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Saturday, March 25, 2000

Pan Am adds 10 planes to fleet

By Christine Gillette, Portsmouth Herald Staff Writer

PORTSMOUTH - Pan American Airways yesterday marked its first sold-out flight between Gary, Ind., and Sanford, Fla.

The airline also announced yesterday it has purchased 10 new aircraft that will be used in regional service to and from destinations it serves with its fleet of Boeing 727s.

The first full load of passengers to depart from Gary to Sanford did so yesterday, and flights this weekend from Florida to Gary are also sold out, airline officials said.

"The bookings are continuing to build," said John Nadolny, Pan Am vice president and general counsel.

Pan Am, based at Pease International Tradeport, this week resumed service between Portsmouth and Gary, adding a stop in Pittsburgh. It's a move that wasn't timed to take advantage of the potential that flight attendants for US Airways, for which Pittsburgh is a hub, will strike today.

Nadolny said the strike could potentially increase Pan Am's business to and from Pittsburgh, "but we didn't design or implement the service to have anything to do with US Air. It just happens that this was our timetable and we fell into it."

However, he said, a US Air strike would give people a chance to try flying Pan Am to the Chicago area via Gary or the Boston area via Portsmouth.

"We don't intend to do anything special with our service to go out and try to serve other routes US Air flies," Nadolny said. "That's not in our game plan at all...It's not in our business plan to try to capitalize on another company's temporary situation with labor."

Even without the potential US Air strike, Nadolny said service to Pittsburgh is helping Pan Am's bookings.

"There are already more people using the Pittsburgh-Gary service than were using the Portsmouth-Gary service," he said. The same is true for the Pease-to-Pittsburgh leg of the route, he added.

Passengers are still flying from Pease to Gary and back, but Pan Am is also off loading and taking on more passengers during the Pittsburgh stop.

"I think we've found the right mix now," he said.

Pan Am had stopped its nonstop service between Gary and Portsmouth temporarily earlier this month because of sagging bookings that were averaging about 30 passengers a flight. The airline's 727s seat up to 149 passengers.

Pan Am is scheduled to begin service from Bangor, Maine, to Pittsburgh and on to Sanford on May 1, and Nadolny said that could happen even sooner. The airline already offers service from Bangor to Pittsburgh and Gary, and to Sanford, but with stops at Pease. The new route would not include a stop at Pease en route from Bangor to Pittsburgh and Sanford.

To develop a regional service between its major destinations, Pan Am has finalized its purchase of 10 Jetstream turbo prop aircraft. The Jetstreams seat 19 passengers each, and Pan Am will likely use the aircraft first to link Sanford with other destinations in Florida, such as Key West and Fort Myers, a company statement said.

"We'd probably be looking some time in the second quarter at putting some down in Florida," Nadolny said. "After that, we'll just roll them out where the markets seem to require them."

Consideration is also being given to linking Bangor with airports in the Canadian Maritimes, he said.

To accommodate increased service with the 727s and in preparation for the Jetstreams' service, Nadolny said the airline has been bringing more crews on, and now has about 475 employees.