A Pan Am Airbus A300 at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
Following last week’s feature on Eastern Airlines return it made sense to look back at the history of Pan Am and its impact on the state of Florida. Before we begin let me recommend the book, Skygods: The Fall of Pan Am
From 1927 until 1969 Pan American World Airways was the undisputed flag carrier of the United States. The airline, founded in Key West in 1927 with a flight to Havana, moved its headquarters to New York in 1930 and pioneered both Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Pacific flying. By the 1945, Pan American was the largest international airline in the world, flying to more cities outside its home country than any other.
Throughout its ascent Pan American maintained a major Florida presence. From that initial Key West flight to the late 1930s when Dinner Key in Miami became the world’s busiest International airport (It would be eclipsed eventually by London’s Croyden airfield and then London Heathrow which is still today the world’s busiest international airport) into the 1950s when Pan American pioneered direct flights into deep South America, Florida was a key to the growth of the airline. The links between Miami and Latin America made southeastern Florida more cosmopolitan than the rest of the southern United States. When World War II brought more and more people from outside the region to southern Florida, the area became more of an international northern city that defied southern and Florida norms.
At this time Pan American was protected by its enormous political influence in Washington. Even though Howard Hughes had lobbied the Truman Administration to lift Pan American’s monopoly on international routes, his Transcontinental and Western Airlines (TWA ) was given only routes to Europe, while Northwest, a small carrier was given the right to compete with Pan American to Asia. The movie “The Aviator” chronicles in great detail the influence Pan Am had at the time over members of congress and aviation regulators.
The Eisenhower Administration protected Pan American as a national asset and Juan Trippe the founder and Chairman of Pan American was a known Republican.
In 1969, Pan Am as the airline was by now colloquially known suffered a shock when rival the re-branded Howard Hughes led Trans World Airlines (TWA) was awarded by the outgoing Johnson administration new transpacific routes along with Los Angeles-based Continental Airlines. Additionally, TWA was given more domestic service to help feed its international network and the ban on domestic flying by Pan Am was extended, meaning the airline had to rely on other carriers to fly passengers to its hubs, New York, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco to survive. Pan Am, a traditional conservative airline who had recently made former JFK aide Najeed Halaby CEO was stunned by the seemingly partisan decision of the administration. The truth is LBJ had no use for Halaby and even less use for Trippe and Pan Am. It was one of the outgoing gifts of the administration. Eastern, the largest airline in the country at the time and a huge force in Florida was given nothing either, owing itself to the Republican orientation of the airline’s board.
Around Pan Am headquarters in New York, optimism prevailed that Richard Nixon’s administration would reverse the route rewards. But instead Nixon’s White House simply took the route rewards for Continental long known as a Democratic airline and gave them to American Airlines, a strongly Republican airline. Everything regarding TWA stood, and as we learned later Howard Hughes had been involved in underhanded dealings with Nixon’s brother to buy access to the then candidate Nixon (All of this came out during the Watergate investigations). Suddenly TWA had round-the-world service something that was always the exclusive domain of Pan Am.
TWA was rivaling Pan Am as America’s flag carrier, something which the airline had unofficial claim to since the 1930s. In fact in the 1970 when my father circled the globe visiting his family in India and taking in much of Europe and flying back via the Pacific he did so on TWA, not on Pan Am.
We pick up our look at Pan Am’s Florida network with the Summer 1971 timetable:
Miami
Nonstop service to:
Barranquilla
Guatemala City
Kingston
Managua
Montego Bay
Maracaibo
Merida
Nassau
Panama City
Port Au Prince
Port of Spain
San Juan
Santo Domingo
San Pedro Sula
St Thomas
St Criox
Tampa
Merida
This timetable was one of the last before the oil crisis deemed many of Pan Am’s extravagant routes unprofitable. Long protected by Government monopolies and contracts, the airline flew to every corner of the globe and rumors circulated that Pan Am’s pilots and flight attendants were in fact clandestine CIA agents. The oil crisis impacted Miami flying less than New York flying because of the short-haul nature of much Caribbean and Latin American flights. Between 1974 and 1979, Pan Am cut service to over half the cities it previously served in Europe and Africa. Almost every single one of those European destinations would return in the 1980’s as oil prices stabilized and the airline was bleeding cash and needed to return to its bread and butter routes.
