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History Daily

Pan Am Shuts Down For Good

History Daily

Airship | Noiser | Wondery

History

4.42.1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2024

⏱️ 17 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

December 4, 1991. After 64 years dominating the skies, the once-great Pan American Airways shuts down its entire operation. This episode originally aired in 2023.


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Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:04.1

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0:06.0

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0:10.6

or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at IntoHistory.com.

0:33.2

Thank you. It's May 12, 1992, on the tarmac at JFK International Airport, a group of people gathered beside an aircraft that has become synonymous with luxury air travel, the Boeing 747.

0:39.1

Stamped on the side of the fuselage in huge blue letters is Pan Am, the name of the company

0:44.3

that made this airplane model famous, and this plane in particular is noteworthy.

0:49.4

It's the company's first 747, the Clipper Juan T. Tripp, so named after the man who modernized Pan Am back in the

0:57.1

1920s. Workers wander in and out of the cabin, making all the necessary checks before taking

1:03.4

off for Southern California. On the ground, a mix of reporters, photographers, and Pan Am employees

1:09.8

mill about, talking to each other with a mix

1:12.2

of reverence and sadness. But as the Jets' engines roar to life, nobody boards the plane. Today's

1:19.0

trip is a special one. It's going to be the last ever Pan Am flight. The journey the Clipper

1:25.1

Wantee trip is about to take is more of a symbolic gesture than anything else.

1:30.1

Pan Am officially grounded all its passenger flights a few months ago.

1:34.2

Decades of poor financial decisions had left the once-great airline struggling to get out of debt.

1:39.8

Eventually, pulling the plug was the only option left.

1:43.2

But the decision to shut down Pan Am Airlines came as a huge disappointment to many Americans,

1:48.0

including the countless employees of the airline.

1:51.0

For decades, Pan Am was the defining international airline in the United States,

1:56.0

but today, that era ends.

1:59.0

The WAN-T trip ambles its way down the runway, flanked by fire trucks shooting water cannons.

...

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