Catalina Deguer
08/01/2021 6:47 AM
Clarín.com
Travels
Updated 08/01/2021 6:47 AM
Among the tourist transports that marked a milestone in history, we cannot fail to mention
Pan American World Airways
, better known as Pan Am. It was the most important international airline in the United States until 1991 and distinguished worldwide for introducing new features. in the market.
It was the second largest brand of the American giant, behind
Coca-Cola
.
His name and logo were recognized in the world.
The glamor of the company reached different film productions.
Even award-winning Leonardo DiCaprio played a rogue airline pilot in
Steven Spielberg's
Catch Me If You Can
.
Pan American World Airways established a new way of traveling.
Photo: AFP.
“Pan Am meant the popularization and
prestige
of the air service.
If you were traveling first class to New York, they would take you to downtown Manhattan by helicopter.
They landed on the company tower that could be seen from the Empire State Building.
They always sought to innovate.
They invented the economy class.
Today's big airlines learned from that ”, says Javier Lifa, a journalist specializing in aeronautics.
The airline was able to win the admiration of travelers, businessmen and experts in the field.
Some of the titles awarded to it are: first airline to complete a flight around the world, pioneer in flying internationally with cargo planes and first in selling international air travel packages at all costs, as well as being a pioneer in introducing models of aircraft in business such as Boeing's long-range 377 Stratocruiser and Boeing 747.
Early years
After the US State Department discovered that Germans were building an airline in Colombia, three US companies wanted to anticipate and reach all of Latin America.
"That's when
Juan Terry Trippe
appears
, a man who wanted to have the largest company in the world and reach everywhere.
He brought together the three firms and named the new Pan American Airways ”, explains Pablo Luciano Potenze, author of Airplanes, politics and money.
Pan American World Airways became a symbol of innovation.
AFP photo.
It was founded on October 27, 1927 as the first
international airline
in that country.
It began by offering an airmail service between Key West, Florida and Havana, Cuba.
The transfer of passengers began on January 16, 1928. The chosen destination was also the Cuban capital.
"For the Americans it was a very interesting route because there was prohibition and in Cuba they could drink whiskey."
According to The Insider, the company ran an advertising campaign with Bacardi in which they encouraged Americans to move away from the prohibition of alcohol and drink rum on the paradisiacal Cuban beaches.
“Trippe was able to create Pan Am because before they gave him the subsidy he went to Cuba and spoke with the dictator of the moment (Gerardo Machado) who gave him a permit that was actually exclusive.
He was the only American who could fly to the island.
As a return of attention, the first plane that flew with the Pan American shield was called General Machado ”, adds Potenze.
In two years the routes were extended from Miami to Panama, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Buenos Aires among other destinations.
Pan American Routes in 1932.
At some of these sites the runways were not optimal, so the company used seaplanes.
Inspired by the sea, the uniform of Pan Am pilots resembled that of ship captains.
“In Panama he partnered with a very important shipping company called Grace and they created Pan American Grace Airways known as Panagra, which flew through the Pacific and Pan Am flew through the Atlantic.
When he arrived in Brazil, in order to fly there, he was asked to make a Brazilian company and thus Panair Do Brasil was born ”.
The role in WWII
With the outbreak of World War II, the company had more experience in international flights than the US military itself.
According to panam.org when the attack on Pearl Harbor happened, Pan American had services to 52 countries and had 8,750 employees.
He sent his pilots and planes into the fight.
It transported supplies for the Chinese troops and uranium for the atomic bomb.
He also helped with the construction of airports, instructed pilots and offered his radio services.
“Pan American is known as the right arm of the State department.
During the war, practically no American aircraft could cross the Atlantic in one flight.
It was an issue that they had to attend to and they did it in Brazil at Pan Am airports, and then continue their trip to Dakar.
In Africa the company built bases so that the American planes could continue their journey, ”says Potenze.
Advertisement published in La Prensa in March 1959.
As the world passed through one of the darkest stages in contemporary history, Pan Am was blazing.
On November 22, 1935, it made the
first trans-Pacific commercial flight.
Five days after leaving San Francisco and making different stops, the plane landed in Manila Bay, Philippines.
