Transportation Chief Wants Pan Am Takeover : Airlines: Samuel Skinner says he’s not optimistic about the ailing carrier’s survival. He is more positive about TWA’s chances.

Secretary of Transportation Samuel Skinner said he’s “not overly optimistic” about the survival of Pan American World Airways and hopes it will be taken over by another airline.

Skinner, interviewed on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, said he was more optimistic about Trans World Airlines but didn’t think the loss of either airline would have a significant impact on the industry.

Neither Pan Am nor TWA representatives could be reached for comment.

The United States, Skinner said, could have a competitive airline industry with as few as three carriers with domestic and international routes. However, he said he believes that the country will end up with about seven airlines.

In response to a question about the financial troubles of Pan Am, Skinner said: “I am not overly optimistic from what I saw in the papers over the weekend. I think Pan Am doesn’t have the domestic route structure to feed its international routes.

“Other airlines now have those international route structures, so Pan Am is not the exclusive carrier, or one of two, and they are having a tough time making the transformation. Hopefully, that organization will be picked up, in part or in whole, by another airline and made part of their network.”

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday, Pan Am raised the possibility that creditors could force it to liquidate. Pan Am said there can be no assurance that it can operate through the end of the year.

However, in a letter to employees, the company said it would have enough money to operate through the end of the year as long as it can raise $100 million through the sale of an unidentified asset.

In the SEC filing, Pan Am said the Pan Am shuttle and some stock backing its pension obligations are the only assets it could sell without impairing its ability to stay in business.

Skinner said he was more optimistic about TWA because it has a greater domestic network than Pan Am and “a good international network.”

“All in all, TWA has a very good chance of surviving. I am not saying Pan Am doesn’t. I’m just saying it’s not quite as good as TWA,” he said.

“Of course, I would be bothered any time we lose an airline,” Skinner said. “But on the other hand, I recognize that neither one of those airlines is so dominant in the industry that it would have a significant impact, that the other airlines would pick it up.

“For 25 years, TWA and Pan Am have been in financial trouble,” he said.

On another issue, Skinner said the Bush Administration had not taken a stand on a trucking industry proposal to increase the weight limit for trucks on interstate highways but “will be involved at the appropriate time.”

“There’s no question that if, in fact, safety is involved and lives are endangered by the size of a truck or the speed of a truck, it’s an issue that ought to be dealt with,” he said.