American History Tellers - History Daily: Pan Am Shuts Down for Good

Episode Date: December 4, 2023

December 4, 1991. After 64 years dominating the skies, a series of poor financial decisions forces Pan American Airways to shut down.You can listen ad-free in the Wondery or Amazon Music app. Or for all that and more, go to IntoHistory.comHistory Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. It's May 12, 1992, on the tarmac at JFK International Airport. A group of people gather beside an aircraft that has become synonymous with luxury air travel, the Boeing 747. Stamped on the side of the fuselage in huge blue letters is Pan Am, the name of the company that made this airplane model famous, and this plane in particular is noteworthy. It's the company's first 747, the Clipper 1T Trip, so named after the man who modernized Pan Am back in the 1920s. Workers wander in and out of the cabin, making all the necessary checks before taking off for Southern California. On the ground, a mix of reporters,

photographers, and Pan Am employees mill about, talking to each other with a mix of reverence and sadness. But as the jet's engines roar to life, nobody boards the plane. Today's trip is a special one. It's going to be the last ever Pan Am flight. The journey the Clipper 1T trip is about to take is more of a symbolic gesture than anything else. Pan Am officially grounded all its passenger flights a few months ago. Decades of poor financial decisions had left the once great airline struggling to get out of debt. Eventually, pulling the plug was the only option left. But the decision to shut down Pan Am Airlines came as a huge disappointment to many Americans,

including the countless employees of the airline. For decades, Pan Am was the defining international airline in the United States, but today that era ends. The Juan T. Tripp ambles its way down the runway, flanked by fire trucks shooting water cannons. The 747 picks up speed and then slowly ascends into the air, just like it's done countless times before. And though this plane will take off again, it will be the air, just like it's done countless times before. And though this plane will take off again, it will be the very last time that it flies under the Pan Am brand. Throughout the 20th century, Pan American Airways dominated the skies and international travel.

They were the first airline to fly worldwide, with flights to every single continent besides Antarctica. Pan Am instilled an air of luxury and glamour into the experience of flying. But over time, mistake after mistake cost the airline everything, leaving it no choice but to halt its operations on December 4th, 1991. I'm Tristan Redman, and as a journalist, I've never believed in ghosts. But when I discovered that my wife's great-grandmother was murdered in the house next door to where I grew up, I started wondering about the inexplicable things that happened in my childhood bedroom. When I tried to find out more, I discovered that someone who slept in my room after me,

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Essential, Wondery has made it ad-free for a limited time, only on Apple Podcasts. If you haven't listened yet, head over to Apple Podcasts to hear for yourself. From Noiser and Airship, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is History Daily. History is made every day. On this podcast, every day, we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world. Today is December 4th, 1991. Pan Am shuts down for good. It's the night of October 26th, 1958, at New York's Idlewild Airport. Tonight, 111 lucky passengers are about to make history.

They are going to take the first-ever international flight in a Pan Am jet. To mark the occasion, Pan Am has pulled out all the stops. As passengers arrive, they're led down the tarmac on a red carpet, accompanied by the playing of an army band. They stroll down the walkway until they reach the star of the show, the Boeing 707 jet, its 130-foot wingspan stretched out over the crowd, lit dramatically with huge floodlights. As the passengers board the aircraft, they're greeted by stewardesses dressed in neat tailored suits in the airline's iconic shade of blue. Travelers are offered wine and glass stemware and can look forward to hot meals delivered to them on china plates.

The flyers enjoy this luxury, but more than anything else, they're excited about the prospect of a new kind of air travel. Tonight's flight will take its passengers from New York to Paris in just over six hours, an unimaginably short amount of time for everyone on board. Until now, airplanes just didn't have that kind of speed. The same flight on other planes would normally take around nine hours. Most commercial aircraft cap out at around 400 miles per hour. But the Boeing 707 can go up to 600 miles per hour, and the 111 passengers on

board tonight's flight are about to feel the full force of its engines. The jet begins to taxi, then it picks up speed, rushing faster and faster down the tarmac. No one on board has experienced this kind of sensation before. They can feel the force of the engines pushing them back into their seats. Even the stewardesses reach across the jump seats to hold hands, staring at each other in wide-eyed surprise. The jet age has finally begun, though Pan Am has already established itself as a trailblazer in air travel. Since its humble beginnings as an airmail service in 1927, Pan Am grew to become the first ever international passenger airline in the United