Some time later it was possible to make the journey to Beijing, China.
By 1958, Pan Am offered regular flights to every continent on the planet, except Antarctica.
In 1970 alone, it carried 11 million passengers to 86 countries around the world.
By then seaplanes were already history and it was crowned the first airline to fly a Boeing 747 in regular service.
Stamp printed in Ajman, UAE, with a Pan Am Boeing 727, "Modern Passenger Airplanes" series, circa 1972. Photo Shutterstock.
In all the advertisements, allusion was made to luxury, comfort and the slogan was "the most experienced airline in the world."
The main thing for the crew was to make the passengers feel satisfied with the service.
The stories of these aircraft are various.
On November 24, 1968, a Boeing 747 that left the John F. Kennedy airport in New York for San Juan de Puerto Rico was
hijacked
with 379 people on board less than two hours after taking off.
The hijacker asked that the aircraft go to Havana.
The pilot paid attention and all the passengers arrived safely on that Caribbean island.
According to The New York Times, it was the first time that Fidel Castro, who was on the runway waiting for the successful outcome of this event, saw such a modern airplane.
The captain invited the Cuban prime minister to board the aircraft.
"It would probably scare the passengers," said the president who declined the invitation.
The relationship with Argentina
“They arrived in the country in 1929 more or less.
Panagra that came from Santiago de Chile and across the Atlantic that was Panair do Brasil ”, explains Potenze.
“Panagra went to Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza, Santiago de Chile or Córdoba Tucuman, Salta, Yacuíba, Bolivia, which were parts of routes that flew to the United States.
Here they did local traffic ”.
Lifa maintains that the company was a pioneer in carrying out the United States - Buenos Aires route.
Pan American notice published in La Nación newspaper.
It promoted the export of products with its cargo service.
“In total, the trip lasted
nine days and eight nights
, a stark contrast to the three or four weeks by sea.
President Roosevelt sent congratulations to his Argentine counterpart.
'The new services would contribute to improving cordial relations between the countries of the Americas,' "wrote Lifa in the book Pan Am Personal Tribute to a Global Aviation Pioneer.
According to Potenze, Argentina did not have clear legislation on aviation and did everything possible for the company to enter the country until the arrival of Juan Domingo Perón to power.
“He didn't want Panagra and Pan American to get into domestic transportation after the war.
I wanted there to be Argentine companies ”.
For that, the then president founded 4 mixed economy companies and took away the internal Pan Am routes. The company became an airline with international flights to the United States via Chile, Peru, Panama.
It also had another route that went out across the Atlantic.
Eva Perón baptizing the Pan Am plane in Ezeiza.
By 1950, relations between the Argentine government and Pan Am improved.
On July 3 of that year, the arrival in Ezeiza of the Boeing Stratocruiser plane was celebrated, one of the largest commercial aircraft in the world at that time, with which the fast, passenger and cargo service between New York and Buenos Aires was inaugurated. with two trips per week.
The day before the newspaper Democracia published: “Mrs. Eva Perón will proceed to baptize the Clipper" Frienship ", crashing a bottle of Argentine champagne against its fuselage.
The act will begin with the performance of the Argentine and North American national anthems by the Federal Police band and then Mr. Trippe will highlight the significance of the act ”.
Eva Perón baptized the Boeing Stratocruiser with a bottle of champagne in 1950.
Lifa remembers that when he was a boy he lived in an industrial neighborhood and spent hours looking out the window watching people go by.
There was one thing that caught his attention: the workers' bags.
"There were two very popular, Aerolineas and Pan Am. That a worker from here was carrying a Pan Am bag, with so many possible logos, means that people who could not travel also had their sights set on that brand. It was incredibly famous. "
The beginning of the end
In October 1973, the price of oil rose 300%.
This affected Pan Am more than other airlines due to its long-haul itineraries, in addition to the fact that demand for these routes began to decline.
The company had long wanted to operate within the country, but rival firms managed to influence Congress and convince its members that if that happened it would be a monopoly.
This is what the Pan American World Airways bag looked like.
Photo Shutterstock.
