PAN AM Worldwide Divisions, Bases and Hubs
Here you will find more details and history about PAN AM's U.S. and worldwide divisions, bases and hubs including graphics and PAN AM's related airsystem within short time. Step-by-step you will also find interviews with the experiences and memorabilia of those PANAMers who worked for PAN AM worldwide.
Kindly contact us when you want to contribute with additional information here to our efforts to preserve the information and history about PAN AM's U.S. and worldwide bases. Thank you.
A SHORT PREVIEW ABOUT PAN AM WORLDWIDE
PAN AM operated several bases within the U.S. and worldwide with local crews which was very unique at the time when it started like in Berlin, Nairobi, Turkey, India, Warsaw, Moscow etc.. The history in this regard about the PAN AM people with their experiences is still not well researched and hardly documented. That is exactly our goal with this worldwide DocuProject.
USA & AMERICAS
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EUROPE
PAN AM ATLANTIC DIVISION (1990)
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia/Serbia
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BERLIN, Germany ("I.G.S.")
PAN AM's Berlin base (IGS) operated until 1990 with more than 70 million passengers between West-Berlin and West-Germany on scheduled services. Berlin based crews operated also PAN AM charter flights over a period of decades to many European destinations like Antalya, Izmir, Dalaman, Mallorca, Heraklion, Canary Islands, and even beyond like Kuwait and many more...
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ISTANBUL, Turkey
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LONDON (LHR), U.K.
PAN AM's London Heathrow base was its main European base for long haul flights over the Atlantic with connections to several European destinations...Most flights continued from PAN AM's main European hubs London Heathrow, Frankfurt and Berlin...PAN AM's New York based crews operated PAN AM flights to London Gatwick (LGW) after the London Heathrow (LHR) base was sold where PAN AM's A-310 showed up until 1991...
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PAN AM resumed operations in 1986 under a new bilateral agreement with the USSR. Eventually the US and the USSR came to an agreement with PAN AM getting four flights per week (Soviet/Russian Aeroflot got two) between New York and Moscow, the right to serve Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) on the same route and a street-level office in the International Trade Building in Moscow.
The agreement also gave PAN AM First Freedom (overfly) rights over Soviet territory on flights between Europe and the Indian Subcontinent and also provided a revenue balancing feature whereby upon reaching a 12,000 passenger threshold, PAN AM, Aeroflot or both would pay each other $350 per passenger exceeding that threshold.
The route was operated by PA 74 with Pan Am's 747 equipment between New York and Frankfurt and a Boeing 727 between Moscow and Leningrad. The return was operated by PA 65, coming from Leningrad. PAN AM's B-727 Clipper Invincible arrived on Pan American’s first flight from Frankfurt am at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport 29 April 1986. Thiese flights operated twice a week.
American and Rusiian mixed PAN AM cabin crews: A unique operation during "cold war" time
PAN AM continued this service until 1988 with the inauguration of non-stop service between New York and Moscow with the Boeing 747. The new service was an unusual arrangement whereby both PAN AM and Aeroflot offered non-stop service using PAN AM Boeing 747 operated by a PAN AM flight crew and were able to sell up to half the passenger and cargo space each, charging fares at their own rates. Each flight would also carry up to three Aeroflot flight attendants to assist Soviet passengers who could not speak English.
The service was praised by an Aeroflot official as a “friendship air bridge” and came about as a result of the then improving business climate between the US and the USSR. The new nonstop service did not replace the existing narrow-body service that also included the stop in Leningrad.
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WARSAW, Poland
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MID EAST ASIA
TEL AVIV, Israel
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ASIA & AUSTRALIA
PAN AM PACIFIC DIVISION (1985)
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PAN AM's Indian crews were trained at PAN AM's hub at Miamia, Florida. In India the movie Neerja is about one of PAN AM's Indian flight attendants and is based on the real life story of Neerja Bhanot.