States, offering short trips from the Florida Keys to Havana, Cuba. What made Pan Am so special in those early years was its unique use of seaplanes to get to hard-to-reach destinations. Since these so-called clippers could land safely on the water, Pan Am could take passengers to a variety of scenic, harder-to-reach destinations in South America. And as the popularity of these flights grew, the brand expanded its destinations across the globe. And from the very beginning, Pan Am made sure to emphasize the glamour of air travel. Flying was exciting and new, a chance to explore corners of the world that used to feel impossibly distant. Pan Am emphasized the

luxury of this experience through an extreme attention to detail. Pilots wore navy suits adorned with gold bands on the arm, and Pan Am stewardesses spoke multiple languages. As the brand entered the 1950s, competitor airlines like TWA mimicked the same air of glamour, boasting about the A-list celebrities who flew with them. They were luxurious in their own right, but nobody did it like Pan Am. Whatever TWA was offering, Pan Am had been doing it for longer, as indicated by Pan Am's slogan, the world's most experienced airline. But although Pan Am is already at the top of the airline industry, jet travel is a game-changer for them.

Jets cut travel time almost in half, making it easier than ever to travel around the world. That means more international flights per day and more money for Pan Am, if they can sell more tickets. But in addition to adopting quicker travel by jet, Pan Am introduces an economy class where tickets can come at a fraction of the cost. Now there's even more of an incentive to fly with Pan Am. The airline will ride the success throughout the 1960s and into 1970. That year alone, Pan Am will fly 11 million customers across 20 billion miles, and things will only seem to be looking up. So Pan Am will adopt a new jet model, the Boeing 747, which carries twice the number of passengers as the 707. Feeling confident, the airline will decide to make an

enormous investment, spending $500 million on a fleet of Boeing 747s. Confident that with these new planes, Pan Am will be writing the next chapter in their success story. But that will be a mistake. In a quiet suburb, a community is shattered by the death of a beloved wife and mother. But this tragic loss of life quickly turns into something even darker. Her husband had tried to hire a hitman on the dark web to kill her. And she wasn't the only target. Because buried in the depths of the internet is The Kill List, a cache of chilling documents containing names, photos, addresses, and specific instructions for people's murders. This podcast is the true story of how I ended up in a race against time to warn those whose lives were in danger.

And it turns out convincing a total stranger time to warn those whose lives were in danger. And it turns out, convincing a total stranger someone wants them dead is not easy. Follow Kill List on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Kill List and more Exhibit C true crime shows like Morbid early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. Check out Exhibit C in the Wondery app for all your true crime listening. This is the emergency broadcast system. A ballistic missile threat has been detected inbound to your area. Your phone buzzes and you look down to find this alert.

What do you do next? Maybe you're at the grocery store, or maybe you're with your secret lover, or maybe you're robbing a bank. Based on the real-life false alarm that terrified Hawaii in 2018, Incoming, a brand-new fiction podcast exclusively on Wondery Plus, follows the journey of a variety of characters as they confront the unimaginable. The missiles are coming. What am I supposed to do?

Featuring incredible performances from Tracy Letts, Mary Lou Henner, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Paul Edelstein, and many, many more. Incoming is a hilariously thrilling podcast that will leave you wondering, how would you spend your last few minutes on Earth? You can binge Incoming exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. It's October 19, 1973, only three years after Pan Am's large investment in Boeing 747 Jumbo jets. All across the United States, the news reports on the day's biggest story. The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OAPEC, has just declared an oil embargo on the United States. OAPEC is doing this as an act of retaliation against the U.S. government's support of Israel's military during the ongoing Arab-Israeli war.

The effect is immediate and staggering. The cost of oil doubles, then triples. Gas stations start running dry, leaving Americans sitting in long lines in the hope of just filling up their tank. The embargo only lasts five months, ending in March of 1974. But in that time, the cost of oil quadrupled, and it shows no signs of going down. For Pan Am, this could not have come at a worse time. It's that now, even after the embargo's end, it's hard to convince Americans to spend money on international flights. To consumers, it feels like an extra expense that

could go to something more practical, and many of Pan Am's new 747 jets start flying at half capacity. The combination of slowing sales and expensive fuel costs is crippling. As the years go on, Pan Am can't seem to increase the demand for international flights, and by 1976, it's estimated that the airline has lost over $300 million, racking up a debt of over $1 billion. Something has to change, and fast. So Pan Am starts looking domestically.

In the past, Pan Am dealt exclusively in international flights. But now they're hoping that merging their operations with a pre-existing domestic airline could help save them from financial ruin. What's standing in their way is the United States government. Since Pan Am has long been an international airline, the federal government interprets their intent to buy a domestic carrier as an attempt at monopolizing all air travel and refuses to allow any mergers. It takes two more years for things to change.

