Pan Am Has Good Safety Record Despite Financial Woes, Aging Jets

Although Pan American World Airways has been in a precarious financial condition for most of the 1980s, industry analysts say it has a good safety record. However, much of its aircraft fleet is aging.

“A lot of its fleet is older than the hills,” said Paul Turk, an official of Avmark Inc., an aviation marketing and management service based in Arlington, Va.

According to Avmark, 49.25% of Pan Am’s fleet of planes is at least 19 years old. By comparison, 44.65% of Trans World Airlines’ fleet is 19 years or older, and the figure is 42.64% for United Airlines. The average age of Pan Am’s planes, however--14.63 years--compares more favorably--to 15.47 for Northwest, 15.11 for Eastern Airlines, 15.29 for TWA and 14.87 for United.

Pan Am, which was the first carrier to fly 747s, still has 33 of the jumbo jets. Pan Am also flies 12 A-300s and 19 A-310s, planes made by the European consortium Airbus Industrie. It also has 59 Boeing 727s and seven Boeing 737s.

Pan Am has been in severe financial straits for a number of years. It has sold off a number of its valuable assets, including its hotel chain, its landmark building astride Park Avenue in New York City and all its Pacific routes.

Despite these sales, the company is still in trouble, say industry observers. While it has sufficient cash to carry it through this winter, which is its slow period, the airline probably could not survive a recession or a terrorist scare such as the one that severely depressed transatlantic traffic in the summer peak season of 1986.