Editing Pan Am (section)

====National Airlines takeover====
To acquire domestic routes, Pan Am, under president Seawell, set its eyes on [[National Airlines (1934–1980)|National Airlines]]. Pan Am wound up in a bidding war with [[Frank Lorenzo]]'s [[Texas International Airlines]] which boosted National's stock price, but Pan Am was granted permission to buy National in 1979 in what was described as the "Coup of the Decade". The acquisition of National Airlines for {{FXConvert|USA|437|m|year=1979|index=US-GDP|cursign=$|showdate=no}}, completed on January 7, 1980, further burdened Pan Am's balance sheet, already under strain after financing the [[Boeing 747]]s ordered in the mid-1960s. This acquisition did little to improve Pan Am's competitive position in relation to nimbler, lower-cost competitors in a deregulated industry, as National's north–south route structure provided insufficient feed at Pan Am's transatlantic and transpacific gateways in New York and Los Angeles. Apart from the [[Boeing 727]], the airlines had incompatible fleets and [[organizational culture|corporate cultures]]. Pan Am management handled the integration poorly and presided over an increase in labor costs as a result of harmonizing National's pay scales with Pan Am's.<ref>''Aviation News (Pan American Airways: Part 2 – National acquisition)'', pp. 51/2, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011</ref> Although revenues increased by 62% from 1979 to 1980, fuel costs from the merger increased by 157% during a weak economic climate. Further "miscellaneous expenses" increased by 74%.{{sfn|Robinson|1994|pp=172–190}}<ref>Interview with Russell Ray. "Death of An American Dream" (film)</ref>

[[File:Pan Am Boeing 737-200 at Zurich Airport in May 1985.jpg|thumb|left|''Clipper [[Berlin|Spreeathen]]'' at [[Zurich Airport|Zurich]] in 1985]]