Editing Pan Am (section)

===Jet age===
[[File:Boeing 707-321B, Pan American World Airways - Pan Am AN0944886.jpg|thumb|Boeing 707-321B of Pan American at [[Paris Orly Airport]], 1979 ]]
[[File:Douglas DC-8-32 N804PA PAA AMS 12.03.67 edited-2.jpg|thumb|right|[[Douglas DC-8#DC-8 Series 30|Douglas DC-8-32]] of Pan American at [[Amsterdam Airport Schiphol]] in 1967]]
Pan Am considered purchasing the world's first [[jet airliner|jetliner]], the British [[De Havilland Comet]], but instead waited to become [[Boeing 707]] launch customer in 1955 with an order for 20. The 707 was originally to be 144 inches (3.66 m) wide with five-abreast seating but [[Boeing]] widened their design to match the DC-8. 

Pan Am's first scheduled jet flight was from [[John F. Kennedy International Airport|New York Idlewild]] to [[Paris – Le Bourget Airport|Paris Le Bourget]], stopping at [[Gander International Airport|Gander]] to refuel, on October 26, 1958. The [[Boeing 707-120|Boeing 707-121]] ''Clipper America'' N711PA carried 111 passengers.{{sfn|Burns|2000}}<ref name="PostWar_PanAm_50">''Aviation News (Pan American Airways: Part 2 – Leading the way)'', p. 50, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011</ref>

It also purchased 25 [[Douglas DC-8]], which could also seat six across; the combined order value for these first 707s and DC-8s was $269&nbsp;million.{{cn|date=February 2025}} 

Meanwhile Boeing improved their aircraft with the introduction of the [[Boeing 707-320|Boeing 707-320 "Intercontinental"]] offering greater payload and range. Pan Am started taking deliveries of the Intercontinental in 1959–60, which together with the Douglas DC-8s arriving in March 1960, enabled non-stop transatlantic crossings with a viable [[payload (air and space craft)|payload]] in both directions.<ref name=panamair707>{{cite web |title=Boeing 707-321 |url=http://www.panamair.org/aircraft/boeing707-321.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501121829/http://www.panamair.org/aircraft/boeing707-321.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-05-01 |website=panamair.org @ the WayBack Machine |access-date=27 February 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Douglas DC-8-32 |url=http://www.panamair.org/aircraft/Douglasdc8.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725010251/http://www.panamair.org/aircraft/Douglasdc8.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-07-25 |website=panamair.org @ the WayBack Machine |access-date=27 February 2025}}</ref>

Pan Am eventually operated 19 Douglas DC-8s, disposing of them in 1970 after just ten years of service. Meanwhile Pan Am went on to operate a much larger total of 120 Boeing 707-320 "Intercontinental" aircraft, for just over 20 years, with this type becoming the mainstay of Pan Am operations until the arrival of the Boeing 747.<ref name=panamair707 /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Swanborough |first1=Gordon |title=World's Airliner Registrations |date=1967 |publisher=Ian Allan |location=London |pages=8-18}}</ref>

====Widebody era====
[[File:Pan Am Boeing 747 at Zurich Airport in May 1985.jpg|thumb|right|[[747-100|Boeing 747-100]] ''Clipper Neptune's Car'' (N742PA) at [[Zurich Airport]]]]

Pan Am was a [[Boeing 747]] launch customer, placing a {{FXConvert|USA|525|m|year=1966|index=US-GDP|cursign=$|showdate=no}} order for 25 in April 1966.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boeing.com/commercial/747family/pf/pf_milestones.html |title=Boeing 747-400 Program Milestones |publisher=Boeing.com |access-date=August 27, 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524131419/http://www.boeing.com/commercial/747family/pf/pf_milestones.html |archive-date=May 24, 2011 }}</ref><ref name="PostWar_PanAm_51">''Aviation News (Pan American Airways: Part 2 – A falling star)'', p. 51, Key Publishing, Stamford, November 2011</ref>

On January 15, 1970 [[First Lady of the United States|First Lady]] [[Pat Nixon]] christened Pan Am Boeing 747 ''Clipper Young America'' at [[Washington Dulles International Airport|Washington Dulles]].<ref>{{cite news |title=First Lady Christens, the First 747 Jet |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/16/archives/first-lady-christens-the-first-747-jet.html |access-date=18 January 2025 |work=[[The Associated Press]] |publisher=[[The New York Times]] |date=16 January 1970}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Mrs. Nixon Christens New 747 Jumbo Jet |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pensacola-news-journal-mrs-nixon-christ/163317165/ |work=[[The Associated Press]] |publisher=[[Pensacola News Journal]] |date=16 January 1970 |page=2 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |location=Pensacola, Florida}}</ref>

Pan Am's inaugural 747 service on the evening of January 21, 1970, was delayed for several hours by engine failure affecting the scheduled ''Clipper Young America''. ''Clipper Victor'' was substituted for the flight from [[John F. Kennedy International Airport|New York John F. Kennedy]] to [[Heathrow Airport|London Heathrow]] (''Clipper Victor'' was destroyed seven years later in the [[Tenerife airport disaster|Tenerife air disaster]], in a collision with a KLM 747-200). While on the tarmac at Heathrow, two students from [[Aston University]] boarded the aircraft undetected and distributed [[Rag (student society)#Rag mag|rag mags]] in the passenger accommodation as a publicity stunt.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878184,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080127015913/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878184,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 27, 2008 |title=Jumbo and the Gremlins |magazine=[[time (magazine)|TIME]] |access-date=June 1, 2009|date=February 1, 1970}}</ref>

Pan Am carried 11 million passengers over {{convert|20|e9mi|km nmi}} in 1970, the year it introduced [[Airliner#Wide-body airliners|widebodied airline]] travel.<ref>''Jets Monthly (Next Month: Come fly with me ...)'', p. 74, Kelsey Publishing, Cudham, January 2012</ref>

====Supersonic plans====
Pan Am was one of the first three airlines to sign options for the [[Concorde|Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde]], but like other airlines that took out options – with the exception of BOAC and [[Air France]] – it did not purchase the [[supersonic aircraft|supersonic jet]]. Pan Am was the first US airline to sign for the [[Boeing 2707]], the American [[supersonic transport]] (SST) project, with 15 delivery positions reserved;<ref>{{cite book|title=The Pan Am building and the shattering of the modernist dream|last=Clausen|first=Meredith|year=2004|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-03324-4|page=357}}</ref> these aircraft never saw service after [[United States Congress|Congress]] voted against additional funding in 1971.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.keesings.com/search?kssp_selected_tab=article&kssp_a_id=24716n01usa|title=Aerospace Industry. Refusal of Congress to approve Federal Funds for Development of Boeing Supersonic Airliner.|work=Keesing's World News Archives|access-date=June 1, 2009|date=July 21, 1971}}</ref>