Pan Am Corp. Appoints Chief Operating Officer

Martin R. Shugrue, vice chairman of Pan Am Corp. and its airline unit, Pan American World Airways, has been elected to the additional post of chief operating officer-airline operations in a management-strengthening move.

Shugrue, a 17-year veteran of Pan Am, assumes responsibility for all aspects of the airline’s operations including planning and scheduling, marketing, sales, passenger service, maintenance, engineering and flight operations in his newly created position, a company statement said last week.

The announcement came a few hours after Texas Air Corp. said Gerald L. Gitner, another Pan Am vice chairman, will become Texas Air’s president and a member of its board of directors Jan. 1. A Pan Am spokesman said the changes were coincidental.

In Houston, a Texas Air statement said Gitner’s appointment as president means that Frank Lorenzo, who has held the job, will become chairman and continue as chief executive.