An effort to potentially relaunch the Pan Am brand as a “scheduled commercial airline” has gotten more serious, with Avi8 Air Capital recently completing a business plan and claiming to have initiated certification with the Federal Aviation Administration.
Avi8 and Pan Am Brands formed a “strategic partnership” in June to explore re-establishing Pan American World Airways as a passenger-carrying operation, though a viable pathway for launching a start-up airline under the iconic Pan Am brand was not immediately apparent.
Pan Am Brands is a division of Pan American Global Holdings, a group that controls the intellectual property associated with the long-defunct airline. The company’s website plays up the nostalgia factor, with images of 1950s-era stewardesses burnishing glasses of champagne.
The vision also appears to include a stylised line of hotels and airport lounges.
“It’s been some time,” Pan Am’s website reads. ”But we never stopped dreaming. In that time, we’ve watched as the magic of travel slipped away. Delays. Lines. Compromises.
”That was never what Pan Am stood for. So now, we’re back to welcome you into a new golden era of travel.”
The company is seeking a Part 121 scheduled carrier certificate, though there is no guarantee that it will clear certification and launch revenue operations. It claims to have “officially” initiated the Part 121 certification process, though FlightGlobal did not filings with the US Department of Transportation (DOT).
”Avi8 has assembled a world-class team to lead the certification effort and has received strong initial support from aircraft lessors and key vendors,” the company says.
Upon FAA certification and securing necessary DOT approvals, the vision is to establish a base in Miami and operate a fleet of Airbus aircraft.
Avi8 describes itself as an “aviation merchant bank” that specialises in airline strategy, fleet financing and operations, with offices in Dublin and Miami. Avi8 could conceivably supply the aircraft for the Pan Am re-launch, or equity backing for a fleet.
The original Pan Am operated its last flights in 1991, ending an era of air travel that had roots in the 1920s. The airline has become entwined with images of the Jet Age and the Boeing 747.
More recently, the Pan Am brand has become associated with misty-eyed remembrance of a level of passenger service that no longer exists on US airlines.
Several efforts to revive the brand have failed in the past 30 years.
