Company profile
- Industry
- Airline
- Founded
- 1927
- Headquarters
- New York City, United States
- Ownership
- Defunct since 1991
Profiles are auto-generated and infrequently updated.
Decisions on record
3 verified Decision Records on Pan Am, and the casebook each one belongs to.
| Fork date | Decision type | The story | Casebook |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Bet-the-Company | Read the story → | Bet-the-Company Casebook → |
| 1980 | Crisis Response | Read the story → | Crisis Response Casebook → |
| 1985 | The Fall | Read the story → | The Fall Casebook → |
Run one of these yourself
The decisions Pan Am faced, as kits you can run.
Each pack takes one of these decisions and gives you the framework, a deck for the room, a model that resolves to one number, and the sourced cases behind it. $499, one-time.
Crisis & ReinventionThe Crisis ResponseWhat is one more quarter of not acting worth?See the pack →Decision ForksThe All-In BetHow much does this bet commit before anybody outside the company acts on it?See the pack →Decision ForksThe ResidualHow much of your decline can the agreed explanation actually account for?See the pack →
The analyses
The Crisis Response · Crisis & Reinvention
Lockerbie Accelerated a Pan Am Collapse Three Decades in the Making
A bomb over Scotland in 1988 is remembered as the moment Pan Am died. But the airline had just posted its most profitable quarter ever — Q3 1988 — while sitting on $2.6 billion of debt and $1.6 billion of assets. Lockerbie didn't cause the collapse. It accelerated one that was already three deregulated, over-leveraged decades in the making.
8 min
The Empire · Decision Forks
Pan Am Bet $525 Million on 25 Jumbo Jets. It Forgot to Build a Floor Under Them.
In 1966 Pan Am ordered 25 Boeing 747s for $525 million and launched the jet age. Every one of those seats was a naked bet on perpetual international growth - with no domestic feeder system to catch the fall. By 1969, the losses had already started.
8 min
The Fall · Crisis & Reinvention
Pan Am Sold Its Only Profitable Routes in 1985. Deregulation Just Removed the Oxygen Mask
The legend says deregulation killed Pan Am. But it ordered 25 jumbo jets for $525 million in 1966, bought National for $437 million in 1980, and sold its only profitable routes for $750 million in 1985. Deregulation just removed the oxygen mask from a patient already dying.
8 min