive the weekend after [[Thanksgiving (United States)|Thanksgiving]].<ref name="Collapse"/><ref name="PanAmdead">Salpukas, Agis. "[https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/05/business/its-cash-depleted-pan-am-shuts.html Its Cash Depleted, Pan Am Shuts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309015636/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/05/business/its-cash-depleted-pan-am-shuts.html |date=March 9, 2021 }}." ''[[The New York Times]]''. Thursday December 5, 1991. Retrieved August 28, 2009.</ref> 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.<ref name="PanAmdead"/> The carrier's last flown scheduled operation was Pan Am flight 436 which departed that day from [[Bridgetown, Barbados]], at 2&nbsp;pm ([[Eastern Time Zone|EST]]) for Miami under the command of Captain Mark Pyle flying ''Clipper Goodwill'', a Boeing 727-200 (N368PA).<ref name="Collapse"/><ref name="DL_PA"/><ref>[http://www.pbase.com/airlinerphotos/image/46757348 ''AIR LINE PILOT''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080319033259/http://www.pbase.com/airlinerphotos/image/46757348 |date=March 19, 2008 }} June 1992, p.18 Air Line Pilots Association (publisher)</ref>

Delta was sued for more than $2.5&nbsp;billion on December 9, 1991, by the Pan Am Creditors Committee.<ref>{{cite news|title=Pan Am, Creditors Sue Delta|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=December 9, 1991|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1099194.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026135857/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1099194.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 26, 2012|access-date=February 9, 2008}}</ref> Shortly thereafter, a large group of former Pan Am employees sued Delta.<ref name="DL_PA"/> In December 1994, a federal judge ruled in favor of Delta, concluding that it was not liable for Pan Am's demise.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/16/business/market-place-in-the-volatile-airline-industry-it-s-delta-s-time-to-shine.html|title=Market Place; In the volatile airline industry, it's Delta's time to shine.|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 31, 2009|last=Bryant|first=Adam|date=January 16, 1995}}</ref>

Pan Am was the third American major airline to shut down in 1991, after [[Eastern Air Lines]] and [[Midway Airlines (1976–1991)|Midway Airlines]].<ref name="PanAmdead"/>

[[File:Pan Am Express.jpg|thumb|[[ATR 42]] (N4209G) of [[Ransome Airlines|Pan Am Express]] at [[Sylt Airport]], 1991]]

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.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110115072939/http://www.observer.com/2011/real-estate/its-free-look-west-village-carriage-house-turned-panam-execs-hangar "It's Free to Look: The West Village Carriage House Turned Pan Am Exec's Hangar"], ''The New York Observer'', January 14, 2011</ref> 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&nbsp;million, renaming it Trans World Express.<ref>[http://www.thefreelibrary.com/TWA+CONCLUDES+DEAL+FOR+PAN+AM+EXPRESS-a011566756 ''TWA concludes deal for Pan Am Express''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111032533/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/TWA+CONCLUDES+DEAL+FOR+PAN+AM+EXPRESS-a011566756 |date=November 11, 2012 }}, PR Newswire, Trans World Airlines, Mt Kisco, NY, December 4, 1991</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/31/business/shugrue-s-plan-for-pan-am-low-costs-and-lower-fares.html|title=Shugrue's Plan for Pan Am: Low Costs and Lower Fares|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 31, 2009|last=Bryant|first=Adam|date=January 31, 1996}}</ref>

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.{{sfn|Conrad|1999|p=28}} He cites an observation made by former Pan Am Vice President for External Affairs, Stanley Gewirtz:{{sfn|Conrad|1999|p=200}}

{{blockquote|What could go wrong did. No one who followed Juan Trippe had the foresight to do something strongly positive … it was the most astonishing example of [[Murphy's law]] in extremis. The sale of Pan Am's profitable parts was inevitable to the company's destruction. There were not enough pieces to build on.|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.<ref>[http://www.americancapital.com/news/newsreleases/2006/pr20060727.html American Capital invests in PAIFA] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061021212001/http://www.americancapital.com/news/newsreleases/2006/pr20060727.html |date=October 21, 2006 }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Aftermath">''Aviation News (Pan American Airways: Part 2 – Down ... but not quite out)'', p. 53, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011</ref>

[[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 [[Caribbean]] with the [[IATA airline designator]] ''PN''.<ref name="Aftermath"/> 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).<ref>{{cite web|title=Order 99-8-15|url=http://docketsinfo.dot.gov/general/orders/19993qtr/aug99/990815.pdf|publisher=United States Department of Transportation|access-date=July 27, 2015|date=August 19, 1999|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210204602/http://docketsinfo.dot.gov/general/orders/19993qtr/aug99/990815.pdf|archive-date=December 10, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:Pan Am Boeing 727-222 N342PA 20071227.jpg|right|thumb|Pan Am ''Clipper Guilford'' (N342PA), [[727-200|Boeing 727-200]]]]

[[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''.<ref name="Aftermath"/>

[[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]].<ref name="Aftermath"/>

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 [[Brownsville, Texas]]. The airline's inaugural flight was to [[Monterrey, Mexico]], on November 12, 2010.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/10/29/130926486/pan-am-airline-will-return-to-the-air-next-month |title=Pan-Am Airline Set To Return To The Air Next Month |website=[[NPR]] |date=October 29, 2010 |access-date=April 3, 2018 |archive-date=December 26, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141226032822/http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/10/29/130926486/pan-am-airline-will-return-to-the-air-next-month |url-status=live |last1=Chappell |first1=Bill }}</ref> The airline had said it would carry cargo only at first but intended to announce passenger service by 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://panamericanairways.net/index.html |title=Pan American Airways |access-date=December 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204142943/http://panamericanairways.net/index.html |archive-date=February 4, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.themonitor.com/articles/child-61026-guilty-hedrick.html |title=Ex-airline exec found guilty in child-porn trial |newspaper=The Monitor |date=May 21, 2012 |access-date=September 8, 2012 }}{{dead link|date=May 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 8, 2024 |title=Pan Am to Recreate Historic Routes Through Private Air Journey |url=https://www.luxurytraveladvisor.com/tours/pan-am-recreate-historic-routes-through-private-air-journey |website=Luxury Travel Advisor}}</ref>

