What was the reason for PAN AM going bust?

[purple haze]

as the title says what was teh reason for the airline going bust?

from what i can guess i can imasgine it must be the lockerbie accident and poor management?

any comments would be great.

ps do u think that AA can survive the recent accidents considering pan am didnt ?

[DownIn3Green]

ALPO BS and promises from Delta which never materilized...

As late as 1994 I flew on DAL IST/FRA on their B-727 fleet which still had the Eastern Airlines tail numbers on them...

PAA stole them from EAL, and they were passed on to DAL after PAA's demise...

So whatever PAA got...well, what's good for the goose......?

[TR4A]

PAA stole them from EAL, and they were passed on to DAL after PAA's demise...

Pan Am pick them up from a leasing company after EAL went on strike. You must be ex-EAL. Remember Braniff?

I was only there from April 1989 until Dec 4 1991.

Pan Am's problems started back in 60's. The government would not let them fly domestic and gave international routes to the domestic carriers. The Juan Trippe retired and it was mis-managed. The overpaid for National Airlines to get a domestic feed and then screwed that up. Lockerbie happened and then the Gulf War. The US government let PAA under fund the pension plans about one billion. No one wanted the company. They only wanted the parts.

[DownIn3Green]

TR4A,

If you were an EAL Pilot from 4/89-12/91, and flew the 727, then you must have flown some of the "DAL" 727's based in FRA.

I beg to differ with you, but those 727's were on EAL property until 1/18/91, not until the strike...

OOPS...sorry TR4, I just re-read your post and realize you meant you were at PAA...

I still disagree with you re: the 727's, but didn't mean to imply you were not honorable...my apologies for that...

[ 19 November 2001: Message edited by: DownIn3Green ]

[scanscanscan]

Also I think that when in financial trouble they sold their hotels and real estate assets when they should have sold their planes.
Do not look now but is BA not now doing this, selling its real estate assets and leasing them back?
Gulf Air did the same and it seems to be working for them just like PAA.

[TR4A]

DownIn3Green,

In 1989 PAA started flying EAL 727's along with other 727 they were leasing. We also picked up the other 727's after EAL shut down in Jan 91. Berlin was sold to Lufthansa when the Wall came down and we closed the base (Fall 90?. I was based in JFK and MIA. As far as I know we picked up EAL aircraft from leasing companies.

Are you saying the pilots should have gone with airplanes?

[DownIn3Green]

TR4,

Pilots going with the planes is not a debate I want to start now...ALPO promised lots (to the rEAL pilots and PAA crews)...

I think DAL or PAA or whomever should have had the class to change the N numbers, rather than rub noses it it....sorry, that's my opinion, which actually has nothing to do with this thread...

[TR4A]

DownIn3Green

All EAL aircrft, B727-225's, had a PAA tail number N355PA etc. We never had any Eastern tail numbers.

Mike Morrissey
PAA B727 FEO, MIA

SWA Captain

[lifewalker2000]

I worked for the Blue Meatball in the 70's at ORDRR. I think the reasons PA went belly up was a management that couldn't adapt to the changing competitive atmosphere, an impotent board that was living in the days of the China Clipper, and an unresponsive, PAC-controlled government. I think PA was doomed because it couldn't go "backward" and develop a hub-and-spoke system to feed its gateways-should have merged with BN for its MCI hub when it had the chance. I think the final blow was Lockerbie.
Q: If Pan Am's byline was "The World's Most Experienced Airline" and Continental's was "The Proud Bird with the Golden Tail", what would the byline have been if the two merged?
A: "The Proud Bird with the World's Most Experienced Tail"