CHAMPAGNE SEND-OFF : PAN AM TAKES TO SKIES AFTER 5-YEAR HIATUS.Byline: Daily News Wire Services As Clipper Fair Wind roared into a crisp blue sky and climbed over Manhattan on Thursday, passengers cheered and clapped. As far as they were concerned, the resurrection of Pan American World Airways Pan American World Airways, commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal international airline of the United States from the 1930s until its collapse in 1991. Founded as a seaplane service out of Key West, Florida, the airline became a major company credited with many was complete. The inaugural passenger-carrying flight of the new Pan Am, boasting the same name, colors and blue-ball logo as the original, marked the return of an airline that died nearly five years ago. En route to Miami, Pan Am President Martin Shugrue made a champagne toast at 31,000 feet, then walked down the aisles, hugging friends and shaking hands. Just like in the old days, flight attendants wear blue gloves and sling scarves over their shoulders. Pilots don white caps the members of a secret organization in various of the United States, who attempt to drive away or reform obnoxious persons by lynch-law methods. They appear masked in white. Their actions resembled those of the Ku Klux Klan in some ways but they were not formally affiliated with the , and passengers will be served a meal on every flight - such as steak, potatoes, a cheese and tomato salad and a marshmallow marshmallow /marsh·mal·low/ (mahrsh´mel?o) (-mal?o) a perennial Eurasian herb, Althaea officinalis, brownie for lunch. However, the new company has a distinctly different character. It is a low-fare carrier, starting out serving only three cities - New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , Miami and Los Angeles. It operates three wide-body Airbus A-300s. And it has a work force of less than 500, including 51 pilots and 115 flight attendants. The old Pan Am, at its peak, had a fleet of about 160 planes and flew to 39 countries around the world. But it sought bankruptcy protection in January 1991 and was forced to fold later that year in the wake of the 1988 bombing of Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people. Within two weeks the carrier plans to increase its service to three flights daily between Miami and New York. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (Color) Pan Am CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Martin Shugrue, left, helps Krist ina Trippe, granddaughter of the airline's founder, christen chris·ten tr.v. chris·tened, chris·ten·ing, chris·tens 1. a. To baptize into a Christian church. b. To give a name to at baptism. 2. a. the first of Pan Am's passenger jets Thursday. Associated Press |
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