===Railways===
[[File:Mec 31933 08-04-2005.jpg|thumb|A former [[Maine Central]] [[boxcar]] painted in the new [[Pan Am Railways]] livery in 2005]]

In 1998, [[Guilford Transportation Industries]] purchased Pan American World Airways and all related naming rights and intellectual properties.<ref name="Aftermath" /><ref>{{cite news |date=June 30, 1998 |title=Railroad to Acquire Assets of Pan Am |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/30/business/railroad-to-acquire-assets-of-pan-am.html |access-date=May 31, 2009 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> The railway was later operated as [[Pan Am Railways]].<ref name="Aftermath" /> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Seoul: Pan Am flagship store opening – superfuture® |url=https://superfuture.com/2022/09/new-shops/seoul-pan-am-flagship-store-opening/ |access-date=2023-01-10 |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Other ===
In 2020, Funko Games released a ''Pan Am'' board game, in which players play as airlines in competition with Pan Am.<ref name="debbikickham" />

In 2022, [[Timex Group USA|Timex]] released an exclusive watch with Pan Am branding.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wussow |first=Josh |date=2022-10-03 |title=Timex Pan-Am Chronograph Review: The Best Timex Money Can Buy |url=https://gearjunkie.com/technology/timex-pan-am-chronograph-watch-review |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=GearJunkie |language=en-US}}</ref> Due to the popularity, it was re-released in 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Directo-Meston |first=Danielle |date=2023-08-19 |title=Timex's Sold-Out Pan Am Waterbury Watch Is Back In Stock |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/shopping/timex-pan-am-watch-collaboration-restock-1235570337/ |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== 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.<ref name="AirlineGeeks2025">{{cite web |last=Vasile |first=Zach |title=Pan Am Considering Comeback |url=https://airlinegeeks.com/2025/06/05/pan-am-considering-comeback/ |website=AirlineGeeks |date=June 5, 2025 |access-date=June 6, 2025}}</ref> The company partnered with aviation consulting firm AVi8 Air Capital to assess market dynamics, fleet strategy, and operational infrastructure for the potential relaunch.<ref name="AirlineGeeks2025" /> 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.<ref name="AirlineGeeks2025" />

==Destinations==

=== List of destinations served by Pan Am at its peak ===
{{unreferenced section|date=March 2024}}
{{div col |colwidth=20em}}
{{bulleted list 
|Abidjan, Ivory Coast
|Accra, Ghana
|Amsterdam, Netherlands
|Ankara, Turkey
|Antigua, Antigua and Barbuda
|Aruba
|Asuncion, Paraguay
|Atlanta, GA, U.S.
|Auckland, New Zealand
|Baltimore, MD, U.S.
|Bangkok Don Muang, Thailand
|Barcelona, Spain
|Barranquilla, Colombia
|Beirut, Lebanon
|Belem, PA, Brazil
|Belgrade, Yugoslavia
|Bergen, Norway
|Berlin Tegel
|Berlin Tempelhof
|Bermuda
|[[Frans Kaisiepo International Airport|Biak]], [[Netherlands New Guinea]]
|Bombay(Now Mumbai), India
|Boston, MA, U.S.
|Brasilia, DF, Brazil
|Bridgetown, Barbados
|Brussels Natl., Belgium
|Bucharest, Romania
|Buenos Aires Ezeiza, Argentina
|Cali, Colombia
|Calcutta, India
|Caracas, Venezuela
|Chicago O'Hare, IL, U.S.
|Cologne/Bonn, West Germany
|Copenhagen, Denmark
|Cotonou, Dahomey
|Curacao, Netherlands Antilles
|Dakar, Senegal
|Dallas Love, TX, U.S.
|Damascus, Syria
|Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
|Delhi, India
|Denpasar, Indonesia
|Detroit, MI, U.S.
|Douala, Cameroon
|Dusseldorf, West Germany
|Entebbe/Kampala, Uganda
|Fairbanks, AK, U.S.
|Fort-de-France, Martinique
|Frankfurt Intl., West Germany
|Gander, NL, Canada
|Georgetown, Guyana
|Glasgow Prestwick, Scotland
|Guam
|Guatemala City, Guatemala
|Guayaquil, Ecuador
|Hamburg, West Germany
|Hanover, West Germany
|Helsinki, Finland
|Hilo, HI, U.S.
|Hong Kong Kai Tak
|Honolulu, HI, U.S.
|Houston Hobby, TX, U.S.
|Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey
|Jakarta Kemayoran, Indonesia
|Johannesburg, South Africa
|Juneau, AK, U.S.
|Karachi, Pakistan
|Keflavik, Iceland
|Kingston, Jamaica
|Kinshasa, Dem. Rep. Congo
|Kuala Lumpur Subang, Malaysia
|La Paz, Bolivia
|Lagos, Nigeria
|Libreville, Gabon
||Lima, Peru
|Lisbon, Portugal
|London Heathrow, England, U.K.
|Los Angeles, CA, U.S.
|Madrid, Spain
|Managua, Nicaragua
|Manila, Philippines
|Maracaibo, Venezuela
|Melbourne, VIC, Australia
|Merida, Mexico
|Mexico City, Mexico
|Miami, FL, U.S.
|Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN, U.S.
|Monrovia, Liberia
|Montego Bay, Jamaica
|Montevideo, Uruguay
|Moscow Sheremetyevo, U.S.S.R.
|Nadi, Fiji
|Nairobi, Kenya
|Nassau, Bahamas
|New Orleans, LA, U.S.
|New York JFK, NY, U.S.
|Nice, France
|Noumea, French Caledonia
|Nuremberg, West Germany
|Osaka Itami, Japan
|Pago Pago, American Samoa
|Panama City, Panama
|Papeete, Tahiti
|Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana
|Paris Le Bourget, France
|Paris Orly, France
|Penang, Malaysia
|Philadelphia, PA, U.S.
|Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe
|Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
|Port-au-Prince, Haiti
|Portland, OR, U.S.
|Prague, Czechoslovakia
|Quito, Ecuador
|Rangoon, Burma
|Rawalpindi, Pakistan
|Rio de Janeiro Galeao, RJ, Brazil
|Rome, Italy
|Saigon, South Vietnam
|San Francisco, CA, U.S.
|San Jose, Costa Rica
|San Juan, Puerto Rico
|Santa Maria, Azores
|Santiago, Chile
|Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
|Sao Paulo Viracopos, SP, Brazil
|Seattle/Tacoma, WA, U.S.
|Shannon, Ireland
|Shanghai, China
|Singapore Paya Lebar
|St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
|St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles
|St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
|Stockholm Arlanda, Sweden
|Stuttgart, West Germany
|Sydney, NSW, Australia
|Tampa, FL, U.S.
|Tegucigalpa, Honduras
|Tehran Mehrabad, Iran
|Tel Aviv, Israel
|Tokyo Haneda, Japan
|Vienna, Austria
|Warsaw, Poland
|Washington Dulles, DC, U.S.
}}
{{div col end}}