BOMBAY (Mumbay), India
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HONOLULU, Hawaii/USA
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NEW DELHI, India
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TOKYO, Japan
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AFRICA
PAN AM had a long history of flights through Africa. PAN AM founded "Pan Am Africa, Ltd." in the 1940s and flew through Africa even to e.g. Sudan.
NAIROBI, Kenya (1990)
The Nairobi base operated with local cabin crews from Kenya until 1990 with their Airbus A-310 flights to Frankfurt, Germany, where PAN AM had its main European technical hub and where short and long haul flights continued to many other destinations. The Nairobi based crews took the airbus over from the IGS Berlin based crews when they arrived at Frankfurt.
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PAN AM operated flights to several African destinations over decades:
North Africa
Morocco, Casablanca, Rabat
East Africa
Kenya, Nairobi (until 1990) - Tanzania, Dar es Salaam - Uganda, Entebbe/Kampala
Central Africa
Cameroon, Douala - Gabon, Libreville - Zaire (Democratic Republic of Congo), Kinshasa
Southern Africa
South Africa, Johannesburg
West Africa
Benin, Cotonou - Côte d'Ivoire, Abidjan - Ghana, Accra - Guinea, Conakry - Liberia, Monrovia - Nigeria, Lagos - Senegal, Dakar
....
Do you know about other bases, hubs and destinations with their PAN AM staff and their untold stories?
Please contact us and let us know here: contact@PANAM-InterviewProject.org
Thank you!
In 1955 Pan American World Air- ways began recruiting Japanese American women to work as stewardesses on its Tokyo-bound flights also as part of its round-the-world flights. Based in Honolulu, these PANAMers were known as PAN AM's "Nisei".
PAN AM's legendary Boeing 747
built due to PAN AM's initiative and order as launching customer.
PAN AM's 747 was in regular operation over the Atlantic and Pacific as well as South bound with a special "South America Configuration" which offered larger First and Clipper Class sections. Even the smaller Indian base operated the 747, but never PAN AM's IGS base due to too short runways for regular landings in Berlin.
PAN AM's 747 showed up at Berlin's Tegel (TXL) airport for "official" events only, last time accompanying Airforce No. one during U.S. president Ronald Reagan's visit when he gave his famous speech at the Berliner Brandenburg Gate by saying "Mr. Gorbachev, open up this gate, tear down this wall!" in 1987.
PAN AM's Indian based crews operated B-747 flights from Mumbay to Karachi continueing to Frankfurt, Germany.
PAN AM crew, Indian base (1985)
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PAN AM's New York based crew posing in front of Clipper Moscow Express after arriving at Moscow.
PAN AM started Nonstop flights between New York (JFK) and Moscow in 1988 with Russian crew mebers based at Moscows airport. This was unique during "cold war" times before the "iron curtain" fell in 1989.
PAN AM flight schedule anouncing PAN AM Nostop flights between New York and Moscow (1988).
PAN AM Airbus A-310
PAN AM was the first international carrier allowed to operate an Airbus on long haul oversea's flights over the Atlantic as well as over the Pacific Ocean.
PAN AM Airbus A-300 at Berlin's Tegel airport flying to Frankfurt. This type was also in service from Miami to San Jose, Costa Rica.
PAN AM's Boeing 727-200 fleet
PAN AM Boeing 727-200 at Frankfurt airport (1989) where PAN AM used to run its main technical hub in Europe.
PAN AM Boeing 727-200 at LaGuardia airport (New York) for its PAN AM Shuttle Service (1987)
PAN AM 727-200 at London Heathrow's airport (1988).
PAN AM Boeing 727-200 at Berlin-Tegel where PAN AM used to run the IGS.
PAN AM 727 at Moscow (1987).
PAN AMm Express ATR-42 at Sylt airport, Berlin based until 1991 when PAN AM Express was taken over by TWA which closed operations then at Berlin's Tegel airport.
PAN AM's last Flight Schedule (1991) for its re-organised South America services with B-747
PAN AM's last route map (1991)