Clipper, Vol. 15, No. 2, February 1956

              Pan American ttiuuo Airways
ATLANTIC DIVISION
UPPER
Read on f o ur co n 11 n e n t s and four.islands, in between
Volume 15
FEBRUARY, 1956
No. 2
Everyone In AD Has Opinions
Some time ago, Atlantic Division employees participated in a survey which was conducted in cooperation with the Division of Industrial Relations at Stanford University. Your opinions, concerning your jobs, your supervisors, your opportunities, etc., have been summarized and have been included in a supplement which has been inserted in this edition of The Clipper.
Automatic Device Will Pan American’s Reservations
Pan American has signed a contract for the installation of an automatic reservations system which will speed up customer handling at its eight New York ticket offices, it was announced last month by Vice President Willis G. Lipscomb.
The nerve center of the system will be in the Long Island City offices, and directly connected^ with eight offices in Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn.
The device to be installed at the
ticket counter is about the size of a desk calculator. By inserting a plate into the set and pushing buttons, the ticket agent is able to determine immediately what space is available on any given flight.
Info On 700 Flights
The central information rack to be located in LIC is capable of storing information on 700 flights for one month in advance.
Pan American, however, intends to us the electronic system to store availability information on 200 flights, breaking it down into 50 flights for six months in advance, 50 for four months and 100 for two months.
Mr. Lipscomb explained that this system was adopted because surveys have shown that advance time in booking for different sections of the airline’s worldwide routes varies with the destination and season.
Has Two Advantages
The new system has two advantages for the passenger. It speeds up service at the ticket counter and reduces the possibility of human error in determining space availability on future flights.
The reservations availability system can be used for reserving cargo space as well as for passenger flights, Mr. Lipscomb said.
Plans are being made to extend the system to some of the airline’s other offices in the United States. Installation in New York is expected to be completed in the spring.
Pacific Area’s Military Fares Cut By Pan Am
Pan American World Airways will cut its fares for military personnel traveling between bases in the Pacific and Alaska areas and the United States beginning February 26.
Vice President Willis G. Lipscomb announced that the reductions will range from 10 to 30 per cent and will apply to servicemen traveling on authorized leave or furlough at their own expense.
The round-trip must be completed within 45 days. Dependents and families of servicemen are not included in the reductions.
The new schedule will allow for discounts of 10 per cent for travel between Hawaii and Alaska and the United States and 30 per cent for travel between U.S. possessions in the Pacific area and (Continued on Page 2)
Strehlke Named U. $. Interline
Sales Manager
«T*»
GEORGE L. STREHLKE
George L. Strehlke, formerly the district sales manager in Chicago, has been appointed as interline sales manager, United States, it has been announced by Vice President Willis G. Lipscomb.
In the newly-created position, Mr. Strehlke will coordinate passenger and cargo sales originating on domestic airlines and making (Continued on Page 3)
London—Over The Top
Last May, when a new look was taken of the company’s sales potential, Atlantic Division stations were assigned $900,000 over and above the $36,000,000 passenger quota which had been previously set.
But before this additional quota could be assigned to the various stations of AD, London’s DTSM, Jim Leet, stepped up and offered to take it all.
“We’ll go on record. We’ll stick our necks out,” said Mr. Leet. “London will turn in its passenger quota of $5,305,000, plus the extra $900,000, by the end of the year. Check us then.”
The figures are in now. And London exceeded, by a comfortable margin, the $6,205,000 quota which it had set for itself. Year-end figures indicate that London’s 1955 business increased by about 33 per cent over its 1954 sales of $4,746,000.
All-Time Industry High Set By Division In 1955
Pan American carried 205,000 passengers across the Atlantic during 1955, it was announced last month by Vice President Willis G. Lipscomb.
“Not only does this number represent an all-time industry high for any single air carrier,” Mr. Lipscomb said, “it means
^that one out of every three persons who flew between the United
Mail Volume Sets Record At Christmas
One of Santa’s busiest helpers during the Christmas season, Pan American, carried a record-breaking total of 56,237,104 holiday letters throughout its world-wide system between December 1 and December 25.
Contributing to the total was a bulging mail sack of 82,853 Santa (Continued on Page 2)
Jacobs Becomes Chief Of Check Pilots For AD
Captain Francis I. Jacobs has been named chief check pilot for the Atlantic Division, replacing Captain Hamilton “Ham” Smith who has transferred to Pakistan.
Captain Jacobs, whose flying career began in the U.S. Army Air Corps, has been with Pan American almost 23 years. He started with the company in Brownsville which was then part of the Western Division.
In July, 1940, he became chief pilot of the Western Division and served as operations manager from July, 1941, to December, 1943, when the company’s Eastern and Western Divisions were merged to form the present LAD.
Transferring to the Atlantic Division in 1944, Captain Jacobs became a check pilot in August, 1946 He is married and has two children.
CAPTAIN JACOBS
States and Europe last year traveled on Pan American.”
Looking ahead to the coming peak summer season, Mr. Lipscomb said that the airline would operate 160 weekly flights between the United States and Europe.
The increased schedules will be made possible by the addition of the new, long-range Douglas built DC-7Cs, scheduled for delivery beginning this June.
Traffic Up 36%
The overall increase in transatlantic traffic for the airlines last year was 36 per cent. The sharpest gains were registered in tourist service which shot up from 83,478 passengers in 1954 to 122,909 in 1955, a 47 per cent gain. First-class passenegers increased b'* 18,.per cent, from 54,464
Charter busines show gains, Mr. Lipscomb noted. The airline carried 18,000 charter passengers in 1955 compared with the 1954 total of 12,419.
The Atlantic Division’s charter revenue in 1955 was $2,959,002.08, as compared with $2,285,872.51 in 1954. Of the 1955 total, $1,861-062.30 was from military sales; $1,097,939.78 was from commercial sales. In 1955, military charter revenue was up 49.5 per cent, while commercial charter revenue increased 5.4 per cent over the previous year.
As of the year’s end, Pan American had performed 53,356 transatlantic crossings since the service began in 1939. This is more than any other airline.
The airline’s record year was made possible by a 30 per cent incease in passenger capacity.
In This Issue
Amsterdam..................12
Beirut ....................14
Boston ....................12
Calcutta...................14
Duesseldorf................15
Flight Personnel .........11
Frankfurt ..............14,15
Hamburg ..................14
Johannesburg..............10
Keflavik .................14
Leopoldville .............10
Lisbon ...................10
London.......?............6, 7
Munich.....................15
New York ................4, 5
Paris......................13
People Talking..............2
Roberts Field.............10
Rome .....................13
Service Emblems........... 3
Shannon ..................12
Vienna ....................14
Washington ...............12