== Record-setting flights ==
At the outbreak of the war in the Pacific in December 1941, the ''[[Pacific Clipper]]'' 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 [[Auckland]], New Zealand, the ''Pacific Clipper'' covered over 31,500 miles (50,694&nbsp;km), with stops including [[Surabaya]], [[Karachi]], [[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.<ref name="Bull">{{cite web|last1=Bull|first1=John|title=The Long Way Round: The Plane that Accidentally Circumnavigated the World|url=https://medium.com/lapsed-historian/the-long-way-round-the-plane-that-accidentally-circumnavigated-the-world-c04ca734c6bb|website=Lapsed Historian|publisher=Medium.com|access-date=April 22, 2018|date=August 2014}}</ref>

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.{{sfn|Baum|1997|p=43}}

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 [[Heathrow Airport|London Heathrow]], [[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.{{sfn|Baum|1997|pp=43–45}}

==Corporate affairs==
For much of its history the corporate headquarters were the [[MetLife Building|Pan Am Building]] in [[Midtown Manhattan]], [[New York City]].

When [[Juan Trippe]] 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 Building]]<ref name=Clausenp137>Clausen, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=E6qRuyzOogIC&pg=PA137 137] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221022173301/https://books.google.com/books?id=E6qRuyzOogIC&pg=PA137 |date=October 22, 2022 }}.</ref> on 135 East 42nd Street, also in Midtown Manhattan.<ref>National Research Council (US). Committee on Latin American Anthropology, Alexander Lesser. ''Survey of Research on Latin America by United States Scientists and Institutions''. [[National Academies]], 1946. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=iEsrAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA70 70] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221022173301/https://books.google.com/books?id=iEsrAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA70 |date=October 22, 2022 }}. "Pan American World Airways System, 135 East 42nd Street, New York 17, N.Y."</ref>

In September 1960 Trippe and developer [[Erwin Wolfson]] signed a {{FXConvert|USA|115.5|m|year=1960|cursign=$|index=US-GDP|showdate=no}} lease agreement for the airline to occupy {{convert|613000|sqft|sqm|adj=on}} 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.<ref name=Clausenp137/>

==In popular culture==
[[File:Pan Am Boeing 707-331 N704PA - Jet Clipper Defiance, Stockholm Arlanda July 1966.jpg|thumb|''Clipper Defiance'' (N704PA) at [[Stockholm Arlanda Airport]] in July 1966]]
Pan Am held a lofty position in the popular culture of the [[Cold War]] 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''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/06/nyregion/recalling-screams-heard-round-the-world.html|title=Recalling Screams Heard Round the World|work=The New York Times|access-date=June 1, 2009|last=Marks|first=Peter|date=February 1994}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite book|author=Abagnale, Frank Jr|title=Catch Me If You Can|url=https://archive.org/details/catchmeifyoucan00fran|url-access=registration|publisher=Broadway Books|year=2002|page=[https://archive.org/details/catchmeifyoucan00fran/page/289 289]}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |author=Well, Thomas|title=New book further debunks myth of scam artist Frank Abagnale, Jr. of 'Catch Me if You Can' book and movie|url=https://louisianavoice.com/2021/04/26/new-book-further-debunks-myth-of-scam-artist-frank-abagnale-jr-of-catch-me-if-you-can-book-movie/ |website=Louisiana voice|year=2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Lopez, Xavier|title=Could this famous con man be lying about his story? A new book suggests he is|url=https://whyy.org/segments/the-greatest-hoax-on-earth/|website=WHYY|year=2021}}</ref>

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).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1901&dat=19890722&id=sVcfAAAAIBAJ&pg=4264,4224278|title=The News-Journal, July 22, 1989}}</ref> 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.<ref>Washington Post 1989/07/21</ref>

