Pan Am clipper, Vol. 5, No. 7, July 1979

              July ’79
Pan Am merger case set for CAB action
WASHINGTON, D.C.-The proposed merger of Pan Am and National Airlines could be tentatively resolved, at least so far as the Civil Aeronautics Board is concerned, when the Board takes up the issue at a public meeting on July 9. The CAB will discuss Texas International’s plan to acquire National at the same time.
Meanwhile, Eastern’s bid for approval to merge with National will reach the oral or final argument stage before the CAB this month.
The session scheduled by the CAB for July 9, while open to the public, is an internal Board meeting with only the CAB members and their staff participating. The general format at such a meeting is for the members to discuss the matter under review—such as a proposed merger—formulate some views, and instruct the staff to draw up a legal opinion which the Board will officially vote upon at a later date.
Thus, while the July 9 meeting may shed some light on how individual Board members feel about the merger, a final CAB decision won’t be known until the agency’s opinion is released. When that date will be is difficult to predict. In any event, regardless of whether the CAB votes for or against a Pan Am-National merger, it is Pan Am’s contention that the issue must ultimately come before President Carter. The President has 60 days to act on the CAB’s decision after the agency
forwards its recommendation to the White House.
At oral argument before the CAB late last month, Pan Am attorney James Vemer told the Board that the merger proposal “presents an opportunity for the Board to permit Pan American, on an economic basis, to establish a domestic system which in turn will feed its international system.” This, in turn, Vemer stated, will give the company more stability than is presently possible while at the same time offering far-reaching, public-interest benefits.
The Pan Am position was endorsed by numerous civic parties from California, Nevada, New York and Hawaii. In addition, Pan Am was backed by the Department of Transportation and the Board’s Bureau of Domestic Aviation. Both DOT and the CAB’s BDA would also approve a Texas International merger with National.
On the other hand, a second CAB staff unit, the Bureau of Consumer Affairs, urged the Board to reject both a Pan Am-National and TXI-National merger. And the Department of Justice suggested to the Board that competition would be reduced were either carrier to combine with National, to an extent that both efforts should be denied.
Vemer, however, charged that the Pan Am-National merger is well within DOJ guidelines.
continued on page 8
She wins Washington:
Now ‘nationals’ next for Pan Am beauty
She wore a pearl on her forehead, a crown in her hair, and a tear glistening in each eye.
Pearl Thomas had never intended to win the contest. It wasn’t even a dream. But here she stood, roses cradled in her arms, a regal cape draped over her shoulders and the crowd cheered . . . and clapped . . . and paid homage to the new queen.
She was Miss Black Washington for 1979 and headed for the Miss. Black America pageant in San Jose, California. The July 28 finals will be televised nationally by the National Broadcasting Company.
Pearl, 22, is a storekeeper for Pan Am’s Aerospace Services at the Trident Support Project in Bangor, Washington. She lives with her parents in Seattle, the youngest of four children. She has two sisters and a brother.
In her “spare” time, she studies sociology at Olympic College, and works on a professional singing career. She has done several “studio” commercials and freelances singing with a band at local night spots in the Seattle area.
“We do a full range,” she said. “It isn’t just disco.”
There was little doubt she had more than “just disco” to offer at the Miss Black Washington finals. She went on stage in a saucy red lounging outfit and brought down the house with a jazz rendition of “Here’s That Rainy Day.”
Pearl not only won the talent competition, but tied for first in congeni-
ality, placed high in swimsuit and gown modeling, and nailed down overall honors.
Charles Clement, head of the Trident Support Project, said all of her continued on page 2
Merger briefing for employees
In this issue...
Colussy warns airport saturation near...................page 2
Employee comments on merger road show...................page 3
Spotlight on our mighty maintenance team................page 7
In conference rooms like this, on hangar floors, in maintenance shops and sales offices, the “road show” team of Stanley Gewlrtz and Mike Lyon (standing) spoke to Pan Am employees wherever they could gather and listen about the benefits of a Pan Am-National merger and how they might help.
They took Pan Am’s merger case to the employees. And now that the “road show” is finished, the show’s on the road.
The road show team:
—Mike Lyon, pilot, ALP A official, political coordinator for Aware.
—Stanley Gewirtz, vice president public communications.
They have just completed a grueling schedule that took them across the nation to Pan Am stations and Aerospace Service Division sites from New York to Honolulu, and to Berlin, speaking face-to-face with some 10,000 U.S. employees.
“I think that if we did nothing else, we put some fears aside,” Lyon said. “And we showed them that somebody, not only from labor but from management, cared enough to come out and speak to them, to answer their questions and be candid with them.
“Employees of Pan Am are not ignorant. Most are well educated. They well know the problems this company faces internationally as well as domestically. And they needed, deserved straight, frank answers before we could ask them for the help we wanted.
“What we wanted, of course, was their support like we’ve had in the past. We wanted their support in writing letters, sending wires properly to our elected officials in Washington.”
Lyon said results are already appearing.
“First of all, in every community where there’s been an Aware group, there is an increase in membership,” he said. “That’s an obvious sign that
more people are beginning to care again. Aware can only live as long as there is a crisis or something for the people to get involved in. So this proves to me that we got a message across.
‘We know that a lot of people have gone out and spoken to different groups and are getting answers back from state legislators. Now that the CAB has heard oral arguments, we hope to start the full campaign in Washington. We’ll be sending the word to Aware chapter chairmen and political action coordinators to start a formal campaign of sending wires and letters to our elected representatives—local, state
and federal.
“Individuals and teams will visit Washington, talk to Congressmen and Senators. We may even organize a march on Washington.”
Lyon said the road show was another example of the strong cooperative relationship between the company and employees working for a common goal that will benefit all. He said it was important because to win support from employees, questions had to be answered directly and “scars” had to be healed.
“And there’s lots of scars because of what this corporation has gone continued on page 3 ■
BEGINNING TO LOOK LIKE AN AIRPLANE...is Pan Am’s first L1011-500 on the assembly line at Lockheed’s Palmdale, Calif., plant. Lucille Rich, director marketing public relations (left) and Harold Kosel, director public communications, Germany (second from left) discuss the aircraft with Lockheed customer service representatives during briefing June 12. Pan Am has ordered 12 of the long-range, high-performance L1011-500s for delivery beginning in February.
Pearl Thomas