Pan Am was the world's most famous airline — then it was a footnote in Delta's route map

Pan American World Airways, founded in 1927 by Juan Trippe, was the unofficial flag carrier of the United States. It pioneered transatlantic and transpacific air travel, introduced the Boeing 707 and 747 to commercial service, and built a global route network that no other airline could match. The Pan Am logo was one of the most recognized brands in the world.

The 1978 Airline Deregulation Act destroyed Pan Am's business model. Pan Am had been built on government-granted international routes; deregulation let domestic airlines fly internationally. Pan Am had no domestic network to feed its international flights, and it could not compete on price with airlines that had lower cost structures.

The December 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland (270 killed) devastated the airline's reputation and finances. Pan Am filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 1991 and ceased operations in December 1991. Delta Air Lines acquired Pan Am's remaining routes and assets. The airline that had defined international travel for 64 years was liquidated.