A fictional Pan Am "Space Clipper",<ref name=2001clipper>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-7wMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5479,3673315&dq=pan-am+space-odyssey|title=Pan Am lunar list tethered to earth|work=St. Petersburg Times|access-date=June 1, 2009|last=Beveridge|first=Dirk|date=July 5, 1991}}{{Dead link|date=January 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> 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 attendant]]s 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."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marketingmovies.net/news/futuristic-film-product-placement-in-2010/|title=Futuristic Film Product Placement|work=Advertising Age|access-date=June 1, 2009|last=Marich|first=Bob|date=December 3, 1984|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207033911/http://marketingmovies.net/news/futuristic-film-product-placement-in-2010/|archive-date=February 7, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>

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]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.atlantic-times.com/archive_detail.php?recordID=599 |title=Revival of an American Icon – 'Clippers' are again flying under the name Pan Am |work=The Atlantic Times |access-date=June 1, 2009 |last=Ridderbusch |first=Katja |date=August 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611013855/http://www.atlantic-times.com/archive_detail.php?recordID=599 |archive-date=June 11, 2009 }}</ref>

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]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Seligman |first=Martin E. P. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/784883392 |title=Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realise Your Potential for Lasting Fulfilment. |publisher=Nicholas Brealey Publishing |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-85788-413-5 |location=London |oclc=784883392 |orig-year=2002}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.avclub.com/lets-obsess-over-the-cityscapes-of-blade-runner-2049-1819281369|title=Let's obsess over the cityscapes of Blade Runner 2049|work=AV Club|access-date=October 9, 2017}}</ref>

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.<ref>[http://abc.go.com/shows/pan-am "Pan Am" at ABC.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519220551/http://abc.go.com/shows/pan-am |date=May 19, 2011 }}</ref> It was canceled in May 2012.

==Flight crews==
[[File:Sikorsky S42 (crop).jpg|thumb|The [[Sikorsky S-42]] was one of Pan Am's earlier [[flying boat]]s and was used to [[Fred Noonan|survey the San Francisco – China route]].]]

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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://thescuttlefish.com/2010/09/pan-ams-seaplanes/ |title=Pan Am's Seaplanes : The Scuttlefish |access-date=September 27, 2011 |archive-date=November 6, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111106134848/http://thescuttlefish.com/2010/09/pan-ams-seaplanes/ |url-status=live }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://b377.ovi.ch/brochures/captain/index.html |title=Meet Your Clipper Captain |access-date=September 27, 2011 |archive-date=September 12, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100912001059/http://b377.ovi.ch/brochures/captain/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://www.clipperpioneers.com/NL09/CPNews509.pdf May 2009 – Clipper Pioneers Newsletter; ''Would You Believe?''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424225305/http://www.clipperpioneers.com/NL09/CPNews509.pdf |date=April 24, 2012 }} by Robert L. Bragg, Capt., Pan Am and United, Ret.</ref>

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.<ref name="Masland, William, 1984">Masland, William M., ''Through the Back Doors of the World in a Ship That Had Wings'', Vantage Press (1984)</ref>

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.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120419212824/http://runway.cloudaccess.net/points-of-departure/stories/78-recollections-of-dinner-key-.html ''Recollections of Dinner Key'']</ref> 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.<ref name="Masland, William, 1984"/>

==Acquisitions and divestments==
{{Prose|date=December 2017}}
<!-- Source for all text: "An American Saga: Juan Trippe and his Pan Am Empire" (1980) by Robert Daley. -->
* 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: [[Pan American-Grace Airways]] (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 [[Panair do Brasil]].
* 1931: Majority control of [[SCADTA]] 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: [[China National Aviation Corporation]] (CNAC) acquired.
* 1933: Servicios Aviacion de Guatemala acquired.
* 1933: Panama Airways acquired.
* 1937: CNAC merged with [[China Airways]]<!-- , leaving Pan Am with a 45% interest (How did they divest the 25% between 1937 and 1949?) -->.
* 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: [[InterContinental]], a chain of hotels, founded.
* 1946: Brazilian investors bought 4% of [[Panair do Brasil]], 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: [[American Overseas Airlines]] (AOA) acquired from [[American Airlines]].
* 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 [[British Overseas Airways Corporation]] (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 [[Panair do Brasil]].
<!-- * 1963: Pan Am and [[Dassault Aviation|Dassault]] form Falcon Jet, a 50-50 joint venture to market the [[Dassault Falcon 20|Falcon 20]] business jet. -->
* 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: [[MetLife Building|Pan Am Building]] sold to [[MetLife]].<ref>[[Christopher Gray (architectural historian)|Gray, Christopher]] (October 7, 2001). "[https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/07/realestate/streetscapes-metlife-building-originally-pan-am-building-critics-once-called-it.html Streetscapes/The MetLife Building, Originally the Pan Am Building; Critics Once Called It Ugly; Now They're Not Sure] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308153600/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/07/realestate/streetscapes-metlife-building-originally-pan-am-building-critics-once-called-it.html |date=March 8, 2021 }}". ''New York Times''. nytimes.com. Retrieved January 27, 2018.</ref>
* 1981: InterContinental sold to [[Grand Metropolitan]].<ref>"[https://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/11/business/pan-am-unit-sale.htmll Pan Am Unit Sale]". ''New York Times''. nytimes.com. September &nbsp;11, 1981. Retrieved January 27, 2018.</ref>
* 1986: Pacific Division sold to [[United Airlines]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Salpukas|first1=Agis|title=Pan Am Plans Of Pacific Routes To United Airlines|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/23/business/pan-am-plans-sale-of-pacific-routes-to-united-airlines.html|access-date=March 12, 2018|work=The New York Times|date=April 23, 1985 |issue=April 23, 1985 |language=en}}</ref>
* 1988: Pan Am's queue for 50 A320 sold to [[Braniff (1983–1990)|Braniff Inc.]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/05/business/braniff-in-move-to-buy-100-planes.html|last=Siler|first=Julia Flynn|date=January 5, 1989|title=Braniff in Move to Buy 100 Planes|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=October 17, 2020}}</ref>
* 1989: Pan Am World Services (PAWS) sold to [[Johnson Controls]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/02/business/company-news-pan-am-unit-to-be-bought.html|title=COMPANY NEWS; Pan Am Unit To Be Bought|date=1989-05-02|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-01-18|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
* 1990: [[Heathrow Airport|London Heathrow]]-based routes sold to United Airlines.<ref>{{cite news|last1=DALLOS|first1=ROBERT E.|title=United to Buy Pan Am's London Routes : Airlines: The deal is worth $400 million. The carrier will gain gateways from five US cities, including Los Angeles.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-24-fi-2900-story.html|access-date=March 12, 2018|work=Los Angeles Times|date=October 24, 1990}}</ref>
* 1990: Internal German Services Division sold to [[Lufthansa]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=DALLOS|first1=ROBERT E.|title=Pan Am May Sell Its West Berlin Routes : Airlines: The money-losing carrier has been selling assets. It operates a shuttle-type service on about 75 daily Berlin flights.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-03-01-fi-2400-story.html|access-date=March 12, 2018|work=Los Angeles Times|date=March 1, 1990}}</ref>
* 1991: Atlantic Division, Pan Am Shuttle, and New York City Worldport sold to [[Delta Air Lines]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Salpukas|first1=Agis|title=Pan Am is selling overseas routes and its Shuttle|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/12/business/pan-am-is-selling-overseas-routes-and-its-shuttle.html|access-date=March 12, 2018|work=The New York Times|date=July 12, 1991 |issue=July 12, 1991 }}</ref>
* 1991: Caribbean/Latin American routes sold to [[American Airlines]] and [[United Airlines]] at auction.<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 10, 1991 |title=UNITED THE BIG WINNER OF PAN AM'S REMAINS |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1991/12/10/united-the-big-winner-of-pan-ams-remains/1e007d87-4754-4057-ac19-91cca245b051/ }}</ref>

