From its modest beginnings at a time when flying was still absurdly expensive (and considered far from safe), Pan Am refused to consider anything impossible and single-handedly revolutionized air travel - in part thanks to its highly effective publicity campaigns.
The pioneering airline launched the world's first commercial flight across the Pacific in 1935, and over the next 30-plus years, stood at the forefront of nearly all significant advances in the industry.
Pan Am's immaculately turned-out staff, too, contributed to the company’s image of friendliness, precision and reliability - but none of that was enough to save the company from crashing into bankruptcy in 1991.
These photos, taken from Pan Am: History, Design & Identity, a recent celebration of its past, prove that despite its eventual demise, no airline has even come close in terms of its glittering legacy
Pictured, one of its Boeing 377s photographed in 1949
Its meteoric rise to success came in part thanks to its highly effective publicity campaigns. Pictured, left, an alluring ad from 1949 and right, the grinning face of an air hostess on a poster from 1950
Pan Am's very first logo in 1929, left, would soon become a world-famous symbol as the airline grew, and it didn't change much over the years. The logo on the right dates to 1942
In 1929, Pan Am was one of the first companies after the Navy to acquire this twin-engined amphibious aircraft model, the Sikorsky S-38, which carried a maximum of eight passengers at a speed of 100 mph
By 1932, the airline had upgraded to Sikorsky S-40 planes, which could carry 38 passengers and was marginally faster with a speed of 115 mph
Pan Am’s marine air terminal in Miami at Dinner Key, pictured in 1932, was privately built by the airline and on most days, eager spectators vastly outnumbered the actual passengers
By 1939, Pan Am's growing fleet included the Boeing 314 seaplane, pictured left taking off from Washington's Puget Sound, and right, soaring over New York's Long Island
Vibrant and inspirational posters advertised Pan Am's transatlantic routes, pictured left in 1940, and right, a decade later in 1950
The jet age really took off at the end of 1958, pictured, and Pan Am's immaculately turned-out staff contributed greatly to the company’s image of friendliness, precision and reliability
Pan Am was the launch customer of the Boeing 707, pictured in 1960 - the first jetliner in history to be commercially successful
The next massive jump in aircraft innovation came around with the birth of the Boeing 747, pictured left under construction in 1968 and right, undergoing a test flight the following year
Pan Am was the first airline to order the Boeing 747, pictured here in a poster from 1970 - an aircraft which is still the most recognised model in the world
WHY DID PAN AM GO BUST?
Pan Am's lasting and positive image from its inception in 1929 is remarkable in view of its long and agonizing decline, which began in the late 1960s and noticeably affected the quality of passenger services from about 1980 onward.
Perhaps the single most decisive reason for Pan Am’s decay was its inability to secure political support for acquisition of an American domestic route network in its home market.
By the time it seriously started to lobby for them in the early 1940s, it had become by far the world’s most powerful airline, and other US airlines convincingly argued that Pan Am would create a monopoly if allowed to compete with them.
Over the next decades, its increasingly dire financial situation led to the gradual sale of its various divisions. In April 1985, it sold off its Pacific division - 25 per cent of its entire route network - to United Airlines.
Things only worsened when, on December 21, 1988, Libyan terrorists bombed Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, resulting in 103 passenger fatalities. The airline was later slapped with a $300million lawsuit filed by more than 100 families of the flight.
Pan Am was finally forced to declare bankruptcy on January 8, 1991. Its last remaining profitable assets were purchased by Delta Air Lines, and the rest faded into history.
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