AIRLINES: Clipping Pan Am's Wings
With losses deepening, fuel costs climbing and credit lines drying up, Pan American World Airways sent out a Mayday call of distress to the U.S. Government, pleading for emergency subsidies of $10.1 million a month. Last week Transportation Secretary Claude S. Brinegar said that "President Ford has concluded that it is not now fair to the nation's taxpayers to ask them to support our U.S. international flag carriers with direct cash subsidy payments." With that, the fate of the nation's senior overseas airline fell into the hands of the banks and insurance companies, to which it owes almost $700...