Summer 1973
Miami
Barranquilla
Guatemala City
Kingston
Managua
Montego Bay
Maracaibo
Merida
Nassau
Panama City
Port Au Prince
Port of Spain
San Juan
Santo Domingo
San Pedro Sula
St Thomas
Tampa
Merida
By 1975 Pan Am was ailing. The cost of competition with TWA and American in addition to rising fuel prices and the conversion of much of the fleet to the gas guzzling four engine 747 put the airline on the brink of collapse. TWA, in a similar position with its large international network initiated merger talks. The idea of a unified American flag carrier circling the globe with critical mass appealed to many but it became obvious the possible merger would not pass through regulators. So Pan Am and TWA initiated a “route swap” which involved Pan Am abandoning service to Paris (TWA’s European hub), Vienna, Barcelona and North Africa as well as dropping all international service from Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia in exchange for TWA dropping service to Frankfurt (Pan Am’s European hub) and all points east of Mumbai (then known as Bombay).
In an unrelated swap, American gave up all of the trans-pacific route awards it had received in 1969 from the Nixon Administration in exchange for Pan Am dropping all service to the Caribbean from New York. This particular route swap made Miami more important than ever in the Pan Am network.
By 1978, Pan Am was banking record profits but had been overtaken as the number one carrier to Europe by TWA and to South American by Braniff whose international operation was also Miami-centric. In the Pacific, Northwest was closing in quickly on Pan Am’s number one position. In addition airline deregulation was taking place meaning Pan Am could fly anywhere it wanted domestically beginning in 1979.
The last Pan Am timetable before deregulation (Summer 1978) featured the following Florida routes:
Miami
Brasilia
Caracas
Guatemala City
Madrid
Panama City
Rio De Janiero
Port Au Prince
Port of Spain
Tampa
Merida
Mexico City
In late 1979 Pan Am inherited the domestic network of Miami based National Airlines whom it had bought for the inflated figure of $500 million. This purchase would send the airline into a spiral it never recovered from. Thanks to this merger which took place largely because the Carter administration would not consider allowing National to merge with Miami based Eastern (at the time the largest airline in the western world) even though Pan Am conscious of Eastern’s interest and that also of an upstart carrier that would dominate the 1980’s, Texas International (which eventually became Eastern’s parent company) bid entirely too much for the airline.
In the Spring of 1980 the merged Pan Am and National served the following nonstop routes from Florida.
Fort Lauderdale
Houston
Los Angeles
Miami
New Orleans
Newark
New York (LaGuardia)
West Palm Beach
Fort Myers
Miami
Tampa
Jacksonville
Houston
Miami
Norfolk
Melbourne
New York (Kennedy)
Miami
Amsterdam
Caracas
Fort Lauderdale
Fort Myers
Frankfurt
Guatemala City
Jacksonville
London (Heathrow)
Los Angeles
Madrid
New Orleans
Newark
New York (LaGuardia & Kennedy)
Orlando
Panama City
Paris (Orly)
Rio De Janiero
Port Au Prince
Port of Spain
San Francisco
San Jose, CR
San Juan
Sarasota
Tampa
Washington (National)
West Palm Beach
Zurich
Orlando
Houston
Miami
New Orleans
Newark
New York (LaGuardia & Kennedy)
Washington (National)
West Palm Beach
Pensacola
New Orleans
Sarasota/Bradenton
Miami
Newark
New York (Kennedy)
Tampa
Tampa
Fort Myers
Frankfurt
Houston
Los Angeles
Miami
Mexico City
New Orleans
New York (LaGuardia & Kennedy)
Sarasota
West Palm Beach
Washington (National)
West Palm Beach
Miami
New Orleans
New York (Kennedy)
Tampa
Washington (National)
The National merger was an unmitigated disaster. From serving exotic places Pan Am was suddenly serving places like Pensacola, Mobile, Norfolk, Las Vegas and San Diego. A lack of knowledge of the domestic market prevented Pan Am from ever making a real go on the routes. Yet somehow, they did alright on Florida to New York routes until Air Florida began trashing yields on these flights by initiating fare wars.