In 1978, when the
Airline Deregulation Act
was passed
, which meant that the government could no longer control the routes, Pan Am proposed a merger with National Airlines.
That implied an investment of 437 million dollars.
“Pan Am was never allowed to do internal flights and that has a lot to do with the fall.
The United States air system is established by the mail, and it says that international airlines cannot operate domestic routes and vice versa, there were exceptions.
That is why the flights that the airline made around the world left New York and arrived in San Francisco, or the other way around.
They couldn't do that stretch, ”says Potenze.
A year after acquiring National Airlines, it lost $ 18.9 million, even after selling its iconic Manhattan headquarters for $ 400 million.
The MetLife Building, built between 1960 and 1963 under the name Pan Am Building, was the headquarters of Pan American World Airways.
Photo Shutterstock.
“Pan Am did not know how to enter the North American domestic market, it did not understand the game of deregulation.
They began to go into debt and decapitalize, they sold and rented European planes ”.
In 1985, with the intention of minimizing the crisis, it sold the Pacific routes to
United Airlines
.
On September 5, 1986, a tragedy struck the company.
Palestinian militants of the Abu Nidal Organization took the plane from Bombay, India, bound for New York, when it made a stopover in Karachi, Pakistan.
Four armed men, disguised as airport security agents, fired into the air.
The tragedy ended with 22 people dead and around 50 injured.
Two years later another accident went around the world.
An aircraft that left London bound for New York suffered a
terrorist attack
.
It exploded in midair over Lockerbie, Scotland.
243 passengers, 16 crew members and 11 city residents were killed.
One of the last announcements published by Pan Am before filing for bankruptcy.
“The company started to go wrong with deregulation.
She was never comfortable because she couldn't compete that way.
He never had a good cabotage in the United States and always lived from the international.
And that was conditioned by the foreign policy of the United States.
Other countries saw it as the Pentagon line, especially in the Middle East.
The final thrust was accident.
They handled the crisis badly, "says Lifa.
In 1991, this specialized journalist was invited to a press conference in which Dwight Hendrikson, general manager of sales for Latin America and the Caribbean, was scheduled to announce the launch of the Pan Am-Delta plan, which had the objective of avoiding collapse. of the line.
The day before the event, Lifa got together with friends.
“When I came home late that night, I found a handwritten note from my mother on the kitchen table.
'There is no need to get up early.
Invitation canceled.
Gowland called: Pan Am closed. '
My ears filled with a thunderous roar.
It didn't make sense or he couldn't allow it to be true.
For God's sake, how could that happen?
In December 1991 it declared
bankruptcy
.
Delta bought most of Pan Am. It acquired its European routes, 45 jets, its flagship terminal at JFK International Airport, among other things.
Failed attempts
In 1996 investors tried to revive the brand.
Based in Miami, the inaugural flights were from New York to that city in the state of Florida.
I add routes to Los Angeles and San Juan de Puerto Rico.
It launched heavily discounted tickets, but American Airlines and United Airlines managed to match prices.
A Pan American plane at Miami International Airport.
Image from September 1996 Photo Marc Serota / Reuters.
Its fleet was old, so when a plane had a technical fault it was difficult to find a replacement and this was reflected in the delay of the itineraries.
Reputation was shattered.
For economic reasons, in 1997, Pan Am and Carnival Air Lines decided to merge.
The latter would finance the new company that would keep the Pan Am name. In 1998 it went bankrupt.
“I never really believed in reviving it.
It seems valid to me as a stroke of nostalgia.
People who worked at Pan Am have great memories because they really lived through it as a fantastic time, ”says Lifa.
A Pan American plane in Fort Lauderdale on February 27, 1998. Photo Colin Braley / Reuters.
During the legal process it was agreed that Guilford Transportation would acquire the name and assets of Pan Am. It was a new opportunity for the brand that was relaunched as a
low cost
airline
.
Despite the different strategies to make it viable, the increase in fuel prices took its toll and the airline stopped operating at the end of February 2008.
Today only
the memory
of what was the most important airline in the United States
remains
.
Their innovations and ways of operating paved the way for today's international travel.
From reserving a seat, choosing a class, or going around the world, it was all dreamed up by Pan American World Airways.
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