==Accidents and incidents==
{{main|List of Pan Am 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:
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"
|+ Pan Am Fleet<ref name=PA-Fleet-1990>{{cite web|title=World Airline Directory|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1990/1990%20-%200770.html|publisher=Flight International|access-date=November 5, 2011|date=March 1990}}</ref>
|-
! rowspan=2 | Aircraft
! rowspan=2 | Number
! rowspan=2 | Orders
! colspan=4 | Passengers
! rowspan=2 | Notes
|-
! <abbr title="First Class">F</abbr>
! <abbr title="Clipper Class">C</abbr>
! <abbr title="Economy Class">Y</abbr>
! Total
|-
|[[Airbus A300B4]]
|13
|&mdash;
|&mdash;
|24
|230
|254
|
|-
|[[Airbus A310-200]]
|7
|rowspan=2|&mdash;
|rowspan=2|12
|rowspan=2|30
|rowspan=2|154
|rowspan=2|196<ref>{{cite web|title=PA3100889|url=https://www.departedflights.com/PA3100889.html|publisher=departedflights|access-date=February 13, 2024|date=August 1989}}</ref>
|rowspan=2|
|-
|[[Airbus A310-300]]
|14
|-
|[[Boeing 727-200]]
|91
|9
|&mdash;
|14
|131
|145
|Orders for used aircraft
|-
|[[Boeing 737-200]]
|5
|&mdash;
|&mdash;
|21
|95
|116<ref>{{cite web|last=Booth|first=Darren|title=Vintage airline seat map: Pan Am Boeing 737-200|url=http://boardingarea.com/blogs/frequentlyflying/2012/09/01/vintage-airline-seat-map-pan-am-boeing-737-200/|work=Frequently Flying|access-date=September 15, 2012|date=September 2012}}</ref>
|
|-
|[[Boeing 747-100]]
|18
|&mdash;
|21
|44
|347
|412<ref>{{cite web|last=Booth|first=Darren|title=Vintage airline seat map: Boeing 747 v. 2|url=http://boardingarea.com/blogs/frequentlyflying/2011/09/20/vintage-airline-seat-map-pan-am-boeing-747-v-2/|work=Frequently Flying|access-date=September 15, 2012|date=September 20, 2011}}</ref>
|747 Launch Customer<br />1987 seating configuration
|-
|[[Boeing 747-200B]]
|7
|&mdash;
|39
|52
|286
|377<ref>{{cite web|last=Booth|first=Darren|title=Vintage airline seat map: Pan Am Boeing 747|url=http://boardingarea.com/blogs/frequentlyflying/2011/04/01/vintage-airline-seat-map-pan-am-boeing-747/|work=Frequently Flying|access-date=September 15, 2012|date=April 2011}}</ref>
|1989 seating configuration (for South American flights)
|-
!Total
!155
!9
!colspan=4|
!
|-
!colspan=8| [[Pan Am Express|Pan Am Express]] Fleet<ref name=PA-Fleet-1990 />
|-
|[[ATR 42-300]]
|8
|3
|&mdash;
|&mdash;
|46
|46
|
|-
|[[de Havilland Canada Dash 7]]
|10
|&mdash;
|&mdash;
|&mdash;
|50
|50
|
|-
|[[British Aerospace Jetstream|BAe Jetstream 31]]
|10
|&mdash;
|&mdash;
|&mdash;
|19
|19
|One airframe G-BSMY operated by BAe in Pan Am Express livery in 1990
|-
|[[BAe 146-100]]
|9 {{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}
|&mdash;
|&mdash;
|&mdash;
|{{Unknown}}
|{{Unknown}}
|
|-
!Total
!18
!3
!colspan=4|
!
|}

