U.S. Doles Out Pan Am Routes

The Department of Transportation on Thursday began doling out routes formerly flown by Pan Am Corp. as rival airlines filled some of the gaps left by the defunct carrier during the busy holiday season.

The department gave three airlines temporary authority to fly former Pan Am routes and said it would award more of the routes shortly.

Later Thursday, it said it had received no applications for six routes that Pan Am had flown and received competing applications for five others. It extended the bidding deadline to Friday afternoon from Thursday.

A bankruptcy court hearing has been scheduled for Sunday to begin liquidating Pan Am’s assets, including its routes.

At the time of its demise, Pan Am, which shut down Wednesday after years of struggle, flew mainly to destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

But despite the small number of routes, some of them are likely to be hotly contested by rival carriers when they are auctioned off in bankruptcy court.

In the meantime, the Department of Transportation is granting emergency authority to allow carriers to meet the needs of passengers left stranded by Pan Am’s sudden shutdown.

The department gave American Airlines the right to fly Pan Am’s route between Miami and Grand Cayman island, while United Airlines got the route between New York and Caracas, Venezuela.

American Trans Air won temporary authority to fly between Miami and Paris.

American, the nation’s largest carrier, said Wednesday that it had applied for the right to fly several former Pan Am routes and was prepared to begin doing so within a week if the government approves.