In 1978, the Airline Deregulation Act passes, effectively declaring that the government cannot control airline routes. Pan Am is finally cleared for a merger, and they waste no time in purchasing National Airlines for $437 million. But this long-sought-after acquisition comes with unexpected consequences that hurt Pan Am. As time passes, it becomes clear that the culture of Pan Am is vastly different to that of National Airlines. Pan Am can't reconcile its luxury international air travel brand with that of the more frugal national.

So as Pan Am enters the 1980s, it's still hemorrhaging money. The airlines start selling properties to make some quick cash, including their iconic Manhattan headquarters. But in 1988, tragedy strikes, ruining their chances of economic recovery. That year, terrorists plant a bomb on a Pan Am flight from London to New York. It detonates as the plane flies above Scotland, killing all 279 people on board and 11 people on the ground. In the investigation that follows, many fingers get pointed at Pan Am for loose security measures.

But Pan Am is not unique in this. Security has not been a priority across much of the industry. But because of this tragedy, Pan Am becomes the face of the problem. So for the next few years, Pan Am will continue to nosedive. In January of 1991, Delta will acquire Pan Am in a last-ditch effort to revitalize the company. They'll take over all of the brand's European roots in the much-coveted Pan Am terminal at JFK International. But even this won't save the company. And within a few months, Delta will pull its financial support. By the end of 1991, Pan Am will be losing upwards of $3 million every day.

And they'll have no choice but to shut down for good. Now streaming. Welcome to Buy It Now, the show where aspiring entrepreneurs get the opportunity of a lifetime for good. This is Match Point, baby. If the audience liked the product, it gets them in front of our panel of experts, Gwyneth Houcho, Anthony Anderson, Tabitha Brown, Tony Hawk, Christian Siriano. These panelists are looking for entrepreneurs whose ideas best fit the criteria of the four Ps,

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ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's December 4th, 1991 at the Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. Travelers wait impatiently at their gate. Their Pan Am flight to New York City should be boarding any second now, but for some reason, it's not. The minutes pass by with no update. Slowly, anxious passengers walk up to the Pan Am counter asking what the problem is. They flash their tickets as proof

that they are in fact supposed to be on this flight. But their tickets mean nothing to the workers at the counter because they have a terrible job to do today. Dejected, they explain to these frustrated customers that this flight isn't going to be taking any passengers at all. The aircraft is going to fly from D.C. to JFK with an empty cabin, because Pan Am is shutting down for good right now. This scene plays out simultaneously all across the United States, leaving would-be passengers scrambling to figure out other travel options during the already hectic holiday season. National News quickly picks up the story, interviewing disgruntled travelers at the airport

and Pan Am employees who aren't any better off. The shutdown comes as a huge surprise to them, too. Suddenly, the job they've come to count on has disappeared into thin air. In an interview with ABC, one woman struggles to properly express her sadness about the news. Standing in front of the bag check counter, still dressed in her Pan Am uniform, employee Agnes Bowles starts to choke up as she talks about how special Pan Am is to her. Pan America World Airways is a wonderful, wonderful airline. And it's just very, very, very sad.

Soon, the last ever passenger flight happens in Barbados, carrying a full cabin from the island to Miami. This route isn't much different from the flights from Florida to Cuba that Pan Am used to run back in the 1920s. And for people who know Pan Am's history, this is a fitting final act. In the decades that follow, Pan Am will be remembered as an icon of the 20th century and an early adopter of many of the foundational components of air travel we know today. Its legacy will live on in countless ways,

from the use of air traffic control down to the style of pilot uniforms, allowing Pan Am to be remembered as a giant of the skies, even after years of turmoil forced the airline to shut down operations on December 4th, 1991. Next on History Daily, December 5th, 1952. A lethal smog blankets London, England for five days, killing thousands in the deadliest air pollution event in UK history. If you like American History Tellers, you can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at

wondery.com slash survey. From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily. Hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsey Graham. Audio editing by Mohamed Shazi. Sound design by Molly Bach. Music by Lindsey Graham. This episode is written and researched by Georgia Hampton. Executive producers are Alexandra Curry-Buckner for Airship and Pascal Hughes for Noiser. In November 1991, media tycoon Robert Maxwell mysteriously vanished from his luxury yacht in the Canary Islands. But it wasn't just his body that would come to the surface in the days that followed. It soon emerged that Robert's business was on the brink of collapse, and behind his facade of wealth and success was a litany of bad investments, mounting debt, and multi-million dollar fraud.

Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery Show Business Movers. We tell the true stories of business leaders who risked it all, the critical moments that define their journey, and the ideas that transform the way we live our lives. In our latest series, a young refugee fleeing the Nazis arrives in Britain determined to make something of his life. Taking the name Robert Maxwell, he builds a publishing and newspaper empire that spans the globe. Thank you.