Pan Am Places Ads Marking Anniversary of Lockerbie Blast

Pan American World Airways, in advertisements placed Thursday in nine newspapers in the United States and Europe, called for a “moment of prayer” for the 270 people killed in the terrorist bombing of its Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, a year ago.

The ad, which appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Miami Herald and USA Today, along with newspapers in Scotland, England and Germany, is considered unusual because airlines rarely draw attention to air disasters.

“We felt we wanted to do something,” said Pan Am spokeswoman Elizabeth Manners.

The carrier also held memorial services for victims at airports in New York, London and Frankfurt and flew its flags at half mast.

The Lockerbie tragedy has haunted Pan Am, which lost $150 million in revenue earlier this year in part because fearful travelers avoided the airline.

The Federal Aviation Administration in September fined the airline $630,000 for security violations in Frankfurt, the flight’s point of origin, and London, where it stopped before exploding in the air on its way to New York.

The FAA said, however, that it couldn’t link the security lapses to the bombing.

Pan Am has said the security problems had been corrected.

The father of a Lockerbie victim reacted bittersweetly to Pan Am’s ad.

“It is a lovely sentiment,” said Robert Berrell of Fargo, N.D., who visited the grave of his 20-year-old son, Robert, Thursday. “It’s kind of ironic coming from Pan Am.”