Pan Am Cuts 212 Jobs, Cites Terrorism Fear

Pan American World Airways has laid off 212 of its 1,500 reservations agents, citing a decline in travel in Europe because of terrorism.

“It was strictly due to the falloff in telephone activity,” said Pan Am spokesman Mike Clark.

Employees affected by the layoffs are based in Miami, Washington, New York and San Francisco.

Clark said 48 of the 597 agents at the airline’s Miami reservations center received notices this week.

Pan Am, since selling its Pacific route system to United Airlines, has been flooding its transatlantic routes with extra seating capacity for the summer and offering discount fares to encourage traffic.

The company said publicity surrounding terrorism has wiped out a majority of the airline’s business to Egypt, Greece and Italy. Flights to the United Kingdom, France and Germany are also suffering from “disastrous” passenger cancellations, the airline said.