Kerkorian Plans to Join Pilots in Bid for Pan Am : Airlines: The bankruptcy court hearing resembles a feeding frenzy as Delta and TWA also try to get a piece of the ailing carrier.

Investor Kirk Kerkorian said Thursday that he was interested in buying Pan Am Corp., opening the door to a possible bidding war for the once-mighty airline that was forced into bankruptcy protection Tuesday.

Meanwhile rival carrier Delta Air Lines said it was also keen to pick up some assets from cash-strapped Pan Am, offering to buy its London-Los Angeles route.

Not to be outdone, Trans World Airlines Inc. swiftly jumped on the bandwagon, saying it was ready to put up cash in an effort to merge with Pan Am.

Lawyers for the Air Force also attended the hearing and expressed concern to Bankruptcy Court Judge Cornelius Blackshear that any plan for Pan Am include an emergency contingency for the military to use 18 of its aircraft in the Persian Gulf, where the United States has arrayed a large force to expel Iraq from Kuwait.

Kerkorian--a savvy Los Angeles-based investor who formerly owned MGM/UA Corp.--said he was teaming up with Pan Am workers hoping to make a bid for the struggling carrier, an industry pioneer that has shrunk to a shadow of its old self.

“We have been invited by the joint labor council of the employees of Pan Am to look into the acquisition of Pan Am and we are doing so,” said a spokesman for Tracinda Corp., an investment vehicle owned by Kerkorian.

Pan Am spokesman Jeff Kriendler had no comment.

Earlier, workers at Pan Am Corp. pleaded for more time in bankruptcy court, telling the judge that they wanted to give Kerkorian a chance to bid for their airline, rather than let UAL Corp. strip away its plum assets.

Pan Am sought protection from creditors Tuesday, promising a “new beginning.” Part of the company’s plan when it filed for court protection was to secure emergency financing from a bank and UAL Corp., parent of United, to keep operating while a deal was completed for the asset sales.

Pan Am had hoped to win speedy approval for that deal and the release of the first $50 million of the loan at Thursday’s hearing. Lawyers for the airline told the judge that without that financing it might not be able to operate into next week, which would disrupt thousands of passengers.

Sale of prized London routes to United was the basis of a deal that was expected to be worth $400 million. It also included the sale of some other assets and a joint marketing agreement between the two carriers.

Peter T. McHugh, Pan Am’s chief operating officer, told the judge that when the value of the marketing agreement with United is included, the total value of the deal is about $1 billion.

But the confusion that unfolded at the hearing threatened what Pan Am had hoped would be a smooth flight through Chapter 11. The crowded hearing at the court in southern Manhattan quickly turned into a financial feeding frenzy on what remains of Pan Am.

But the Joint Labor Council, representing Pan Am workers; along with Kerkorian; Delta Airlines Inc., and Pan Am’s biggest creditor, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp., all asked the judge to hold off approving the sale so other bidders could have a shot.

The labor group said Kerkorian “has offered to infuse sufficient capital in the form of a bridge loan into the company to permit time for a reorganization.”

Kerkorian, who owns MGM Grand Air, a specialty airline offering first-class service, recently sold MGM/UA Communications Co. to an Italian financier for $1.3 billion.

An Air Line Pilots Assn. spokesman said Kerkorian was prepared to replace UAL’s financing offer with up to $150 million of his own. And Pan Am badly needs the cash.

After 63 years in the air, huge debts, rising fuel costs resulting from the Persian Gulf crisis and low ticket sales finally forced Pan Am into Chapter 11 on Tuesday. Once the nation’s top carrier, it is now relegated to the No. 8 spot after losing $3 billion in the past decade.

While operations at Pan Am were running as normal Thursday--shielded from hungry creditors--rival carriers began sniffing a corpse.

Delta said it wanted to bid at least $50 million for Pan Am’s Los Angeles-to-London route.

“We are interested in certain assets Pan Am has and we’re asking the court to give us time to prepare a bid,” Delta spokesman Neil Monroe told Reuters.

The Transportation Department in Washington gave tentative approval of the route sale to United the same day as Pan Am sought bankruptcy court refuge, but a final ruling is not expected until Jan. 23. The sale must still gain approval from British authorities. McHugh told the judge Thursday that he expected an OK from London by the end of this month or early next.

Blackshear made no immediate decisions as the hearing dragged on into the evening.

TWA, which recently made its own takeover bid for Pan Am, also got in on the act Thursday, saying it was willing to provide interim financing of at least $25 million.

“We are prepared to offer interim debtor-in-possession financing today,” said Mark Buchstein, a lawyer for TWA.

A dispute over short-term financing had scuttled a merger between the two.

Pan Am stock rose 37.5 cents a share to close at 75 cents on the New York Stock Exchange, where it was the most active stock.

Industry analysts were skeptical about the rival carriers’ chances of undoing the UAL deal.

Tad Trantum, analyst for J. C. Bradford & Co., said most big U.S. airlines are “looking creatively at Pan Am’s assets” but said the court would probably consider Pan Am’s cash need and “the interests of creditors and equity holders first.”