COUNTING THE COST
With an already weak balance sheet, this
was an enormous burden and assets were
soon being shed to shore up Pan Am’s
nances. First to go, in mid-1980, was the
50% share of business jet manufacturer
Falcon Jet Corporation in the summer of
1980, followed by the sale of the iconic New
York headquarters building for $400m in
November.
Pan Am’s controlling share in
InterContinental Hotels was sold in early
1981 but before
the deal was
completed,
Seawell’s time
at the carrier
came to an
end, and he
was replaced
by Ed Acker,
previously of
Air Florida and
Braniff.
The 727s,
newly painted in
Pan Am’s white
and blue livery,
operated mostly
on the same routes they ew in National’s
white, orange and yellow. The nal DC-10-
30 of National’s order, N84NA, was delivered
to Pan Am, on August 6, 1980 bringing its
eet of the type to 17. The eet of DC-10-10s
stayed mostly in the US mainland, ying on
the former National Airlines trunk routes from
Miami to New York JFK and to California,
with some transcontinental trips stopping in
Houston or New Orleans.
However, the DC-10-30’s long range
made them ideal for thinner transatlantic
trips out of Pan Am’s JFK Worldport and
they were soon appearing at European
airports such as Paris/Orly, London/
Heathrow, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, and
Munich. One of the -30s, N84NA wasleased for one year to LAN Chile, from
June 12, 1981, until June 13, 1982. It was
reregistered CC-CJN, painted in that airline’s
full livery and operated mostly long-haul
ights from the Chilean capital Santiago to
other major South American cities and as far
a eld as Los Angeles and Miami.
Acker had a reputation for tinkering
with schedules and con gurations at his
previous two airlines, which had made them
pro table, and it was his suggestion that
some of the DC-10s be recon gured in anultra-high density layout of ten abreast in a
3-4-3 con guration, and used as people-
movers to destinations in Europe without
premium class demand such as London/
Gatwick, Prestwick, Nice and Stockholm,
as well as Caribbean sunspots such as St
Lucia, San Juan and Barbados.
However, even this bold move didn’t
bear fruit and Acker was soon looking to
offload the DC-10s, and found a slightly
unconventional method of disposing of
them.EXIT THE
DC-10
In time for
1983’s peak
summer
season,
Pan Am had
swapped
some aircraft
with Flying
Tigers,
which had
three Boeing
747-212B
passenger
aircraft used
on charters and trooping ights. Pan
Am took them in return for four
unwanted 747-121F pure
freighters which were a
much better t for Flying
Tigers’ global freight-
hauling business.
This gave Acker
an idea about a
suitable new home
for his DC-10s.
American Airlines
had taken delivery
of 16 747-123s at
the start of the 1970s
but experienced the
same difficulty lling66 Aviation News incorporating Classic Aircraft May 2016Above: Pan Am DC-10-30 N83NA taxies in at London’s Heathrow Airport on a misty day in January 1981. AirTeamImages.com/Carl Fordon charters and trooping ights. Pan
Am took them in return for four
unwanted 747-121F pure
freighters which were a
much better t for Flying
Tigers’ global freight-
hauling business.an idea about a
suitable new home
for his DC-10s.
American Airlines
had taken delivery
of 16 747-123s at
the start of the 1970s
but experienced the
same difficulty llingAbove: National Airlines ordered
six DC-10-30s in 1972. This
example, N81NA, was
delivered on June
18, 1973. Guy
Van Herbruggen
Collection
Right: This logo
was produced
to herald the
takeover of
National Airlines
by Pan Am and
appeared on
timetables, ticket
wallets and even
badges worn by staff.
via author64-67_dc10DC.mfDC.mfDC.indd 66 07/04/2016 12:43