"AVi8 Air Capital and Pan American Global Holdings, which owns the intellectual property rights to the Pan Am brand, have begun the certification process with the FAA. AVi8 announced they have completed a business plan for the brand’s revival efforts."
PanAm was one of the first international airlines, originally serving across the Western Hemisphere. They expanded into ocean-crossing service with seamless that could, and did, land on water. If you watched Raiders of the Lost Ark, you have some sense of the romance of travel in an era where transatlantic travel took most of a day and a very few could afford it.
If you watched 2001: A Space Odyssey, you doubtless recall service is aboard PanAm. In the 1960s, the prospect that PanAm would be an interplanetary service provider was both natural and expected.
PanAm went under when Libya blew up PanAm 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 which i remember. To see a storied pioneer destroyed by this was very sad. If they come back from the grave, I will be thrilled.
Back in the 60's Pan Am sold tickets ($100/each, iirc) for their first-class Lunar service (as a publicity stunt). Dad bought a pair for him and mom (us six kids were out of luck, I suppose).
ReplyDeleteI have them now. Maybe my kids will get to use them.
If they also revive the iconic logo, they will instantly be my carrier of choice.
ReplyDeleteIt was Pan Am that Frank Abagnale claimed to be flying for, when he was scamming his way across the country. It was common for airlines to allow pilots of other airlines to "deadhead" from one airline to another, and because Pan Am flew no domestic flights, he could pretend to be a Pan An pilot with questions about why he wasn't flying Pan Am.
ReplyDeleteAnd it was Pan Am that tried to get Congress to give it a monopoly on overseas flights, when TWA began to compete with it on European routes.