Pan Am’s service to Florida peaked in the summer of 1982 but beginning with the fall timetable that year, resources were pulled from Florida and shifted to New York. Nonstop service from Miami to Frankfurt and Paris were discontinued, while all international flying from Tampa was ended. Flights from Fort Lauderdale to Houston and Washington were cancelled and service from Orlando to Kansas City and Oklahoma City which had recently begun were cancelled. All service to Melbourne, Pensacola and Jacksonville were ended. The Miami hub was smaller than at any other time post National merger.
New service to the Caribbean from Miami offset some of the cuts but still far fewer flights in and out of Florida on the airline at this point. Pan Am overtook TWA and was once again the top US airline to Europe and the Middle East.
In the Spring 1983 timetable this Florida pulldown was reflected:
Fort Lauderdale
Boston
Miami
New York (LaGuardia)
West Palm Beach
Fort Myers
Sarasota/Bradenton
Tampa
Miami
Antigua
Barbados
Dallas/Fort Worth
Caracas
Fort Lauderdale
Guatemala City
Houston
London (Heathrow)
Los Angeles
Mexico City
New Orleans
Newark
New York (LaGuardia & Kennedy)
Orlando
Philadelphia
Panama City
Rio De Janiero
Port Au Prince
Port of Spain
San Francisco
San Jose, CR
San Juan
Santiago
Tampa
Washington (National)
Orlando
Miami
New York (Kennedy)
Tampa
Sarasota/Bradenton
Fort Myers
New York (Kennedy)
Washington (National)
Tampa
Fort Myers
Kansas City
Miami
New Orleans
Newark
New York (Kennedy)
Washington (National & Dulles)
West Palm Beach
Fort Lauderdale
Newark
New York (Kennedy)
Washington (National)
In 1983 Pan Am started hourly “AirBridge” service between Miami and Orlando/Tampa. It flopped but would be tried again by USAir in the 1990s before Southwest came into the state and became the primary intra-state carrier from points other than Miami.
By 1985 all service to Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Sarasota and West Palm Beach had been cut. The Miami hub was rebuilt entirely with lots of new domestic routes but was still smaller than New York-JFK and European service beyond London had not been restored at this point. Tampa to Mexico flights were resumed.
Fall 1985
Miami
Antigua
Atlanta
Barbados
Buenos Aires
Caracas
Charlotte
Chicago (O’Hare)
Dallas/Fort Worth
Detroit
Grand Turk
Guatemala City
Houston (Hobby)
Indianapolis
Kansas City
London (Heathrow)
Los Angeles
Maracaibo
Mexico City
Nashville
Newark
New York (LaGuardia & Kennedy)
Orlando
Panama City
Providenciales
Rio De Janiero
Port Au Prince
Port of Spain
St Croix
St Kitts
St Lucia
St Marteen
San Francisco
San Jose, CR
San Juan
Santiago
Tampa
Washington (National & Dulles)
Orlando
Miami
New York (Kennedy)
Washington (Dulles)
Tampa
Mexico City
Miami
New York (Kennedy)
Washington (Dulles)
Pan Am sold its Pacific routes to United in late 1985 netting $700 million but selling the most profitable part of the airline. The Los Angeles and San Francisco hubs were closed. The New York based management team immediately increased service to Europe, leading to a period when Pan Am served more European cities than all other US Airlines combined. Nonstop service from Miami to Frankfurt and Paris which was cut in 1982 was restored.
Summer 1986
Miami
Atlanta
Barbados
Buenos Aires
Caracas
Charlotte
Chicago (O’Hare)
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Dallas/Fort Worth
Detroit
Frankfurt
Freeport
Grand Turk
Guatemala City
Houston (Hobby)
Indianapolis
Kansas City
London (Heathrow)
Los Angeles
Maracaibo
Mexico City
Nashville
New York (LaGuardia & Kennedy)
Orlando
Panama City
Providenciales
Paris (CDG)
Rio De Janiero
Port Au Prince
Port of Spain
St Croix
St Marteen
San Francisco
San Jose, CR
San Juan
Santiago
Tampa
Washington (National)
Orlando
Miami
New York (Kennedy)
Tampa
Mexico City
Miami
New York (Kennedy)
Pan Am was bleeding cash and in 1989 began shifting resources again towards Florida. Fort Lauderdale and Jacksonville returned to the network while the Miami hub was increased in size. The route authority from Tampa to Mexico City, Paris and Frankfurt was shifted to Orlando in DOT filings, signaling the drift away from Tampa as an international tourist/commercial center and towards Orlando. Pan Am never used the Paris-Orlando authority but flew Frankfurt-Orlando one summer and began Mexico City service in 1989.
