Airliner World – April 2018

In the

Spotlight

This

month's

airport and

just how

spotty it is

for spotters

http://www.airlinerworld.com 43

Crisis

Russell L Ray Jr is well remembered as the

last president and CEO of Pan American World

Airways (Pan Am), but his formidable résumé

points to a great depth of experience in

aerospace and commercial aviation.

Following his service in the United States Air

Force as a pilot in Strategic Air Command, he

joined Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in 1960 as

Director of Commercial Sales for the US, Canada

and Mexico. Eleven years later he joined

Eastern Airlines where he became senior vice

president of marketing and served on the board

of directors.

In 1985, he left Eastern to become president of

San Diego, California-based Pacific Southwest

Airlines (PSA) where he was also a director on

its board. Following the merger of PSA into

USAir in 1988, he joined aerospace and com-

mercial aviation giant McDonnell Douglas as

vice president and general manager of

commercial marketing. Four years later Ray was

recruited as president and CEO of Pan American

World Airways at the request of creditors and

investors, including Delta Air Lines. Following

his tenure at Pan Am, he became CEO of World

Airways, where he steered that carrier to

profitability before recruiting Hollis Harris as

CEO. Ray was then elected as executive vice

president of British Aerospace Inc.

A graduate of Occidental College and the

University of Southern California Management

Policy Institute, he is a recipient of an

honorary Doctor of Law degree from

Pepperdine University.

honour of being asked to save Pan Am.

I had an excellent job at McDonnell

Douglas and we were successfully selling

aeroplanes, but I went to New York and

talked to the creditors, and they offered

me the job. I accepted the position

believing that there was a 50-50 chance

that we could get a reorganisation plan

in front of the judge by December 1991. I

was helped by two people, Rolf Andresen

who was the Chief Financial Officer – I

brought him across from Eastern – and

John Ruzich who was our marketing

guy. Both were terrific people, and I had

confidence we could produce a plan that

would sell to the judge. I was enamoured

of the idea that it was my responsibility to

really do something that was tantamount

to saving a piece of history.

AW: What were your impressions of the

company upon your arrival in New York,

and how did you begin to tackle the

challenges facing Pan Am?

RR: The first thought that came to mind

was that employee morale was very low

due to several reasons. The company

had already sold off its Pacific routes to

United Airlines, and Delta which would

have been a 45% shareholder in a

surviving Pan Am was picking off our

best employees. My second impression

was one of fear, that travel agents and

the public were not choosing to book with

Pan Am.

My priority on taking over was to hire

a senior financial person from outside

the airline who had a lot of familiarity

with Latin America, South America, and

the Caribbean. I hired Rolf Andresen

who was bilingual and understood the

nuances of Spanish-speaking countries.

We formed a core group and hired a new

advertising agency, then tried to put a

smile back on the face of Pan Am. We

started working on the reorganisation

plan – with some help from Delta which

was co-operating well with us in the

Russell Ray Jr was

hired by Delta Air Lines

and Pan Am's Creditors

Committee to rescue

the pioneering airline

whose logo is second

only to Coca-Cola in

worldwide recognition.

JOHN WEGG VIA AUTHOR

In 1976 Pan Am drove

the development of the

Boeing 747SP (Special

Performance) for ultra-

long flights. A total

of 45 were eventually

built, ten of which were

acquired by Pan Am.

AIRTEAMIMAGES.COM/

DIRK GROTHE