===Fleet history===
All the aircraft ever operated by Pan Am:
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"
|+ '''Pan Am Fleet'''<ref name="Fleet1">{{cite web|url=http://www.panamair.org/aircraft/aircraft.htm |title=Pan Am's Aircraft |publisher=PanAmAir.org |year=2005 |access-date=April 7, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512150418/http://www.panamair.org/aircraft/aircraft.htm |archive-date=May 12, 2008 }}</ref><ref name="Pan Am and the Concorde">{{cite web|url=http://www.concordesst.com/history/orders.html|title=Concorde History Airline orders and options|publisher=Alexandre Avrane|year=2000–2001|access-date=October 5, 2008}}</ref><ref name="Pan Am's Clipper Fleet">{{cite web|url=http://www.hacoma.de/panam/e_fleet.php?sort=2&res=0|title=Pan Am's Clipper Fleet|publisher=hacoma.de|year=2006–2008|access-date=October 5, 2008|archive-date=October 26, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071026142409/http://www.hacoma.de/panam/e_fleet.php?sort=2&res=0|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Davies |first=R.E.G. |title=Pan Am: An Airline and Its Aircraft |date=1987 |publisher=Orion Books |isbn=0-517-56639-7 |edition=1 |location=New York |oclc=15282912}}</ref>
|- 
!Aircraft
!Total
!Introduced
!Retired
!Notes
|-
!colspan="5"|Flying Boat
|-
|[[Boeing 314]]
|7
|1939
|1946
|Carried first Transatlantic Air Mail
|-
|[[Consolidated Commodore]]
|14
|1930
|1943
|
|-
|[[Douglas Dolphin]]
|2
|1934
|{{Unknown}}
|Allocated to [[China National Aviation Corporation]]
|-
|[[Martin M-130]]
|3
|1935
|1945
|Carried first Transpacific Air Mail
|-
|[[Sikorsky S-36]]
|5
|1927
|1928
|
|-
|[[Sikorsky S-38]]
|24
|1928
|1943
|
|-
|[[Sikorsky S-40]]
|3
|1931
|1944
|First aircraft to carry the '''Clipper''' name
|-
|[[Sikorsky S-42]]
|10
|1934
|1946
|
|-
|[[Sikorsky S-43|Sikorsky S-43 Baby Clipper]]
|10
|1936
|1945
|
|-
!colspan="5"|Jet Aircraft
|-
|[[Airbus A300B4]]
|13
|1984
|1991
|2 more ordered; 4 disposed to [[Sempati Air]]<ref>{{Cite news |last=Latif |first=Syahid |date=2013-10-02 |title=Sempati Air, Matinya Maskapai Kontroversial dengan Segunung Utang |language=id |trans-title=Sempati Air, the Death of a Controversial Airline with a Mountain of Debt |work=Liputan6 |location=Jakarta, Indonesia |url=https://www.liputan6.com/bisnis/read/708838/sempati-air-matinya-maskapai-kontroversial-dengan-segunung-utang |access-date=2022-08-14}}</ref>