Fort Lauderdale
New York (Kennedy)
Jacksonville
Miami
Miami
Antigua
Atlanta
Barbados
Boston
Buenos Aires
Caracas
Charlotte
Dallas/Fort Worth
Frankfurt
Freeport
Grand Cayman
Grand Turk
Guatemala City
Houston (Hobby)
Jacksonville
London (Heathrow)
Los Angeles
Maracaibo
Mexico City
Nassau
New Orleans
New York (LaGuardia & Kennedy)
Orlando
Paris (CDG)
Panama City
Providenciales
Philadelphia
Rio De Janiero
Port Au Prince
Port of Spain
Raleigh/Durham
St Croix
St Marteen
San Francisco
San Jose, CR
San Juan
Santiago
Tampa
Washington (National)
Orlando
Mexico City
Miami
New York (Kennedy)
Tampa
Miami
New York (Kennedy)
Pan Am was dying a slow, painful death which saw the sale of all flights to London Heathrow to United Airlines (American soon claimed they would have bid more and promptly paid more for TWA’s London routes) the sale of the Internal German Services division to Lufthansa and the eventual sale of the Frankfurt hub and European/South Asian routes from New York JFK to Delta. At the time of this next schedule, Miami had overtaken New York as the airline’s largest hub and the European routes had not yet been sold to Delta.
Summer 1991
Fort Lauderdale
Freeport
New York (Kennedy)
Jacksonville
Miami
Miami
Antigua
Atlanta
Baltimore
Barbados
Belize City
Boston
Buenos Aires
Caracas
Charlotte
Cleveland
Dallas/Fort Worth
Detroit
Frankfurt
Freeport
Grand Cayman
Grand Turk
Guatemala City
Hartford/Springfield
Houston (Hobby)
Jacksonville
London (Gatwick)
Los Angeles
Maracaibo
Managua
Mexico City
Nassau
New Orleans
Newark
New York (LaGuardia & Kennedy)
Orlando
Paris (CDG)
Panama City
Providenciales
Rio De Janiero
Port Au Prince
Port of Spain
Raleigh/Durham
St Croix
St Marteen
Sao Paulo
San Francisco
San Jose, CR
San Juan
San Pedro Sula
Santiago
Tampa
Washington (National)
Orlando
Mexico City
Miami
New York (Kennedy)
Tampa
Miami
New York (Kennedy)
Pan Am closed its doors on December 4, 1991 it’s last completed flight being a 727 flight from Barbados to Miami.
The bankrupt Pan Am made a comeback as a regional carrier in 1995. Florida based former Arvida CEO and Ambassador to Iceland (Republican appointee) Charles Cobb had bought the airlines assets and some of those of also defunct Eastern Airlines. The company was led by Martin Shugrue who had been one of the longest serving and loyalist Pan Am employees rising to Vice Chairman before leaving the airline in 1989. Much like the original airline it maintained hubs in Miami (shifting to Fort Lauderdale in 1997) and New York-JFK but limited flying to domestic routes and the Caribbean. This Pan Am was based in Miami unlike its predecessor but New York-JFK was by far its largest base. It also maintained a large operation at Islip’s MacArthur Airport on Long Island, which has never been served by the original Pan Am.
This version of Pan Am issued its final timetable in December 1997:
Fort Lauderdale
Boston
Hartford/Springfield
Islip
Newark
New York (Kennedy)
San Juan
Washington (Dulles)
Fort Myers
New York (Kennedy)
Miami
Chicago (Midway)
New York (Kennedy)
Santo Domingo
San Juan
Orlando
Islip
New York (Kennedy)
Tampa
Islip
New York (Kennedy)
West Palm Beach
Islip
This Pan Am went defunct in 1998 and was bought by Guilford Transportation Industries who made the airline an unrecognizable entity serving second tier US markets and flying to alternate airports such as Orlando-Sanford, Chicago-Gary and Portsmouth, NH. Thus we choose not to include this third Pan Am in the history since it was almost entirely unlike its predecessors and had little impact on Florida.
The Florida Squeeze 