Pan Am Tells Unions It May Sell Off Most Assets

Pan Am Corp.’s board of directors has authorized the ailing airline’s management to sell most of Pan Am’s assets if agreements are not reached with its labor unions, it was disclosed today.

In a letter sent overnight to Pan Am employees, Chairman Thomas G. Plaskett said management was frustrated at not being able to get labor concessions from three of the company’s five major unions.

The board’s decision authorizes the sale of any of the assets of Pan American World Airways, the company’s flagship carrier, “without limitation, including route segments and divisions, maintenance and terminal facilities, aircraft, engines and other equipment,” Plaskett’s letter said.

The only Pan Am assets which could not be sold are its lucrative Northeast shuttle service and Pan Am World Services, which provides ground services to other carriers in airports around the world.

If agreement is reached with the dissenting unions representing flight attendants, Teamsters and transport workers, the assets might not be sold, Pan Am spokeswoman Pamela Hanlon said today.

“We can continue along the path of an orderly sale of assets or we can find ourselves with a labor agreement soon,” she said. “There is a very good possibility that the plan to sell assets of the company would not go forward.”

The company has no specific timetable for selling the assets, she said.