|-
|[[Airbus A310-200]]
|7
|1985
|1991
|rowspan="2"|Disposed to [[Delta Air Lines]] as part of the sale of the Atlantic Division.
|-
|[[Airbus A310-300]]
|14
|1987
|1991
|-
|[[Airbus A320-200]]
|50
|colspan="2"|Cancelled
|16 ordered, 34 on option. Never delivered to PA.<br />First 16 aircraft on order delivered to [[Braniff (1983–1990)|Braniff (BN)]].
|-
|[[Boeing 707-120]]
|8
|1958
|1974
|Worldwide launch customer of the 707 series
|-
|[[Boeing 707|Boeing 707-320B]]
|85
|1959
|1981
|
|-
|[[Boeing 707-320C]]
|34
|1963
|1979
|
|-
|[[Boeing 720|Boeing 720B]]
|9
|1963
|1974
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|[[Boeing 727-100]]
|27
|rowspan="2"|1965
|rowspan="2"|1991
|
|-
|19
|Acquired from merged [[National Airlines (1934–1980)|National Airlines]]
|-
|rowspan="2"|[[Boeing 727-200]]
|81
|rowspan="2"|1980
|rowspan="2"|1991
|
|-
|24
|Acquired from merged [[National Airlines (1934–1980)|National Airlines]]
|-
|[[Boeing 737-200]]
|16
|1982
|1991
|
|-
| rowspan="5" |[[Boeing 747-100]]
|33
|1970
| rowspan="5" |1991
|Launch Customer of the [[Boeing 747]].
|-
|4
|1984
|Acquired from [[American Airlines]]
|-
|1
|1978
| rowspan="2" |Previously owned by [[Delta Air Lines]] and [[China Airlines]]
|-
|1
|1984
|-
|5
|1986
|Acquired from [[United Airlines]]
|-
|[[Boeing 747-200B]]
|7
|1983
|1991
|Previously owned by [[Singapore Airlines]].
|-
|[[Boeing 747-200C]]
|1
|1974
|1983
|Acquired from [[World Airways]].<br />Operated by [[Pan Am Cargo]]
|-
|[[Boeing 747-200F]]
|2
|1979
|1983
|Operated by [[Pan Am Cargo]]
|-
|rowspan="2"|[[Boeing 747SP]]
|10
|1976
|rowspan="2"|1986
|Launch Customer of the [[Boeing 747SP]]<br />Disposed to [[United Airlines]] as part of the sale of the Pacific Division.
|-
|1
|1983
|Acquired from [[Braniff Airways]]
|-
|[[Douglas DC-8#Series 30|Douglas DC-8-32]]
|rowspan="2"|19
|rowspan="2"|1960
|rowspan="2"|1970
|rowspan="2"|
|-
|[[Douglas DC-8#Series 30|Douglas DC-8-33]]
|-
|[[Douglas DC-8#Super Sixty Series|Douglas DC-8-62]]
|1
|1970
|1971
|
|-
|rowspan="3"|[[Lockheed L-1011 TriStar|Lockheed L-1011-500 TriStar]]
|3
|rowspan="3"|1980
|rowspan="2"|1985
|Disposed to the [[Royal Air Force]] as [[Lockheed TriStar (RAF)|tanker/transports]].
|-
|3
|Disposed to [[Delta Air Lines]]
|-
|6
|1986
|Disposed to [[United Airlines]] as part of the sale of the Pacific Division.
|-
|[[McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10]]
|11
| rowspan="3" |1980
| rowspan="2" |1984
|rowspan="2"|Acquired from [[National Airlines (NA)|National Airlines]].<br>Disposed to [[American Airlines]].
|-
| rowspan="2" |[[McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30]]
|4
|-
|1
|1985
|Ordered by National Airlines before their merger with Pan Am.<br>Disposed to [[United Airlines]] as part of the sale of the Pacific Division.
|-
!colspan=5|Propeller Aircraft
|-
|[[Boeing 307 Stratoliner]]
|3
|1940
|1948
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|[[Boeing 377 Stratocruiser]]
|28
|rowspan="2"|1949
|rowspan="2"|1961
|
|-
|8
|Acquired from [[American Overseas Airlines]]
|-
|[[Convair CV-240 family|Convair CV-240]]
|20
|1948
|1957
|
|-
|[[Convair CV-240 family|Convair CV-340]]
|6
|1953
|1955
|
|-
|[[Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando]]
|12
|1948
|1956
|
|-
|[[Douglas DC-2]]
|9
|1934
|1941
|
|-
|[[Douglas DC-3]]
|90
|1937
|1966
|
|-
|[[Douglas DC-4]]
|22
|1947
|1961
|
|-
|[[Douglas DC-6]]
|49
|1953
|1968
|
|-
|[[Douglas DC-7]]
|37
|1955
|1966
|
|-
|[[Fairchild FC-2]]
|5
|1928
|1933
|First aircraft of Pan Am's subsidiary [[Pan American-Grace Airways|Panagra]]
|-
|[[Fairchild 71]]
|3
|1930
|1940
|
|-
|[[Fairchild 91]]
|2
|1936
|1937
|4 more were ordered, but all canceled
|-
|[[Fokker F.VII|Fokker F-10A]]
|12
|1929
|1935
|
|-
|[[Fokker F.VII#Variants|Fokker F.VIIa/3m]]
|3
|1927
|1930
|First Pan Am-owned airplane to carry air mail
|-
|[[Ford Trimotor]]
|11
|1929
|1940
|
|-
|[[Lockheed Model 9 Orion]]
|2
|1935
|1936
|
|-
|[[Lockheed Model 10 Electra]]
|4
|1934
|1938
|
|-
|[[Lockheed Constellation|Lockheed L-049 Constellation]]
|29
|1946
|1957
|
|-
|[[Lockheed Constellation|Lockheed L-749 Constellation]]
|4
|1947
|1950
|
|-
|[[Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation]]
|1
|1955
|{{Unknown}}
|
|-
!colspan="5"|Turboprop Aircraft
|-
|[[ATR 42]]
|12
|1987
|1991
|Operated by [[Ransome Airlines|Pan Am Express]]
|-
|[[British Aerospace Jetstream|BAe Jetstream 31]]
|10
|1987
|1991
|Operated by [[Ransome Airlines|Pan Am Express]]
|-
|[[de Havilland Canada Dash 7]]
|8
|{{Unknown}}
|1991
|Operated by [[Ransome Airlines|Pan Am Express]]
|-
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|New York City|Florida|Companies|Aviation}}
* [[Chalk's International Airlines|Pan Am Air Bridge]]
* [[Pan American Airways Guided Missile Range Division]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=nb}}

