Troubled Pan Am Removes Acker, Names Plaskett CEO

The board of directors of Pan Am Corp. today elected Thomas G. Plaskett as chairman, president, chief executive officer and a director of the financially troubled airline company.

Plaskett will replace current chairman C. Edward Acker, whose ouster had been widely expected for several weeks. Some of the Pan Am unions had reportedly demanded that Acker be fired in exchange for more than $330 million in labor concessions that they recently agreed to with management.

Plaskett, 44, a former president and chief executive officer of Continental Airlines and a former executive of American Airlines, will also serve as chairman of Pan American World Airways Inc., the company’s main airline subsidiary. He is widely credited with creating the popular “MaxSaver” discount air fares.