Airbus Won’t Give Pan Am Waiver on Its Overdue Debt

Struggling Pan American World Airways said Wednesday that one of its major creditors, Airbus Industrie, declined to extend a waiver on an overdue $16-million payment.

A spokesman for the New York-based airline said that the debt to the European aircraft consortium is secured by aircraft and spare parts but that no action against the company is imminent.

Edward Starkman, an analyst with the brokerage Paine Webber, said creditors “would be loathe” to seize Pan Am’s assets and shut down the company. He explained that the value of the company’s assets has been depressed by the current weakness in the airline industry. As a result, any creditor foreclosing on Pan Am’s debts would probably have to sell its assets at a loss.

Pan Am said it still is trying to negotiate short-term and long-term waivers with Airbus, along with long-term deferrals of its obligations to other creditors. The company said it already obtained a new short-term waiver, through Dec. 15, from another major creditor, the Pratt & Whitney engine-making unit of United Technologies Corp.

The United Technologies waiver also was for a $16-million payment. Overall, Pan Am owes the two big creditors $100 million.