==Citations==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book|first=Brian|last=Baum|title=Boeing 747SP|year=1997}}
* {{cite book|last=Bilstein|first=Roger E.|title=Flight in America|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|date=July 1, 2001|isbn=978-0-8018-6685-2|url=https://archive.org/details/flightinamericaf00bils}}
* {{cite book|last=Burns|first=George E.|year=2000|title=The Jet Age Arrives|publisher=Pan American Historical Foundation}}
* [[Clausen, Meredith]]. ''The Pan Am Building and the Shattering of the Modernist Dream''. [[MIT Press]], 2005. {{ISBN|0262033240}}, 9780262033244.
* {{cite book|last=Conrad|first=Barnaby|author-link=Barnaby Conrad III|title=Pan Am: An Aviation Legend|location=Emeryville, [[California|CA]]|publisher=Woodford Press|year=1999|isbn=978-0-942627-55-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Daley|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Daley|title=An American Saga; Juan Trippe and His Pan Am Empire|publisher=Random House|year=1980|isbn=978-0-394-50223-6|url=https://archive.org/details/americansagajuan00dale}}
*{{cite book|last=Davies|first=Ronald Edward George| author-link = R. E. G. Davies|title=Pan Am: an airline and its aircraft|publisher=Hamlyn|location=Twickenham, England|year=1987|isbn=978-0517566398}}
* {{cite book|last=Gandt|first=Robert L.|author-link=Robert Gandt|title=Skygods: The Fall of Pan Am|location=New York|publisher=Morrow|year=1995|isbn=978-0-688-04615-6|url=https://archive.org/details/skygodsfallofpan00gand}}
* {{cite book|last1=Homan|first1=Thomas|last2=Reilly|title=Pan Am|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year=2000|isbn=978-0-7385-0552-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Lawrence|first=Harry|title=Aviation and the Role of Government|publisher=Kendall Hunt|year=2004|isbn=978-0-7575-0944-5}}
* {{cite journal|last=Pirie|first=Gordon|title=Winging it across the Atlantic: Pan Am and Africa, 1940-1990|journal=Journal of Transatlantic Studies|date=2021|volume=19|pages=72–98|doi=10.1057/s42738-020-00064-9|s2cid=231777921}} 
* {{cite book|last=Ray|first=Sally J.|title=Strategic Communication in Crisis Management|chapter=Pan American World Airways Flight 103|publisher=Quorum/Greenwood |year=1999 |isbn=978-1-56720-153-6 |pages=183–204}}
* {{cite book|last=Robinson|first=Jack E.|title=American Icarus, The Majestic Rise and Tragic Fall of Pan Am|publisher=Noble House|year=1994|isbn=978-1-56167-154-0|pages=154–191}}
*{{cite magazine|last=Taylor|first=H. A. "Tony"|title=Stratocruiser... Ending an Airline Era |magazine=Air Enthusiast |date=April–July 1982|issue=18 |pages=37–53 |issn=0143-5450}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Taylor|first1=H. A.|last2=Alting|first2=Peter|name-list-style=amp |title=Fokker's 'Lucky Seven'|journal=Air Enthusiast |date=April–July 1980|issue=12 |pages=24–38 |issn=0143-5450}}
* {{cite book|title=The Clipper Heritage – ''Pan American World Airways 1927–1991''|year=2005|publisher=Pan American Historical Foundation}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.library.miami.edu/archives/panam/pan.html |title=Pan American World Airways, Inc., Records |date=June 26, 1996 |publisher=Otto G. Richter Library, University of Miami Archives |access-date=July 4, 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050728112242/http://www.library.miami.edu/archives/panam/pan.html |archive-date=July 28, 2005 }}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.panamair.org/|title=Pan American World Airways, Queen of The Skies (2004)|publisher=PanAmAir.org|access-date=August 13, 2005|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050805083117/http://www.panamair.org/|archive-date=August 5, 2005}}
* {{cite video|title=Death of an American Dream, The Pan Am Story|publisher=Stepping Stone Productions|year=1992}}
* {{Cite journal| title= Pan American World Airways: Part 2 |journal=Aviation News| pages=48–53 | volume= 73, 11 |date=November 2011 | publisher=Key Publishing | location=Stamford, UK | issn= 1477-6855}} ([http://www.aviation-news.co.uk/ ''Aviation News'' online])

==Further reading==
* {{Cite journal| title=Aviation News (Pan American World Airways: Part 1) | journal=Aviation News and Global Aerospace | pages=78–82 | volume= 73, 10 |date=October 2011 | publisher=Key Publishing | location=Stamford, UK | issn= 1477-6855}} ([http://www.aviation-news.co.uk/ ''Aviation News'' online])
* {{Cite magazine|magazine=Jets Monthly |title=Airline History – Pan Am: Come fly with me! | pages=48–53 |date=February 2012 | publisher=Kelsey Publishing Group | place=Cudham, UK}} ([http://www.kelsey.co.uk ''Kelsey Publishing Group'' online])

==External links==
{{Commons category|Pan American World Airways}}
* [http://www.panambrands.com/ Pan Am Brands]
* [http://www.panam.org Pan Am Historical Foundation] supported by [[Timothy Mellon]]<ref name="mancuso">{{Cite web |last=Mancuso |first=Christina |date=2016-02-09 |title=Timothy Mellon Releases Autobiography |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwbooks/article/Timothy-Mellon-Releases-Autobiography-20160209 |access-date=2024-08-23 |website=BroadwayWorld.com |language=en}}</ref>
* [http://scholar.library.miami.edu/panam Pan American World Airways, Inc. Records] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141118145635/http://scholar.library.miami.edu/panam |date=November 18, 2014 }} – University of Miami, Special Collections
* [http://www.thepanammuseum.org/ The Pan Am Museum Foundation, Inc.] 
* [http://www.everythingpanam.com/ everythingPanAm.com] – a virtual Pan Am museum
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050805083117/http://www.panamair.org/ PanAmAir.org] – a site working to preserve the memories of Pan Am
* {{cite web |url= https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/analysis-pan-ams-rise-and-fall-after-launching-747-424170/ |title= Pan Am's rise and fall after launching 747 |publisher= [[flightglobal]] |date=April 15, 2016 }}
*[https://coololdphotos.com/topic/pan-am/ Old photographs of Pan Am aircraft and advertisements] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190215155908/https://coololdphotos.com/topic/pan-am/ |date=February 15, 2019 }}
* [https://digitalcollections.museumofflight.org/collections/show/1050 P.J. Muller Collection of Pan Am Menus] at The Museum of Flight Digital Collections
* [https://www.deltamuseum.org/exhibits/delta-history/family-tree/pan-am Pan Am] – Delta Flight Museum

{{Pan Am}}
{{Airlines of the United States}}
{{Defunct airlines of the United States}}
{{Delta Air Lines}}
{{Legacy carrier}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Pan Am| ]]
[[Category:Defunct airlines of the United States]]
[[Category:Airlines established in 1927]]
[[Category:Airlines disestablished in 1991]]
[[Category:History of Key West, Florida]]
[[Category:Landmarks in Key West, Florida]]
[[Category:Collier Trophy recipients]]
[[Category:American companies established in 1927]]
[[Category:American companies disestablished in 1991]]
[[Category:Defunct seaplane operators]]